The Court Of Arbitration For Sport (CAS) Confirms The Suspension Imposed On The Egyptian Weightlifting Federation
Press Release
5th December 2019
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the appeal arbitration procedure between the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation (EWF) and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
The EWF’s appeal against the decision taken by the IWF Independent Member Federation Sanctions Panel on 12 September 2019 (the Challenged Decision) has been dismissed.
Accordingly, the sanctions imposed by the IWF instances stand.
On 31 December 2017, further to positive out-of-competition tests (methandienone) conducted by the IWF at a training camp in the lead up to the African Junior and Youth Championships in Cairo, Egypt in December 2016, the IWF Hearing Panel sanctioned seven Egyptian weightlifters, five of which were minors at the time the tests were conducted, with four-year periods of ineligibility.
Having reviewed the matter, on 12 September 2019, the IWF Independent Member Federation Sanctions Panel issued a decision in which it, inter alia, suspended any current EWF “team official” who was an EWF team official at the Junior Championships or the Junior Championships training camp from participation in any IWF activities for a period of two years, suspended the EWF from participation in any IWF activities for a period of two years and imposed a fine of USD 200,000 on the EWF.
The EWF filed an appeal against the Challenged Decision at the CAS in October 2019. The matter was referred to a Panel of CAS arbitrators composed of Prof. Jens Evald, President (Denmark), Dr. Mohamed Abdel Raouf (Egypt) and Mr Markus Manninen (Finland). The Panel held a hearing in Lausanne on 3 December 2019. Only the operative part of the decision was issued to the parties today. The reasoned award with the grounds for the Panel’s decision is being finalised and will be notified to the parties as soon as possible.
