Rybka doping blow for Ukraine

Ukraine have suffered a blow ahead of the Euro 2012 championship which they are co-hosting with Poland after international goalkeeper Alexander Rybka was handed a two-year doping ban, local media reported on Monday.

The 24-year-old Shakhtar Donetsk player tested positive for a banned diuretic contained in a weight-loss product after a domestic league match in November.

The sentence handed down by European football's governing body UEFA has effectively ends Rybka's hopes of playing at the European championships in June.

Rybka won two caps in friendlies last year against Germany and Austria and was considered one of the main candidates for Euro 2012 by national coach Oleg Blokhin.

Shakhtar Donetsk general manager Sergei Palkin said that the club were dissappointed with the severity of the sentence and would be appealing.

"It doesn't correspond to the player's offence," said Palkin.

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