14:58 | Zurich (Switzerland), Mar. 20.
The case of Peru’s national soccer team captain Paolo Guerrero, who appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have a doping suspension lifted, will be heard "by the end of April," CAS official sources informed on Tuesday.
In late December, FIFA announced the striker got his suspension reduced to
six months, thus allowing him to play the 2018 World Cup.
The decision came after the international organization's Appeal Committee agreed to reduce a previous
one-year suspension imposed on the athlete after analyzing all the specific circumstances of his case.
This way the suspension period, that started on November 3, 2017, would end on May 3 this year.
However, the 34-year-old athlete appealed the decision in January, seeking acquittal.
A CAS spokesman told AFP on Tuesday that Guerrero's latest appeal will be heard by "the end of April," after he asked "that the suspension decision be cancelled and no sanction imposed on him".
Guerrero tested positive for a cocaine metabolite after a World Cup qualifier against Argentina last October and missed the two-leg play-off against New Zealand.
The former Bayern Munich player scored the vital late equalizer against Colombia that saw Peru edge into that play-off.
The South American country kick off their first World Cup campaign since 1982 against Denmark in Saransk on June 16, before further Group C games against France and Australia.
(END) AFP/RES/FGM/RMB
Published: 3/20/2018