Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Thandani ‘Bibo’ Ntshumayelo can return to playing after having his four-year ban successfully overturned on appeal two years after the initial sentencing.
The midfielder tested positive for cocaine in 2016 while playing for Orlando Pirates. Ntshumayelo was given a lengthy four-year ban that looked to effectively ended his football career.
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He has now, however, been handed a lifeline, with Soccer Laduma reporting that the midfielder can immediately return to playing football if he can find himself a club.
The 28-year-old will now look to put the ban from the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (Saids) behind him and return to the football field if a club is willing to take a risk on him.
Ntshumayelo’s attorney Mpho Sethaba from Fluxmans Attorneys confirmed that the player’s appeal was successful.
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‘Thandani was found guilty of an anti-doping violation in August 2016 and a four-year sanction was imposed. Thandani was recently given an opportunity to appeal the sanction and did so in July 2018. The appeal was filed on the basis that the appropriate sanction should have been two years.
‘The appeal panel has found in favour of Thandani and reduced his sanction to two years. The effect of the ruling by the appeal panel is that Thandani can immediately return to football as he has served a period in excess of two years,’ concluded Sethaba.
