Young Mongolian wrestler E.Oyunbold from the eastern Khentii province has been banned from competitions for two years following a doping scandal. Therefore, his victory in the traditional wrestling at last Naadam festival was cancelled and his title of Titan was revoked. Today (17 June) Ulaanbaatar City Primary Court finally held the trial over E.Oyunbold’s doping case.

E.Oyunbold’s urine sample tested positive for four prohibited substances, namely meldonium, stanozolol, chloroazide and hydrochlorothiazide, announced the Naadam Organising Committee on August, 2019. The test samples were confirmed again by South Korean laboratories earlier this year. After the wrestling tournament at the Naadam festival in July, the National Anti-Doping Centre of Mongolia gave doping tests to the top 16 wrestlers in the tournament, of whom two were found to have violated Mongolia’s anti-doping regulations.

E.Oyunbold ascended to the highest rank of Titan in the country’s traditional wrestling tournament in 2019. E.Oyunbold became Titan after he defeated Titan N.Batsuuri from the western Uvs province in the final round of the wrestling tournament of Naadam, an annual national sports festival. The 27-year-old wrestler became the 24th Titan in the history of Mongolian traditional wrestling.

Naadam, which means “games” in the Mongolian language, is the most important event for Mongolian traditional wrestlers who can only attain rank during this festival.

A total of 512 wrestlers across Mongolia, including 85 wrestlers with national titles competed in last Naadam. The Naadam Festival, which is on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage, is an official holiday celebrated every year from July 11 to 15 across the nomadic country and features “The Three Manly Games”, namely wrestling, horse racing and archery.