The suspicion of doping at Nikola Portner is confirmed. The analysis of the B sample confirmed the result of the A sample. The SC Magdeburg goalkeeper could face a multi-year ban.
In the suspected doping case involving Magdeburg handball goalkeeper Nikola Portner, the analysis of the B sample confirmed the result of the A sample. Portner’s lawyer Rainer Tarek Cherkeh announced this in a club statement from the Bundesliga leaders on Thursday evening (May 2, 2024).
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Methamphetamine detected in Portner
“The analysis of the B sample confirmed (as usual) the result of the A sample. With regard to the concentration level, we refer to the statements made so far,” said the statement. And further: “According to the current state of knowledge and further investigations, it is also impossible that a ‘normal’ amount of methamphetamine ever entered Nikola Portner’s body in the weeks and months before the relevant doping test.”
On April 10th, a positive A sample from a competition test of the 30-year-old Swiss national goalkeeper became known. Methamphetamines were detected there. Portner has since been suspended. If the B sample had not confirmed the result, the goalkeeper would have been eligible to play again immediately.
DHB takes further action
Instead, disciplinary proceedings are now beginning. While the Handball Bundesliga was previously responsible, further action is now the responsibility of the Anti-Doping Commission of the German Handball Federation (DHB). This will determine the punishment. Both the goalkeeper and the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) then have the opportunity to appeal to an arbitration tribunal to be set up if one of the two parties does not agree with the penalty. Portner faces a multi-year ban.
At the end of April, the Magdeburg public prosecutor’s office stopped the criminal investigation against the 30-year-old. No prohibited substances were found during a search of Portner’s home. The investigators subsequently assumed that there was no evidence of violations of the Anti-Doping Act or the Narcotics Act. The club rooms of the German cup winners SCM were not affected by the searches. However, this had no impact on NADA’s doping procedure.
Nikola Portner “shocked”
After the positive test result, the SCM player was shocked. “This information shocked me deeply,” wrote the goalkeeper of the Champions League winner on Instagram. Portner was already missing from the Final Four. When his teammates returned with gold and the title, they gave their goalkeeper the best gift: they presented him with the medal. Coach Bennet Wiegert had already thought of his keeper in the interview: “Congratulations go to him at this point. He is part of this team and has his share.”
Reception of the team at the GETEC Arena, fans show solidarity with the suspended Nikola Portner
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