Overview
- World Rugby and WADA announced Tuesday that six former Georgia players and a team doctor received bans totaling just over 35 years.
- Former captain Merab Sharikadze was banned for 11 years and team doctor Nutsa Shamatava for 9 years, while Giorgi Chkoidze got 6 years, Lasha Khmaladze, Otar Lashkhi and Miriani Modebadze got 3 years each, and Lasha Lomidze got 9 months, with all bans backdated and covering all rugby activity.
- The joint probe, triggered by irregularities in urine samples before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, documented five cases of swapped samples and found that employees of Georgia’s anti-doping agency gave advance notice of tests.
- Investigators reported no evidence of efforts to hide performance enhancers and said credible evidence pointed to concealment of cannabis and the painkiller tramadol.
- The Georgia Rugby Union accepted a misconduct charge that includes a financial penalty and a reform plan, and WADA’s president said the case will lead to deeper scrutiny of Georgian sport.