Di Luca saga drags on with new hearing in September

Rome, Aug 23: Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca is closer to finding out if he faces a ban for links to doping after the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said it had convened a new hearing.

CONI, Italy's anti-doping body, said on its Web site (www.coni.it) today that the first in a series of audiences would take place on September. 3 after attempts to bring the relevant parties together this week failed.

The Committee said it had received documents from the court in the town of Pescara regarding a criminal case against the Liquigas rider and that the complexity of the issue required further hearings.

Di Luca, who denies any wrongdoing, is at the centre of a long-running police and CONI investigation into Carlo Santuccione, a doctor accused of supplying doping products to athletes.

Reuters
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