The Malaysian Body Building Federation’s (MBBF) Appeals Committee unanimously rejected former ‘Mr Universe’ Sazali Samad’s appeal for the second time.

The committee chairperson Masood Zainal Abidin, who is also MBBF vice-president, said the appeal made by 10-time ‘Mr Universe’ for a second time was rejected as there were no strong grounds to consider the appeal.

With the second appeal rejected, Sazali will have to wait until September 2019 to return to competition.

MBBF honorary secretary Kamaruzaman Kadir said the decision was final since Sazali had used a banned substance.

“The second appeal was based on a doping case for weightlifting as an example but the case does not relate to body building because weightlifting and body building are two different sports,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

The MBBF had said in a statement that Sazali had taken a dope test on Sept 1 and the urine sample had contained the banned S1 Class (anabolic agents) substance.

Sazali, 48, was slated to compete in the 49th Asian Body Building Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from Sept 29-Oct 5, but withdrew citing a back injury.

MBBF subsequently handed a four-year suspension but on Jan 9, Sazali had appealed against the suspension and the appeal was rejected on March 31.

Meanwhile, Sazali, when contacted by Bernama, said he would take up the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sports or other avenues to resolve the case.

“I am ready to appoint three or four lawyers, including my current lawyer Mohd Norasmawi Norani to take up the case,” he said.

- Bernama