Rio de Janeiro, brazil: Saudi Arabia's Youssef Masrahi, the Asian 400m record holder, was banned on Tuesday for four years, the Saudi anti-doping agency announced.

Masrahi was due to compete at the Rio Olympics but was dropped from the squad after failing a post-training drug control on 15 June.

The 28-year-old tested positive for EPO with his second 'B' sample analysed by the Salt Lake City laboratory in the United States confirming the presence of the banned blood booster.

The athlete has 21 days to appeal the ruling with the ban starting on 14 July.