By Sportswriters Cao Jianjie and Ma Xiangfei

    DOHA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi bodybuilder has been booted out of the Asian Games on Tuesday, eight days after he carried a large amount of nandrolone into Qatar.

    Customs officials in the Doha International Airport found 134 ampoules of nandrolone in luggage which belongs to Saad Faeaz on Dec. 4, Husain al-Musallam, general director of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), announced on Tuesday.

    Faeaz was allowed to compete pending an investigation and he finished seventh in pre-judging for the 75kg class last Friday.

    Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid which helps build muscle bulk, is on both the International Olympic Committee and OCA lists of banned drugs, but not prohibited in Qatar, and as such Faeaz won't face criminal charges.

    Addressing a question why Faeaz wasn't disqualified immediately, al-Musallam explained that they had not been informed by Qatari authorities of the name of the athlete involved by Dec. 8.

    "As soon as we are informed of this happening we had due processes to follow. We needed to investigate then call people for a hearing," said al-Musallem.

    "That is why he was able to participate. At that time we had not confirmed the name of the athlete.

    "We liaised with the National Health Authority, Qatari Customs and the Iraqi delegation and once we found out we called him for a hearing and when we questioned him he admitted it.

    "His result is canceled and he is disqualified."

    The 32-year-old from Baghdad is the first athlete to be disqualified for doping offenses without a lab test in Asian Gameshistory.

    "What is especially significant about this case is that this is the first time during an Asian Games that an athlete has been sanctioned for a non-analytical anti-doping rule violation," said al-Musallem.

    While asked about whether other athletes might use the nandrolone found in Faeaz's possession, Al-Musallem said that the bodybuilder had admitted that the drug was only for himself.

    "Whether it was for only one athlete we have no way of knowing. we can only confiscate it and take action on him," said the OCA's medical officer, Dr Jegathesan Manikavasagamhe.

    It is the fifth doping offense during the Doha Games after four weightlifters tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

    The OCA on Monday announced that a second Myanmar lifter, Oo Mya Sanda, had tested positive, for a metabolite of an anabolic agent.

    Oo's teammate Kyi Kyi Than, who failed to win a medal in the women's 48kg category, was thrown out last Saturday for using a banned diuretic.

    Uzbekistan's Elmira Ramieva, who finished fifth in the women's 69kg class, was found using an anabolic steroid, while her compatriot Alexander Urinov, seventh-place finisher in the men's 105kg division, was caught for taking a cannabis-related substance.

    Unlike many other dopers who denied using drugs with lame excuses, all the four caught in Doha waived their right to a "B" sample test.