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Ntshumayelo yet to lodge an appeal

Cape Town - Thandani Ntshumayelo is yet to lodge an appeal against the four-year ban from football he received after testing positive for a Class A drug.

The player's career could potentially be over should he not appeal and be granted a reduction.

Orlando Pirates terminated the mid-fielder's contract upon learning of his guilt and he now faces an uncertain future.

The 26-year-old, who has three caps for Bafana Bafana, pleaded guilty to taking cocaine, however, the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport did not act leniently in determining the length of his sentence.

Ntshumayelo would be 30 by the time his sentence has run its course should he not decide to appeal - an age at which many footballers in the Premiership are considered to be nearing the end of their career.

Nonetheless, SAIDS CEO Khalid Galant has confirmed that no appeal has been lodged, and added that it appeared unlikely that a reduction of sentence could be possible if he was to appeal due to regulations regarding incidents of doping.

Sport24 reported earlier that Ntshumayelo has 21 days to appeal his four-year ban by SAIDS, from the day the sentence was handed down on Tuesday, August 23.

He told Kwese Sports website: "It's not about how sincere the story is. You must remember that every athlete that tests positive comes in there with cap in hand. I mean he even told the panel how many lines of cocaine he snorted.

"He was sentenced according to the sanctions stipulated in the new World Anti-Doping code. Prior to 2015, he would have likely got a two-year sentence. He has a week or so to appeal but we've heard nothing from him yet."

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