- In approaching the Court of Arbitration for Sport, former Springbok wing Aphiwe Dyantyi is seeking a lesser sentence for his doping ban.
- Dyantyi has been banned for four years after testing positive for three banned substances.
- As an international athlete, Dyantyi has the option of taking up the CAS route.
Aphiwe Dyantyi’s agent Gert van der Merwe says they are looking to have the former Springbok wing’s doping sentence lessened at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
Dyantyi, who had a blazing debut year as a Springbok in 2018, tested positive for three banned substances in 2019 and has been off the rugby radar ever since.
When his four-year ban was confirmed in December last year, it was backdated to his initial suspension in August 2019.
Dyantyi has now approached CAS to seek a reduced sentence.
Van der Merwe said while his athlete took responsibility for having the substances in his system, a lesser sentence should have been considered by the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (Saids) and CAS now stands as the only viable option for Dyantyi with regards to a lesser sentence.
Dyantyi was able to take this route because of his status as an international athlete in 2019.
"He's already served a year and a half. It's almost two years now. We accepted that the stuff was in his body. We explained how it got there, that it wasn’t intentional. It was through no fault of his own. It could have been some negligence on his part that he should have gone to gym with someone he could lean on," Van der Merwe said.
"We feel there will be a sentence and somewhere between 18 and 24 months is a fair sanction, so that's what we are gunning for.
"If there's a sentence, we hope it will be less than what they subscribed for us. I'm hoping that another panel will come to a different conclusion. There's no relevant fault of our own and if there is, it shouldn’t be substantial enough."
Dyantyi's four-year ban, according to Saids at the time of his suspension, was in in-line with a tournament cycle period where an athlete cannot compete in the year leading up to a major tournament.
Van der Merwe said Dyantyi's ban was extraordinarily harsh, especially given how they explained their case.
"I think the four-year ban that was handed down by the panel in our hearing was too harsh," he said.
"Not all the aspects in the case that we laid out were considered. On a balance of probabilities, we proved our case and they disagreed."
