Latvian ice hockey player Ralfs Freibergs has been sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee as he failed a drug test during the Games in February, the IOC announced Friday on its website.

IOC Disciplinary Commission decided to disqualify Freibergs from the men's playoff quarterfinal match between Canada and Latvia, which Latvia lost and withdraw the diploma of Freibergs for placing 8th. He is considered as excluded from the Games held in Sochi, Russia from Feb. 7-23.

According to the Disciplinary Commission, no consequences will apply to the team as no other player of the team has been tested positive for the same banned substance and it will be up to the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation to take appropriate action against Freibergs.

The 23-year-old Freibergs provided a urine sample on Feb. 20 immediately following the completion of the Canada vs Latvia match, which indicated the presence of dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone metabolite. And his B sample also indicated the presence of the prohibited substance that is a kind of steroids.

At the hearing held on April 4, the representative of Freibergs stated the athlete had been tested on Feb. 3, prior to the Sochi Games, by the Latvian Olympic Committee and that the samples was analyzed by WADA accredited lab in Helsinki and did not indicate any adverse finding.

However, the laboratory in Helsinki explained that the test to detect the particular steroid had been introduced quite recently and had not been available to all laboratories.