African badminton champion Kate Foo Kune has been handed a two-year doping ban after failing to prove her drink was spiked.
Foo Kune, who carried the Mauritian flag at the 2016 Rio Olympics, tested positive for a banned steroid at the 2019 African Badminton Championships.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) found there was no evidence to back up her claims.
The 27-year-old’s ban from competition begins from 15 December.
The Badminton World Federation initially accepted that “an ill-intentioned individual” had sabotaged Foo Kune’s water and she “bore no fault or negligence”.
However, the case was appealed to Cas and a panel concluded there was no evidence of foul play, with the four-time African champion handed the ban.
As the ban begins this week she will not be stripped of her 2020 African Championships title, but will miss the Tokyo Olympics.
“The Cas panel found the athlete’s assertion of intentional spiking during the 2019 African Badminton World Championships devoid of supporting evidence,” said a statement from Cas.
Foo Kune, ranked 105th in the world, previously trained at the Leeds Badminton Performance Centre.
