Court dismisses Azerbaijan's case against Spain

updated 4:22 p.m. ET Aug. 2, 2008

BEIJING - Azerbaijan will not be allowed to compete in the Olympic women's field hockey tournament, after an arbitration court on Saturday dismissed its request to remove the Spanish team from the Beijing Games for doping violations.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has put a special tribunal in place in Beijing to rule quickly on disputes involving the Aug. 8-24 games, said Azerbaijan "had no standing ... to request such relief" and threw out the appeal.

Azerbaijan had requested to take the place of the Spanish team, challenging a decision by the International Hockey Federation, known as FIH, on alleged doping violations by two Spanish players at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Spain qualified for the Olympics with a 3-2 victory over Azerbaijan on April 20 but two of its players, Gloria Comerma and another unidentified player, tested positive for banned substances after the match.

The FIH ruled Comerma committed a violation, but decided not to impose any sanction because it found "there was no fault or negligence on her part." The federation's judicial commission said the second player did not commit a doping violation.

The sport's rules state that a country must be disqualified from a tournament if more than one team member tests positive.

MORE FROM BEIJING OLYMPICS NEWS

Beijing Olympics News Section Front

China’s gold medalists to receive $51,000 each China ends 'truly exceptional games' Castro defends athlete who kicked judge in face Beijing prepares for Olympic venues’ future China deports 10 activists after ceremony After victory, China's sports system at crossroads IOC president says Olympics opened up China New China? Bird's Nest replaces Mao on yuan Celizic: Phelps, Bolt will go down as Beijing's main men IOC: No proof China cheated in gymnastics Beijing Olympics News Section Front   Add Beijing Olympics News headlines to your news reader: