ISTANBUL: Turkish light middleweight boxer Tugrulhan Erdemir has been banned for two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for breaching anti-doping rules, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Friday.

CAS had confirmed in July Erdemir’s provisional suspension, which had ruled him out of the 71kg event at the Paris Olympics and a second hearing took place in October when the court found he had broken anti-doping rules.

“Erdemir returned an Atypical Finding (ATF) for the prohibited substance hydrochlorothiazide,” the ITA said in a statement. “Hydrochlorothiazide is prohibited under the 2024 WADA Prohibited list as a diuretic and masking agent (S.5).”

Masking agents can hide the presence of banned substances, making them harder to detect in tests. The diuretic can flush out other banned substances and conceal drug use without enhancing performance directly.

The 25-year-old, who failed a doping test on Feb 17, will have results obtained starting from that date disqualified. Erdemir won a bronze medal in the light middleweight category at last year’s European Games in Poland.

Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024