From correspondents in Havana, Cuba, 04:39 PM IST

A member of the Jamaican athletics team would be removed from its Olympic team after testing positive for a banned substance, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Mike Fennel said.

According to information reaching here from Kingston, Fennel Monday refused to give the name of the athlete who tested positive at the national trials last month but said 'he was not a big name'.

Fennel said he had received the report from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) verbally but was waiting to see it 'in black and white' before releasing to the local media.

President of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation Adrian Lorde recently criticised Jamaica for not having an operational anti-doping agency of its own because of which Jamaica has been forced to rely on the IAAF to watch after their track stars.

According to Fennel, this year 96 tests have been done on Jamaican athletes.

Athletes who test positive for banned substances have two weeks to send a backup sample for test; if this test is also positive, the athlete faces a two-year ban.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)