Boxing New Zealand has reported an anti-doping rule violation against Respondent after he refused to supply a sample for drug testing. Respondent filed a statement in his defence and was heard for the Tribunal. Respondent admitted the anti-doping violation but stated he refused to provide a sample because he had not been boxing for over a year and therefore thought he would not have to provide a sample.
However, the Tribunal concludes he was wrong. Although Respondent said he was not boxing at the time of the refusal, he had never formally retired from the sport and in fact gave evidence to the Tribunal that “he was taking a break” and thought he may at some stage return to boxing. As he had not advised Boxing NZ he was retired, nor gone through the formal processes required to retire, he remained a national level athlete who was clearly eligible for out of competition testing and was properly required to provide a sample.
The Tribunal concludes Respondent had made no attempt to determine what his obligations were and could not show he had no significant fault in wrongly refusing to provide a sample.
The Sports Tribunal of New Zealand decides to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Respondent starting on 18 March 2007.
