Azerbaijan lose Games hockey bid

Published August 9, 2008

BEIJING, Aug 8: Azerbaijan’s last-ditch attempt to take part in Olympic field hockey was on Friday thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), the Switzerland-based body said.

Azerbaijan went to the CAS to protest at the decision of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to allow Spain to take part in the Games despite alleged doping violations against two players.

Azerbaijan argued that two Spanish girls, Gloria Comerma and an unnamed player, had failed dope tests during the Olympic qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan in April.

The FIH, while accepting that Comerma committed an anti-doping rule violation, declined to impose sanctions against her since “there was no fault or negligence on her part.”

The case against the other player was dropped.—AFP

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