The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday said that it had dismissed the appeal of Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco against a 12-year ban imposed for blood doping. In a statement, the Swiss-based tribunal said it had rejected Ricco's arguments that the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping body used flawed procedures and failed to act impartially. The sanction was imposed from April 2012, a year after Ricco had to be admitted to hospital urgently having transfused his own blood. Ricco appealed to CAS in June 2012.