Ex-Birkirkara defender Iorio’s appeal on doping ban rejected

Uruguayan must serve four-year suspension

Former Birkirkara defender Osvaldo Iorio has lost his appeal against a four-year doping ban issued to him by Malta’s National Anti-Doping Organisation which forms part of the Authority for Integrity in Maltese Sport, Times of Malta can confirm.

Iorio’s fate was made public on Tuesday after the case was closed by the Maltese national body following the conclusion of both the doping hearing and the appeal to the first judgement lodged by the player.

The Uruguayan defender underwent a doping test at the end of Birkirkara’s 4-3 victory over Mosta in the FA Trophy that was played on April 26, 2023.

Results showed that there were traces of cocaine and amphetamine found in the urine samples submitted by the player during the doping test.

Both substances are prohibited and classified as Non-Specified Anti-Stimulants in the 2023 World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

Iorio initially appeared in front of the National Anti-Doping Panel and was found guilty of making use of prohibited substances and was imposed a period of ineligibility of four years effective from May 18, 2023.

Iorio, who was defended by Birkirkara FC’s lawyer Dr Adrian Delia, lodged an appeal on his suspension.

During the sitting, Iorio’s lawyer based his appeal on three arguments, namely Conflict of Language used, Irreguarities in the Letter of Charge, and Irregularity in the Procedure.

Iorio’s lawyer contended that “there were discrepancies between the English text and the Maltese text of the Legal Notice 104 of 2021 cited in this case.

However, the Appeal Panel dismissed this plea.

Iorio also argued that the charge sheet was incorrect as “the articles of the law were incorrectly cited” and the article numbers used made no reference to the charge.

However, the panel observed that Iorio, “having regard to the clear and accurate content of the referenced article, either knew or ought to know the nature of the charge being levied against him.”

Thus it dismissed the plea to drop the charge letter.

The former Birkirkara defender alleged that there was an irregularity in the procedure used in his doping test.

Iorio’s lawyer argued that the ‘chain in custody’ was breached with the handling of the sample bottles and this due to the fact that the “bottle seal was broken off from samples 1 and 2 and placed into a third container.”

The panel dismissed this plea as it said that a standard procedure was followed by virtue of current legislation and also the World Anti-Doping Code. 

“It is standard procedure that containers containing partial samples would be unsealed and placed into a third container, which container was tamper evident,” the panel ruled, thus rejecting the player’s stance.

Iorio also said that the substances he took were not taken to increase his performance during the said football match.

The panel said in this regard, that while understanding that it may not have been the case that Iorio administered the substance for performance-enhancing motives, it “also contends that the athlete has a responsibility not to partake in any substance that are prohibited.

“In this instance, the appellant was found to be positive for Compounds present in sample: Benzyolecognine (Cocaine Metabolite), Cocaine and Amphetamine, all prohibited under the WADA Code” and thus this complaint was rejected.

Thus the Appeal’s Body rejected Iorio’s appeal and ruled that the original four-year ban should stand.