Zoubaa fourth French athlete tested positive

National cross country champion Khalid Zoubaa has become the fourth French middle-distance athlete in eight months to test positive for an illegal substance, French sports daily L'Equipe reported on Thursday.

The paper said traces of the blood-boosting banned agent erythropoietin (EPO) were found in the 29-year-old Zoubaa's A sample following the military national championships in Pau on January 27.

Zoubaa's positive test comes just one week after traces of EPO were found in a sample taken from French 1,500 metres record holder Hind Dehiba, who was arrested at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport last month after vials containing human growth hormone were found in her luggage.

Men's steeplechaser Nordine Gezzar and women's 1,500 metres runner Latifa Essarokh both failed drugs tests last July and August and were handed two-year suspensions from the sport.