Jamaican athlete Riker Hylton will have to wait until Thursday to know the ruling of the Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel regarding whether he committed an anti-doping violation.

The disciplinary panel, chaired by Georgia Gibson Henlin, QC, was set to hand down the verdict at a decision hearing at Courtleigh Hotel yesterday, but the Jamaica Observer was told that relevant documents were not yet prepared.

The ruling is now set to be announced at 9:30 am on August 3, at a venue to be decided.

The panel also comprises Dr Japheth Ford and Denise Forrest.

Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), represented by attorney Lackston Robinson, has accused Hylton of breaching Article 2.3 of the World Anti-Doping Agency code on April 27, 2016.

The alleged violation speaks to evading testing sample collection or refusing to submit a sample.

During the hearing in May this year, Damon Smith, a JADCO chaperone, testified that Hylton refused to make himself available for sample testing when approached during a training session at the Stadium East track.

The 28-year-old Hylton, a 400-metre relay bronze medallist at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Korea Republic, and a semi-finalist in the individual 400m race at those same championships, has maintained his innocence.

While giving testimony he said that at times he was about 10 metres away from JADCO personnel while he sat at the venue, but he insisted no one notified him of selection for doping-control tests.

Hylton, whose legal representative is Dr Emir Crowne, can be banned up to a maximum of four years if found guilty. The athlete has been provisionally suspended since February 2017

Jamaica’s 400m hurdles star Kaliese Spencer was recently cleared of charges arising from a similar allegation in a separate case.