Alen Ovcina, a member of Bosnia handball national team was suspended for a period of ineligibility of four years for violating anti-doping rules, the European Handball Association (EHF) said in a statement.

“The player committed a violation of anti-doping rules by testing positive for the prohibited substance 19-norandrosterone, a metabolite of an anabolic steroid during a doping test at the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers match, Slovenia vs Bosnia-Herzegovina, which took place on 13 October 2022,” the EHF said in a statement issued on Monday, adding that the suspension period starts from December 21 2022.

It was also said that appeals may be filed with the Court of Appeal within seven days.

The 34-year old had started his career in a local Bosnian handball club ‘Sloboda’, and has later played for ‘Gracanica’, ‘Bosna’, as well as international clubs ‘Al Shamal’, ‘Antalya’, ‘Vojvodina’.

He has been part of the national team since 2014.