SPORT IRELAND AND the Irish Amateur Wrestling Association (IAWA) have jointly confirmed that 97kg wrestler Peter Newti has received a backdated three-month ban after he tested positive for a cannabinoid in an in-competition test conducted following November’s IAWA Irish Open.

The 21-year-old’s sample was tested by a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory in Cologne, wherein the presence of a prohibited substance, carboxy-THC, was discovered. Carboxy-THC is the main secondary metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol, which is formed in the body after cannabis is consumed.

It is prohibited only in-competition.

Sport Ireland notified Newti of the alleged anti-doping rule violation by letter dated 2 December 2019.

The wrestler subsequently explained to the satisfaction of Sport Ireland how he had ingested the substance, and that his consumption of cannabis was unrelated to sport performance.

Sport Ireland issued a backdated three-month ban beginning on 16 December 2019, deeming the period to be sufficient while citing “the athlete’s timely admission, the evidence as to how the prohibited substance entered his system, the fact that he had demonstrated that the context of the use was unrelated to sport performance, previous cases involving cannabis and the fact that from 2021 the
World-Anti-Doping Code will provide for a period of ineligibility of three (3) months in respect of cannabis.”

Newti accepted his suspension on 23 January and will be eligible to compete again on 16 March. His results from the 2019 Irish Open last November have been invalidated.