Saudi Arabia great Noor given four-year doping ban
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has imposed a four-year "period of ineligibility" on Mohammed Noor as a result of a failed doping test.
Former Saudi Arabia star Mohammed Noor has been banned for four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport over a doping offence.
The 38-year-old tested positive for banned substance Amphetamine in a routine in-competition doping control exam in November 2015.
Noor was given a four-year ban by the Saudi anti-doping authorities but was allowed to resume playing football in April this year after an appeal panel accepted his claim that he had served a sufficient punishment.
However, an appeal from FIFA to CAS to have his full four-year ban reinstated was upheld following proceedings in Lausanne on Thursday.
"The Panel found that the player failed to identify any basis for impugning the reliability or accuracy of the testing laboratory's analysis of his A and B Sample," CAS explained in a statement.
"Moreover, the player could not identify any particular deviation from the WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] International Standards for Laboratories. Therefore, the appropriate sanction for the player's anti-doping rule violation is a four-year period of ineligibility."
Noor, who has 98 international caps to his name and twice represented his country at the World Cup, is one of the country's most famous sporting figures and has spent 23 years in the top flight with Al Ittihad and Al Nassr.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
He has won two AFC Champions League and eight Saudi Premier League titles in a highly successful career.
‘Managing Leeds? It was an option that appeared, but it wasn’t the right timing. I decided it wasn’t a good idea to leave the club I was at mid-season’: Premier League boss admits to turning down opportunity to replace Jesse Marsch in 2023
‘Ruben Amorim could have waited for Real Madrid and had a better chance to be successful – to have joined Manchester United, he must be convinced in his own ability’ Former Old Trafford coach’s verdict on new boss