(Reuters) – Japanese swimmer Hiromasa Fujimori’s appeal against the length of his doping ban has been dismissed, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Friday.
Fujimori was banned for two years by the international swimming federation (FINA) after testing positive for the banned substance Methylephedrine.
The 28-year-old had requested for the sanction to be reduced, arguing that he had eaten “potentially contaminated rice balls” the day before the test.
CAS said in a statement that he had “failed to establish a plausible source to the presence of the prohibited substance in his sample.”
As a result, Fujimori will serve the full two-year ban which started on Jan. 1 2019.
Fujimori won two bronze medals at the 2018 World Championships and was a silver medalist at the 2014 Asian Games.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
