WELLINGTON: New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder has been suspended for six months for failing a doping test for banned stimulants he claimed he took in a supplement to help him lose weight, the country’s top sports tribunal said yesterday.
Ryder returned a positive sample after being tested following a match for provincial side Wellington Firebirds against Northern Knights on March 24, the Sports Tribunal said in a release on its website (www.sportstribunal.org.nz/).
Ryder tested positive to 1-Phenylbutan-2-amine (PBA) and N, alphadiethyl-benzeneethanamine (DEBEA), both of which are banned in competition, and was subsequently handed a six-month provisional ban on April 19, the release said.
The tribunal said that it accepted Ryder’s reasons for taking supplements and upheld the provisional ban, meaning the ban would be lifted on October 19.
“The mandatory penalty for this violation is two years’ suspension,” the tribunal said. “However, the suspension can be less if the athlete establishes how the prohibited substances got in his system and that the taking of the prohibited substance was not intended to enhance his sport performance.”
The tribunal added: “We do not need to detail Mr Ryder’s evidence other than to say in summary that he expressed a sensitivity arising from public comments about his weight and, as he was in a good space at the time about his cricketing form, he had decided to make a further attempt to reduce weight.”
Pakistan pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who is currently serving a seven-year ban for spot-fixing in a 2010 Test against England, both tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs but had bans overturned on appeal. Former Australia spinner Shane Warne was famously banned a day before the start of the 2003 World Cup in Africa and sent home after testing positive for a banned diuretic. REUTERS
