MELBOURNE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- World swimming governing body FINA confirmed here on Saturday that an appeal has been lodged to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) on a doping control test, but no mention of Ian Thorpe.

    French newspaper L'Equipe's said on Friday that Australian swimming star Thorpe tested positive for banned hormone testosterone before his retirement last year. Following the report, FINA made a release at the on-going World Championships to confirm that they had lodged an appeal to CAS on a doping control test conducted by ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority).

    But FINA didn't reveal that whether the test was on the former Olympic champion Thorpe or not, as "on the tests conducted by a National Anti-Doping Agency or National Federation, the procedure is that FINA receives the result of the laboratory analysis, which states only the number of the respective sample and not the name of the athlete."

    L'Equipe said Thorpe tested positive for abnormally high levels of testosterone and luteinizing hormone. The Australian Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) decided to close the file because they did not have sufficient "scientific certitude".

    However, FINA appealed to CAS in an effort to reopen the file.

    Cornel Marculescu, executive director of FINA said in a news conference that they had known about the case since last May when the result has been received from laboratory, and the first appeal to CAS was in December.