{"id":34637,"date":"2026-05-16T12:41:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34637"},"modified":"2026-05-16T12:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:41:44","slug":"springboks-ntlabakanye-gets-18-months-for-doping-violation","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/springboks-ntlabakanye-gets-18-months-for-doping-violation\/","title":{"rendered":"Springbok&#8217;s Ntlabakanye gets 18 months for doping violation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Springbok and Lions player Asenathi Ntlabakanye has been handed an 18-month suspension for a doping violation.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport means that the prop will not be eligible for selection from now until November 12 2027.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the Institute says the player\u2019s urine sample tested positive for the Hormone and Metabolic Modulator, Anastrozole, during an out-of-competition test on May 22 2025. This substance is classified as a specified substance and does not warrant a mandatory suspension.<\/p>\n<p>The player also self-declared the use of a prohibited anabolic steroid, DHEA.<\/p>\n<p>Ntlabakanye was formerly charged on September 9 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions Rugby Company, together with the Rugby Players\u2019 Organisation, My Players, say they will support Ntlabakanye as he continues to navigate the process ahead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34638,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-34637","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ntlabakanye was formerly charged on September 9 2025.","published_date":"","news_description":"Ntlabakanye was formerly charged on September 9 2025.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34639,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34637\/revisions\/34639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}