18-month doping ban on sprinters Powell, Simpson reduced to six months

The doping bans on former world 100 metre record holder Asafa Powell and fellow Jamaican Sherone Simpson have been reduced from 18 months to six months.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) gave the ruling which means that the sprinters are free to race again immediately.

According to the BBC, Powell is palling to run at a meeting in Lucerne on Tuesday.

Powell and Simpson, who has won Olympic relay gold, both tested positive for the banned stimulant 'oxilofrine' at last year's Jamaican national championships.

Powell called the initial suspension unfair and unjust and posted a tweet saying that finally this weight has been lifted off his shoulders, adding that justice has been served.

The Jamaican anti-doping disciplinary panel had given 18-month suspensions in April to Powell and Simpson, though both were backdated to end in December 2014.

However, both had argued that their offence was minor because the positive results came from taking a contaminated version of Epiphany D1, which is a legal supplement, the report added.