The GAA and Sport Ireland have issued a joint statement to confirm Ray Walker has committed an anti-doping rule violation and will serve a four year ban.
The statement reads that:
Mr Walker has accepted a period of ineligibility of 4 years commencing on February 18, 2020.
In a doping control test at a training session on February 18, 2020, he provided a sample, which tested positive for the presence of a prohibited substance, Meldonium. Mr Walker was notified of the positive test on March 30.
On April 1, Mr Walker accepted the imposition of a 4 year ban and waived his right to a hearing.
On the April 8, Sport Ireland issued its reasoned decision to Mr Walker pursuant to Article 7.6.4, imposing the 4 year ban.
The reasoned decision referred to the right of appeal available to WADA, the GAA and to Mr Walker within 21 days of receipt of this decision by these parties.
On April 21, Mr Walker filed an appeal of the reasoned decision and sought a reduced ban.
From media reports on Wednesday, April 28, it appeared that Mr Walker was again accepting a 4 year ban without the need for a hearing and yesterday morning, April 29, Mr Walker confirmed to Sport Ireland that he had withdrawn his appeal.
Ray Walker issued his own statement on Tuesday to say that while he was accepting the ban, the acceptance of the ban did not constitute an admission of intentional wrongdoing on his part.
Walker said that:
"Anything that was found in my system was there completely unintentionally. I cannot explain for sure how the substance came to be in my system but I was taking anti-inflammatories for a lower stomach issue around the time of the test.
I am accepting the 4-year ban because I want this episode over and done with and, at 35, even a lesser ban would still mean I was unlikely to ever return to playing. It is not an admission of intentional wrong doing on my part in any way.
Finally, from the time that I re-joined the Carlow panel in November to the time the test took place in February, I did not receive any anti-doping training or education."
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