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7 May 2025
Over the course of 2023 and 2024, Iakobi Kajaia was included in the United World Wrestling (UWW) registered testing pool, managed by the ITA, and committed three whereabouts failures. More precisely, on three occasions over the course of twelve months, the ITA attempted to locate the athlete for unannounced sample collection, but the athlete could not be located based on the whereabouts information he had provided for such purpose. These circumstances amounted to an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to article 2.4 of the UWW anti-doping rules (UWW ADR).¹
Following the results management process conducted by the ITA, the ITA submitted the matter for adjudication to CAS ADD on 31 May 2024.
On 4 April 2025, and further to a fully-fledged hearing process during which the ITA represented UWW, CAS ADD found that the athlete had committed an ADRV for three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period in accordance with Article 2.4 of the UWW ADR.
As a result, CAS ADD has imposed a two-year period of ineligibility on Iakobi Kajaia from 4 April 2025 to 3 Apil 2027. Additionally, all results obtained by the athlete from 6 January 2024 onwards are disqualified.
The athlete and the relevant stakeholders, namely UWW/ITA, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency, have a right to appeal the CAS ADD decision before the appeals division of the CAS.
The ITA will not comment further on this case.
¹ Athletes included in a Registered Testing Pool (RTP), such as Iakobi Kajaia, have the obligation to provide daily whereabouts as well as a specific daily 60-minute time slot where they will be available for testing. The purpose is to allow anti-doping organisations to locate athletes for unannounced out-of-competition testing. Any combination of three missed tests (which relate to the athletes’ unavailability with respect to their 60-minute time slot) and/or filing failures (which are caused by the athletes’ failure to provide accurate whereabouts) committed within a twelve-month period amount to an ADRV as per article 2.4 of the UWW anti-doping rules and World Anti-Doping Code. The consequences for such ADRV are a period of Ineligibility between one and two years and the disqualification of results obtained since the date of the ADRV, namely the date of the occurrence of third whereabouts failure (article 10.3.2 of the UWW anti-doping rules).
