Former Sevilla footballer and world champion Papu Gomez, who competed with Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar, has been banned for two years for containing terbutaline, a substance similar to albuterol. This medicine is used to prevent and treat shortness of breath and difficulty breathing caused by asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. It belongs to the family of bronchodilators known as beta-2 adrenergic agonists, which work by relaxing the bronchial muscles. Relevo announced the Argentinian’s positive result.
Anti-doping control last season was implemented by the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency (now known as CELAD) (Spanish Anti-Doping Committee for Sport). The CELAD Independent Sanctions Committee, composed of seven experts from various fields, has imposed the two-year penalty in accordance with the provisions of the Anti-Doping Law that came into effect in December 2021 and is expected to be approved by the National Sports General Administration. A council of ministers will be held next Tuesday after the acting government issues a royal decree.
Papu Gomez was able to participate in the World Cup in Qatar with Argentina because he was not suspended as a precautionary measure because the use of terbutaline was not considered. severe doping.
The situation is different for midfielders Frenchman Paul Pogbahe tested positive for testosterone, a drug considered a serious drug, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison.
The sports court that sanctioned the Papu Gomez case is the Anti-Doping Sanctions Committee, which was established under the new law and consists of seven members, four jurists and three professionals from the fields of science, medicine and sports composition.
Its chairman is Rafael Caballero, professor of administrative law at the Madrid Institute of Political Science. In an interview with ABC, he assured that “doping must be banned in sport.”
The footballer, who now belongs to Italian club Monza, gave his version of events to Argentinian newspaper Olé. He privately claimed that consumption of the substance was involuntary.He claimed he had a dry cough and had ingested Children’s syrup One of his kids was handling this and he thought it was honey and lemons. Papp insisted he had no idea he had taken illegal drugs.