Ban stands for ´obsessed´ Toure

Kolo Toure became ‘obsessed with his weight’, according to the English FA’s hearing into the Manchester City defender’s doping ban.

Toure was handed a six-month suspension on May 26 after failing a doping test, with the 30-year-old admitting to taking his wife’s diet tablets.

Claims that Toure had received permission from Manchester City club doctor Jamie Butler were denied by a commission into the hearing, with the details released on Friday: “(Butler) never told him it was safe to use water tablets. He would have unequivocally have said such were prohibited and should not be used,” a report read.

The report said ‘the FA does not positively assert that (Toure) had an intention to enhance sporting performance or to mask the use of a performance-enhancing substance’.

But it also stated ‘there was no dispute that (Toure) was at fault’, and the committee rejected the request from Toure’s counsel Adam Lewis that the suspension should not be longer than three months.

The six-month suspension was upheld as the ‘appropriate penalty’, as was the date (March 2) it was handed down.

Toure can return to playing for City from September 2, but will be subjected to a two-year period of target testing that began in May.