News 28 October 2015

Sports Integrity Briefs – 28 Oct. 2015

Australia canoeist gets two year doping ban: Australian Canoeing have confirmed that Olympic gold-medalist Tate Smith has received a two-year ban from all competition. In two out-of-competition samples in 2014, the Australian athlete was found to have committed three anti-doping rule violations for a prohibited substance – a metabolite of Stanozolol. The ban was handed down following a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

 

Moroccan marathon runner banned for doping: The Associated Press has reported that Moroccan marathon runner Abderrahime Bouramdane has been banned for two years following ‘irregularities in his biological passport values’. According to the news agency, the Olympian has been ‘has been stripped of all his race results since 14 April 2011’ by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Bouramdane is believed to be the sixth Moroccan runner banned for a biological passport violation. The IAAF have been contacted for confirmation.

 

Nepali footballers appear before court: The five Nepali footballers arrested last month on charges of match-fixing have appeared before a court in Nepal, according to local reports. The Himalayan Times has reported that the footballers appeared before the Special Court at Babarmahal, Kathmandu. The current captain of the national team and one of those charged, Sagar Thapa, reportedly told media outside the court that the five were ‘innocent’ and ‘expressed grief’ over the media portraying those accused as guilty.

 

Romanian Football Federation launches integrity monitoring partnership: The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) has announced that it is to partner with Sport Integrity Monitor (SportIM). The British integrity company, which works to identify betting-related corruption, will ‘ensure the integrity of the country’s football league as part of its anti match-fixing initiatives.’

 

Sports Minister considers criminalisation of doping: The Minister for Sport in England, Tracey Crouch, has told the BBC that she has ‘asked officials in my department to have a look’ at the possibility of making doping a criminal offence, adding that the proposal was ‘an interesting idea.’ Earlier this week it was reported that Lord Moynihan, the Chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), had proposed that a new law be implemented in the UK which would ‘see those caught using performance-enhancing drugs’ to be ‘sent to prison for up to two-years.’ However WADA issued a statement on Sunday saying that it ‘does not believe that doping should be made a criminal offence for athletes.’

 

Algerian footballer’s doping ban extended to eight years: African news outlets are reporting that Mohamed Youcef Belaïli, who earlier this month tested positive for a prohibited product for the second time, has received an eight year ban by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The CAF initially banned Belaïli for two years after the first offence, and following the second infringement the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) increased this ban to four years. However, Belaïli then reportedly refused to appear in front of the Disciplinary Committee of the CAF, who subsequently imposed an eight-year ban.

 

Italian cyclist gets three-year ban for testosterone: Mauro Santambrogio has reportedly received a three-year ban by the sport’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), for a positive test for testosterone in 2014. According to Cycling Weekly, the Italian failed an ‘out-of-competition doping control in October last year’ while he was still serving a previous ban for testing positive for EPO at the 2013 Giro d’Italia.

The cyclist claimed that he had been prescribed the testosterone for erectile and fertility problems and that he could not have applied for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) at the time as he was not training or competing and didn’t hold a UCI licence. Santambrogio has reportedly accepted the ban, which runs until 21 October 2017.

 

Nepal excluded from youth international football tournament: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have announced that Nepal have been barred from the AFC Under-16 Championships to be held in India next year after it found that Nepal ‘fielded an ineligible player in all three of its group matches.’ The AFC Disciplinary Committee came to the decision after an MRI test on one of the player’s revealed a ‘complete fusion of his radial bone’ – the method used by the AFC to determine a player’s age under Article 21 of the Competition Regulations.

The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) were also fined USD $14,500. The AFC further announced that Kyrgyzstan would compete at the tournament as one of the 16 teams instead, following Nepal’s exclusion.

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