Banned Austrian Knauss to sue supplement company{mosimage}Austrian skier Hans Knauss intends to sue the company which produced nutritional supplements he ingested and led to his doping ban.

'I will not fight the CAS decision anymore, but I will definitely sue the company that produced that crap," Knauss told state broadcaster ORF on Thursday. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Knauss' 18-month doping ban, finding him negligent for using nutritional supplements containing steroids.

Knauss had appealed the ban, hoping he could ski in the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics in February. But the CAS panel called the 18-month penalty "fair and reasonable," ruling Knauss to remain ineligible until May 26, 2006.

"My major problem is that I am Austrian. They are probably content to have finally found a scapegoat, a winner of the dominant Austrian ski team they could sacrifice. I cannot fight them, but at least I can make the supplement company pay," Knauss said.

Unable to compete in Turin, the 34-year-old called the CAS decision "an unbounded cheek" and chose to retire.

Knauss tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at a World Cup downhill at Lake Louise, Alberta, on Nov. 27, 2004. He could have faced a two-year ban, but the International Ski Federation imposed a lesser penalty on March 1, saying Knauss did not act intentionally.

Knauss won seven World Cup races in 14 seasons and took silver in the giant slalom at the 2003 World Championships.

The Associated Press