HOUSTON (Reuters) - Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing's four-game suspension for a positive drugs test has been upheld by the NFL, the league said on Thursday.
"After carefully considering all the information, including a review by outside medical experts, the commissioner finds no basis for changing the decision," the league said in a statement.
Cushing tested positive for the banned drug human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). He blamed the positive on what he called the "overtrained athlete syndrome."
Texans owner Bob McNair met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell two weeks ago in New York in a bid to have the suspension reduced or overturned.
The NFL said no after Goodell reviewed medical information presented on Cushing's behalf.
As a result, Cushing will miss the Texans' first four games of the regular season.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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