LONDON (Reuters) - French athlete Nour-Eddine Gezzar on Thursday asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn his exclusion from the Olympics, alleging errors in the positive doping test that saw him thrown off the national team.

The French steeplechaser tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) at the French championships in June and was withdrawn by the French Athletics Federation.

A statement from the London division of the court said Gezzar considers there were errors during the anti-doping control procedures, and that he has requested to be allowed to start the 3000 meter steeplechase heats on August 3.

The court said it will issue a decision this evening.

A second request to the court, involving French modern pentathlete Jean-Maxence Berrou, would be heard on Friday.

Berrou, with the backing of the French governing body for the sport, has asked that he be allowed to compete at the games in place of Polish competitor Lukasz Kletot who has withdrawn from the event.

An initial decision by the International Modern Pentathlon Union replaced Kletot with Irish athlete Arthur Lanigan-O'Keefe.

(Reporting by William James, Editing by Nigel Hunt)