Vladivostok Novosti Company
October 19, 2006

‘Luch’ forward fails drug test

Combined reports

A Football player of Vladivostok’s ‘Luch-Energiya’ premier league football club Alexander Tikhonovetsky may face a six-month disqualification for smoking marijuana, The Sport Express reported Thursday.

Drug testing revealed that Tikhonovetsky had used marijuana, the newspaper cited the president of Russia’s Football Association Vitaly Mutko as saying, “Tikhonovetsky admitted to smoking the drug.”

The penalty will be announced at the next session of Russia’s Football Disciplinary Committee on October 25. The 27-year-old football player will most likely face a six-month disqualification, and may also receive a six month suspension. In addition to these penalties the club will be fined, the newspaper said.

“We intend to impose strict measures against those breaking the rules of football, and to keep the public aware of the state of these events,” the newspaper quoted Mutko.

This has been the first positive drug screening result in this year’s premier-league championship, the newspaper reported.

The incident might seriously affect Tikhonovetsky’s career as well as the career of ‘Luch-Energiya’, a Vladivostok football club which made it to the premier league only this year. In its latest home match on October 14, ‘Luch-Energiya’ beat Moscow’s ‘Dinamo’ 3:1.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Football Disciplinary Committee fined the club’s coach Sergei Pavlov for leaving the coach’s restricted zone during the match with Dinamo, a press statement from Russia’s Football Association said. Pavlov, as well as the coach of Moscow’s CSKA Valery Gazzayev who was fined for the same violation in the club’s premier league match with ‘Rubin’, will have to pay 30,000 rubles ($1,114), the statement reported.
Other materials of this Issue:
Primorsky Krai celebrates 68th anniversary
Close to Vladivostok, far from civilization
A territory of hardships
Flights to Kunashir Island banned
Candidate for Mayor gunned down in Dalnegorsk
Primorye town among 10 top polluters
Sakhalin-2 operator to expect sanctions
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