CAS confirms five-year ban imposed on Serbian wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili

As reported by the ITA previously, Serbian wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili was charged by the ITA with several anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) for the use of urine substitution on 27 May 2021 in the lead up to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and for the manufacturing and use of a fabricated video as evidence to justify a missed out-of-competition doping control on 6 January 2022.

On 19 September 2024, CAS ADD sanctioned Zurabi Datunashvili with 5 years of ineligibility. All results obtained by the athlete from 27 May 2021 until 11 April 2023 (date of the provisional suspension) were disqualified.

On 17 November 2025, and further to a partial appeal filed by the athlete against the CAS ADD decision, the CAS dismissed the athlete’s appeal thus confirming that Mr Datunashvili committed ADRVs for the use of a prohibited method (urine substitution) and of the tampering (use of fabricated evidence) in accordance with Articles 2.2 and 2.5 of the UWW Anti-Doping Rules and the sanction of 5 years of ineligibility to be served until 10 April 2028.

The CAS further confirmed the disqualification of all results obtained by the athlete from 27 May 2021 onwards, which includes the athlete’s bronze medal obtained at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and gold medals obtained at the 2021 and 2022 UWW World Championships.

The ITA will not comment further on this matter.