The Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS has reduced the doping ban slammed on Cameroon and Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper Andre Onana from 12 to nine months.
The decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS follows an appeal filed by the goalkeeper’s club, Ajax on the decision last February 4 by UEFA to suspend him from football activities both at the national and the international level for a period of one year, after he failed a doping test in October 2020.
Ajax claimed the doping offence was committed “unwittingly”; Andre Onana said it was “the result of human mistake” and requested a total removal of the suspension, indicating it was excessive and disproportionate.
“On the morning of 30 October Onana did not feel well”. Andre Onana said. He wanted to take a tablet. Unwittingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been prescribed,” an Ajax statement said.
UEFA’s disciplinary body ruled that he did not intend to cheat. However, it advanced that according to the prevailing anti-doping rules, an athlete has a duty at all times to ensure that no prohibited substances enter the body.
The panel of CAS arbitrators in charge of the matter after listening to the goalkeeper last June 2 partially upheld the appeal, taking into consideration the fact that he ingested medicine destined for another person and reduced the period of suspension from 12 to 9 months, beginning from February 4, 2021 for negligence.
The player will thus be fit to resume football activities by the 4 of November 2021.
The decision thus gives Onana a chance of representing Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations which holds on home soil early next year.
However, the goalkeeper will miss Cameroon’s upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers in September against Malawi and Cote d’Ivoire as well as the double header against Mozambique in October.
Andre Onana’s future at club level remains uncertain after Ajax decided to extend the contract of Dutch goalkeeper Marteen Stekelenburg as well as recruiting a new goalkeeper Remko Pasveer.
JDC TV, Video news 
