GENEVA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Olympic cross-country skiing champion Andrus Veerpalu won his appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Tuesday against a three-year doping ban because of "procedural flaws."
But CAS panel didn't rule out of the possibility of using forbidden human growth hormone (HGH) for the Estonian.
Veerpalu tested positive for HGH in Estonia in January 2011 in a test carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
He was banned by the ruling ski body FIS for three years until the end of the Sochi 2014 Olympics, but appealed the ruling before the CAS.
The CAS said it was satisfied with the FIS test for HGH but that there was no full proof.
"The CAS considered that the FIS had shown to their comfortable satisfaction that the HGH test is a reliable testing method for HGH abuse in professional sports that is based on scientifically correct assumptions and methods," the CAS said.
"However, the FIS failed to meet the applicable standard of proof with respect to the procedure followed to set the aspects of the decision limits."
Veerpalu, 42, won Olympic gold in the 15-kilometres races in 2002 and 2006, and has world titles from 2001 (30km) and 2009 (15km). He ended his career shortly after the positive test.