World Rugby has handed former Georgia captain Merab Sharikadze an 11-year ban for his role in a scheme involving urine sample substitution and advance warnings of anti-doping tests, uncovered through a joint investigation with the World Anti-Doping Agency -WADA-. The former Georgian centre received the heaviest sanction among the six players punished in a case the governing body describes as the largest anti-doping investigation in its history.
The ruling also includes a six-year suspension for Giorgi Chkoidze, three-year bans for Lasha Khmaladze, Otar Lashkhi and Miriani Modebadze, and a nine-month suspension for Lasha Lomidze. Doctor Nutsa Shamatava, the team’s former medical officer, was banned for nine years, while the Georgia Rugby Union accepted a misconduct charge, a financial penalty and new obligations around anti-doping education and control.
A sample substitution scheme before Rugby World Cup 2023
The investigation was launched after World Rugby detected irregularities in urine samples collected through its out-of-competition testing programme in the period before Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. Further analysis, including DNA testing and samples preserved through the governing body’s long-term storage system, linked Sharikadze to samples attributed to three other Georgia players.
According to World Rugby, Sharikadze provided urine for samples associated with Modebadze, Lomidze and Lashkhi between February 2022 and June 2023. Shamatava was identified as the organiser of the sample substitution scheme and also as the person who gave advance notice of out-of-competition tests in group chats involving at least 26 players.
The sporting and reputational blow for Sharikadze and Georgia
The governing body said its initial working hypothesis was that the substitutions were intended to conceal the use of performance-enhancing substances, although the investigation found no evidence to support that line. It did find credible evidence that the samples were switched to hide substances not linked to performance enhancement, including cannabis and tramadol.
The sanction bars Sharikadze from any rugby-related activity until 2035, although the player had already retired from the sport and started a career in mixed martial arts. His standing in Georgian rugby was significant: he captained the national team that beat Wales in Cardiff in 2022 and earned more than 100 caps for Georgia.
Georgia keeps its place at Rugby World Cup 2027
The case comes at a sensitive point for Georgia, a national team that had built much of its international profile on its dominance of the Rugby Europe Championship and on the recurring debate over its place in higher-level competition structures, including the Six Nations. The sanction does not amount to a direct sporting exclusion, but it does damage the institutional position of a union now required to apply additional anti-doping education and control measures after accepting the misconduct charge.
The institutional setback also follows an unexpected sporting result: Georgia lost the Rugby Europe Championship final to Portugal in March, 19-17, ending a 43-match unbeaten run in the competition and leaving the Georgians without the title for the first time since 2017. Georgia’s participation in Rugby World Cup 2027 is not affected by the case: the team keeps its place at the tournament in Australia and has been drawn in pool B alongside South Africa, Italy and Romania.
Last related articles
