Former Olympic champion Galabin Boevski's appeal to lift his eight-year ban for doping has been rejected, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian, winner of the 69kg category at the Sydney Games in 2000, was handed the ban by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in March for tampering with his urine sample at last year's world championships in Vancouver.

The doping authorities discovered that Boevski's urine sample was identical to that of two team mates, Zlatan Vanev and Georgi Markov.

The IWF concluded that the three athletes had committed a doping infraction by "physical manipulation".

Vanev and Markov were given 18-month bans in a compromise with the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation to avoid a costly extended investigation into the incident.

Boevski's ban was eight years because it was the second time he had committed a doping office since 1995.

Source: Xinhua