Former Springboks player Mahlatse “Chiliboy” Ralepelle has lost his appeal against an eight-year doping ban.
The 34-year-old tested positive for the banned anabolic agent, Zeranol, during a Sharks rugby training session in January 2019.
A statement from the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) cofirmed that an independent appeal panel had upheld the original sanction of eight years handed out on July 1st.
The former Toulouse hooker hooker won the last of his 25 South Africa caps in June 2018. The statement read:
“Mr Ralepelle tested positive for the banned anabolic agent, Zeranol, during a Sharks rugby training session on January 17th 2019. The athlete contested the doping charges in front of an Independent Doping Hearing Panel. This panel found the athlete guilty of the doping offence and took into account that it was his second doping offence within a10-year period.
“The panel relied on the sanction’s framework in the World Anti-Doping Code that granted them the jurisdiction to hand down an eight-year ban from sport.
“The athlete lodged an appeal against the ban and also the drug testing process that he was subjected to. An Independent Appeal Panel heard the grounds for appeal. The Appeal Panel found that the panel that heard the hearing, in the first instance, had not erred in their application of the sanction’s framework in the World Anti-Doping Code.
“The Appeal Panel therefore upheld the original sanction of eight years. Mr Ralepelle’s ban from sport is backdated to the 17th January 2019 for eight years. If the athlete does not accept the decision, he may seek relief at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
“He is afforded 21 days to file an appeal before CAS should he wish to challenge the decision rendered.”
