“The CAS panel unanimously decided that the four-year ban imposed by the independent tribunal of the ITF (International Tennis Federation) be reduced to a nine-month ban starting on October 7, 2022, with the period expiring on July 6, 2023,” CAS said in a published decision.
CAS also confirmed the deletion of all results obtained by Halep from August 29, 2022, when she submitted a positive sample, to October 7, 2022, when she was suspended. During this period, he will also lose all possible titles, financial rewards or points in the world ranking. Halep’s request to backdate the sentence from August 29, 2022 was rejected by CAS.
BREAKING ????
Simona Halep can return to professional tennis IMMEDIATELY after CAS has reduced her doping ban from 4 years to 9 months. pic.twitter.com/Jb1ENaaYvF
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) March 5, 2024
The former Wimbledon and Roland Garros winner had a positive test at the US Open 2022 for the banned substance roxadustat, which stimulates the production of hemoglobin and red blood cells, i.e. with similar effects to EPO. Last May, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) also accused Halep of irregularities in her biological passport.
Against the doping punishment she received last September, Halepová appealed to the highest sports tribunal in Lausanne at the beginning of February this year. From the beginning, the tennis player denied that she took the banned substance on purpose. She claimed that a small amount of the anemia drug entered her body from an approved dietary supplement that was contaminated. In mid-February, she sued the Canadian company Quantum Nutrition, which produces it, for more than ten million dollars (236 million crowns).
CAS has now proved her right. After a three-day hearing in February, the jury decided that the positive test was caused by a contaminated supplement and that anomalies in the biological passport may be related to it.
2024-03-05 16:18:45
#world #number #Halep #return #tennis
