2 Italian players banned for skipping dope test!!

Italian soccer players Daniele Mannini and Davide Possanzini were banned for one year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday after missing post-match doping tests.

CAS partially upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency which wanted the players suspended from all soccer for up to two years. The bans run through Jan. 14, 2010.

“It is a bewildering and stupid sentence,” said Mannini’s defense lawyer, Mattia Grassani. “Mannini and Possanzini were treated badly and as though they were already declared dope cheats.”

Mannini, now of Serie A club Napoli, and Possanzini were found to have not cooperated with a drug-testing team after playing for Brescia in a Serie B game against Chievo Verona in December 2007.

Both were cleared of wrongdoing by the Italian football federation, then banned for 15 days last March by the Italian Olympic committee.

The panel halved the maximum penalty allowed of two years, and reduced it by a further 15 days for the suspension already served.

Mannini, a 25-year-old winger, has played 15 A games for Napoli this season. The 32-year-old Possanzini is one of Brescia’s top strikers, scoring 45 goals in 3 1/2 seasons with the Serie B club.