In April 2008 the International Rugby Board (IRB) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Georgian junior rugby player Ladiko Chochishvili after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substance 19-norandrosterone (Nandrolone). After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the IRB Judicial Committee.
The Athlete admitted the violation and denied the intentional use of a prohibited substance. He stated that previously he had consulted his doctor in Georgia because of food poisoning symptoms and he had received several injections and taken pills without knowledge that a banned substance was administered. The Athlete didn’t know what his doctor had prescribed and attempts hereafter to contact the doctor were unsuccessful.
The Committee did not accept the Athlete’s statement and finds that he failed to produce relevant evidence about the prescribed medication and his effort to contact the doctor in an unnamed village in Georgia in his attempt to establish exceptional circumstances.
Without grounds for a reduced sanction the IRB Judicial Committee decides on 4 July 2008 to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 25 April 2008.
