By Andrew Warshaw
March 3 – Ivory Coast international Kolo Toure has been suspended by his club Manchester City after failing a drugs test.
Football, rarely regarded as a sport aided by performing-enhancing drugs, has been relatively free of doping cases but the African defender apparently tested positive for “a specified substance”.
“He has been suspended from participating in all first team and non-first team matches pending the outcome of the legal process,” a City statement read.
“There will be no further comment from the football club at this stage.”
Toure was informed by the Football Association that an A sample he provided had returned positive.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) define a specified substance as one that is “more susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation”.
The WADA punishment for such a positive test ranges from a warning to a two-year ban but FIFA, football’s world governing body, has long been at loggerheads with WADA in an effort to impose their own sanctions.
Toure, 29, joined City for £14 million ($23 million) in 2009, ending a seven-year association with Arsenal.
He served as City’s captain until he was succeeded by Carlos Tevez for this season and is under contract with City until the summer of 2013.
But his suspension is a massive blow for the club, who lie third in the Premier League and are chasing a place in next season’s Champions League.
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