China’s triple Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang has had an eight-year doping ban « set aside » by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in a ruling that could prove highly embarrassing for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and a former Italian Foreign Minister.
The original CAS panel comprised former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini — who is also an Italian magistrate — as well as Belgian lawyer Romano Subiotto and British lawyer Philippe Sands. CAS listed Frattini as the panel’s President The Swiss Federal Supreme Court overturned Sun’s CAS ban « on the grounds of bias » on Tuesday. Sun had been given the ban for refusing to complete an out-of-competition doping test. In February, CAS accepted an appeal from WADA against a decision by the world swimming body FINA to clear the Chinese swimmer of wrongdoing for his conduct during the test in September 2018. ‘Different composition of the panel’ But in the latest legal twist, Sun’s legal team successfully challenged the CAS ruling.
