Former world No. 1 Simona Halep on Tuesday was cleared to resume her tennis career after her four-year doping ban was reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The 32-year-old, who was suspended in September last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after two separate doping infractions the previous year, is free to return immediately having last played at the 2022 US Open.
“Throughout this long and difficult process, I have maintained my belief that the truth would eventually come out and that a just decision would be reached, because I am and always have been a clean athlete,” Halep said in a statement. “My faith in the process was tested by the scandalous accusations that were leveled against me, and by the seemingly unlimited resources that were aligned against me, but in the end, the truth prevailed, even if it took much longer than I wish it had.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I cannot wait to return to the [WTA] Tour,” she added.
The two-time Grand Slam singles champion appealed to CAS last month, arguing that the positive test was the result of a “contaminated product” and anomalies in her biological passport could be linked to surgery she had undergone.
Halep’s career has been on hold since Oct. 7, 2022, the date of the start of her provisional suspension after testing positive for Roxadustat at the US Open.
Roxadustat is a substance that can be used legitimately to treat anemia, but it is also on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list as it is considered a blood-doping agent, which increases hemoglobin and the production of red blood cells.
The winner of the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon singles titles was then caught up in a second affair, this time “irregularities” in the data of her biological passport, a long-term monitoring tool of an athlete’s blood indicators that could indicate doping.
“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS Panel determined that Ms Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product,” CAS said. “As a result, the CAS Panel determined that Ms Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional. Although the CAS Panel found that Ms Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”
In its ruling the ITIA had “admitted the argument of taking a contaminated food supplement put forward by Halep,” but “determined that the concentration of Roxadustat found in the positive sample could not result from the quantity ingested by the player.”
That reasoning was invalidated on Tuesday.
Concerning Halep’s biological passport, CAS took into account “the results of a private blood sample given by Ms Halep on 9 September 2022 in the context of a surgery which occurred shortly thereafter,” judging that these elements made “the doping scenarios put forward by the ITIA” implausible.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946