Para-archer Robert Knight banned two years for illegal substance

Para-archer Robert Knight has been suspended for two years. Photo / Getty

Competitive para-archer Robert Knight has been suspended by the Sports Tribunal for two years after testing positive for a banned substance.

Knight participated in the North Island Senior Target Championships in April 2023 and underwent a drug test.

His sample showed the presence of the beta blocker metoprolol and its metabolite a-hydroxymetoprolol, which is a specified substance prohibited at all times for archery athletes.

Knight admitted the violation and said he had been prescribed metoprolol by his doctor, who he said knew he was a competitive archer, to treat an ongoing condition and he did not know it was a prohibited substance.

Drug Free Sport New Zealand did not seek to establish that Knight had taken the substance intentionally to enhance his performance.

The Sports Tribunal accepted the presence of the prohibited substance in Knight’s system was sufficient to establish an anti-doping rule violation had occurred and further accepted Knight had no intention of using the substance in competition.

Accordingly, the tribunal imposed a sanction of a two-year period of ineligibility. The ban is backdated to the date of the provisional suspension order imposed on Knight, meaning he is suspended until November 10, 2025.