Zoubaa's 'A' sample tested positive for EPO

French middle-distance runner Khalid Zoubaa tested positive for the performance enhancer EPO at a cross-country race last month, French sports daily L'Equipe reported Thursday.

Photo: Zoubaa's 'A' sample tested positive for EPO

L'Equipe said the 29-year-old Zoubaa was tested after winning a Jan. 27 cross-country race in Pau, France, and that EPO was found in his "A" sample.

The French athletics federation did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

Zoubaa was fifth in the 5,000 meters on Aug. 14 at the European Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, and was sixth at the IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 16.

Earlier this month, L'Equipe reported that Hind Dehiba also a middle-distance runner tested positive for EPO, reports AP.

Dehiba, who holds the French women's record in the 1,500, was tested by the French anti-doping agency on Jan. 23 on orders from the IAAF after she was taken into police custody.

Judicial officials said then that the 27-year-old runner had been carrying vials of human growth hormone when she was stopped by customs officers at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after returning from a training session in the United States.