Ridhwan Mohammed's appeal at SDT dismissed, swimmer set to miss World Championships

The Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) has dismissed an appeal by swimmer Ridhwan Mohammed to be included in next year’s World Championships team in Doha.

The swimmer had moved to the tribunal seeking to be included in the Championships which are a qualifier for the Olympic games in France.

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In his case before the tribunal, Mohammed had argued that he was given a short time to take part in the trials that were used to pick the Kenyan team to Doha.

But in a detailed ruling, the tribunal while agreeing with his argument that the time was short to attend the trials, it at the same time argued that he was not the only one affected by the time constraints.

“As such the tribunal considers it very much unlikely that the notice granted was so unfair to the athlete as to be disturbed by the tribunal purely on the ground of inadequacy of time to prepare. There are other prevailing circumstances that should be considered,” the ruling delivered by tribunal read.

The tribunal further argued that the world championships are often run on a calendar that is known much in advance and even Mohammed was aware of the same as far back as June 13,2023 when the summons were issued.

“There were therefore strict stipulations based on the deadlines and we note that the respondents were placed in a difficult position to ensure that they met the deadline within the dates in the summons.

“While the notice given to the athletes may not have been ideal, it was nonetheless uniformly enforced across the athletes. It would have been unfair if the same was targeting the appellant and we are not convinced that this has been demonstrated,” the ruling added.

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The tribunal told Mohammed that it was expected of him to be in top shape of fitness before the trials as he was hoping to be selected to represent the country.