CAS clears Australian swimmer Ryan Napoleon to participate in Delhi CWG

MELBOURNE - Australian swimmer Ryan Napoleon has been cleared to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), after being suspended for using a wrongly labelled asthma inhaler.

The CAS changed the dates of Napoleon’s three-month ban, imposed by governing body FINA, from June 15 to September 14 (Tuesday).

Swimming Australia (SA) will reportedly formalise his return to the team today.

“This is great news for Ryan and the Australian swim team as a whole as we finalise preparations for Delhi. At only 20 years of age, Ryan has handled himself extremely well during this whole process and he will now focus on getting back into the pool and into his training,” The Telegraph quoted a SA spokesman, as saying.

Napoleon has been qualified to swim the 400 meters and 1,500 meters freestyle at the October 3-14 Games.

The International Swimming Federation originally slapped Napoleon with a three-month suspension from August 20, which ruled him out of the Games. He failed a drug test after using an asthma medication that was mislabelled by his pharmacist.

Although the FINA anti-doping panel accepted that he did not intend to cheat, it held him partly responsible for the error because he did not check the medication.

The young swimmer decided to appeal after he was informed that he would not only be allowed to compete but also will lack permission to be trained with his normal squad during the period of the ban. (ANI)