Misha Aloyan faces being stripped of his Rio 2016 medal after failing a drugs test ©Getty Images

Olympic boxing silver medallist Misha Aloyan could become the first Russian athlete to be disqualified from Rio 2016 for doping depending on the outcome of a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) here.

Aloyan won a silver medal on the final day of competition in Rio in the under 52 kilograms flyweight competition after losing the gold medal bout to Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan.

It followed a bronze medal he won at London 2012. 

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) data obtained by the Fancy Bears' hacking team revealed in September that he had failed an in-competition test for banned substance tuaminoheptane.

The case, without the name of the athlete, is also listed as with "pending" status on the WADA Independent Observers (IO) report of the Rio 2016 anti-doping programme published last month.

The product is listed on the WADA Prohibited List as a specified stimulant and is banned in competition only.

Aloyan, a two-time world champion in 2011 and 2013, claims to have used the nasal decongestant drug inadvertently in drops purchased to treat a common cold.

According to the TASS news agency, the 28-year-old Armenian-born fighter was the subject of a CAS hearing in Lausanne on November 3.

Russian website Chempionat.com has reported that it became apparent during the hearing that he did not have a Therepeutic Use Exemption allowing him to legally use the substance.

A verdict is expected by mid-November.

Misha Aloyan, left, faces being stripped of his Rio 2016 boxing silver medal for doping ©Getty Images
Misha Aloyan, left, faces being stripped of his Rio 2016 boxing silver medal for doping ©Getty Images

It is likely the Russians attempted to claim that the product was used only before the Games, so out-of-competition, in order to treat a cold.

But, if found guilty, he faces a ban and being stripped of his medal.

If this happens, this is bound to provoke fury in Russia because so many athletes from other countries have legitimately received TUEs to take similar substances.

Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov recommended that the process for awarding TUE's be changed last week.

Comparisons have been drawn with the case of British skier Alain Baxter at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.

He was stripped of a slalom bronze medal after ingesting banned stimulant methamphetamine through a nasal inhaler.

insidethegames has contacted WADA and the International Boxing Federation for more details about the case.

The IOC had opted to allow individual International Federations to determine Russian eligibility at the Games after a WADA call for a blanket ban on the country due to allegations of state-sponsored doping at events including the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. 

According to the WADA IO Report, another pending case remains concerning an unidentified female modern pentathlete who failed for hydrochlorothiazide.