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PERU captain Paolo Guerrero was cleared yesterday to play at the World Cup despite a doping ban.
Switzerland’s supreme court granted an interim order to freeze Guerrero’s 14-month ban for testing positive to cocaine at a World Cup qualifying game.
“As a result, Paolo Guerrero can take part in the next World Cup,” said the court.
The judge took into account that, at 34, Guerrero should not miss the first opportunity of his career to play at the World Cup.
Guerrero’s urgent request to the federal court was helped by Fifa and the World Anti-Doping Agency, according to the court.
"Neither one nor the other was categorically opposed” to him playing, the court said.
The interim ruling — four days before the deadline for Peru to finalise its 23-man World Cup squad — puts the ban imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on hold until full consideration of the case at a later date.
Guerrero tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine at a World Cup qualifier against Argentina in October. He argued that the stimulant had not been performance enhancing, and was accidentally consumed in contaminated tea.
