African Football’s ruling body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reduced the twelve months ban on Enyimba midfielder and captain Austin Oladapo.
Oladapo was initially banned for one year by CAF for testing positive for prednisolone in a test conducted in May.
The initial ban meant he would stay away from all football-related activities until July 2022, but following an appeal, the midfielder has now been cleared to return on January 5 by the CAF Appeals Committee.
In his defence, Oladapo maintained that any trace of the substances found in his blood sample would have been from the anti-Covid19 medications he was taking at the time. Also, his club, Enyimba, in testimony maintained the same stance, arguing that their captain would not purposely take a banned substance and had no prior doping record.
After the hearing on Wednesday, September 22, a statement from the CAF Appeals Committee read;
“The Board has decided to reduce the sanction of player Oladapo Augustine from one year to six (6) months. Therefore the player Oladapo Augustine is suspended from taking part in any football-related activities until 4th January 2022.”