Napoli midfielder Daniele Mannini has been handed a one-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after arriving late for an anti-doping test while playing for Brescia last season.
Mannini's former Brescia team-mate Davide Possanzini has also been hit with a 12-month ban after both were found guilty "of non-cooperation with anti-doping officials" following the club's Serie B match against Chievo on December 1, 2007.
Mannini, 25, and Possanzini, 32, were issued with 15-day suspensions by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in March of last year, but that ruling was challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who took the case to CAS.
"The CAS Panel considered the behaviour of the Players at the time of the anti-doping control also amounted to a violation of Article 2.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code (failure to submit to sample collection), and that by ignoring this fact, [the CONI panel] misapplied the rules, and in turn, applied the wrong sanction," read a CAS statement.
"On the basis of the very particular circumstances of this dispute, the Panel ruled that although the Players remain at fault, they were entitled to benefit from a finding of 'no significant fault', allowing their sanction to be reduced to one half of the minimum period of two years ineligibility otherwise applicable.
"In light of this, the CAS Panel has decided to suspend the Players for a period of one year."
The pair will be eligible to resume their careers on January 14, 2010 after CAS confirmed their original 15-day punishments would be taken into account.
Mannini left Brescia in January 2008 to sign a deal with Serie A outfit Napoli.
Mannini, 25, and Possanzini, 32, were issued with 15-day suspensions by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in March of last year, but that ruling was challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who took the case to CAS.
"The CAS Panel considered the behaviour of the Players at the time of the anti-doping control also amounted to a violation of Article 2.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code (failure to submit to sample collection), and that by ignoring this fact, [the CONI panel] misapplied the rules, and in turn, applied the wrong sanction," read a CAS statement.
"On the basis of the very particular circumstances of this dispute, the Panel ruled that although the Players remain at fault, they were entitled to benefit from a finding of 'no significant fault', allowing their sanction to be reduced to one half of the minimum period of two years ineligibility otherwise applicable.
"In light of this, the CAS Panel has decided to suspend the Players for a period of one year."
The pair will be eligible to resume their careers on January 14, 2010 after CAS confirmed their original 15-day punishments would be taken into account.
Mannini left Brescia in January 2008 to sign a deal with Serie A outfit Napoli.
Copyright (c) Press Association
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