Simona Halep’s doping ban has been reduced from four years to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Having already served a provisional suspension since October 2022, she can return to tennis with immediate effect as the nine-month ban expired on July 6, 2023.
The 32-year-old Romanian star was banned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for “intentional” doping offences.
The CAS Panel determined that “on the balance of probabilities” Halep had not taken the banned substance Roxadustat purposely and while she “did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations” it was not intentional.
Halep tested positive for Roxadustat after the US Open in August 2022 from a sample taken during the tournament and she was subsequently provisionally suspended in October of last year.
Halep objected to the intentional nature of the charge and argued that the positive test was the result of contamination.
A statement from the CAS panel said: “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 August 29, 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product.
“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.”
The 2019 Wimbledon winner was later faced with a separate charge with irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) and had not played since October 2022.
Halep won her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2018 before following it up with more major success at Wimbledon the following year.
More to follow…
This is a breaking news story that is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh this page for the latest updates.
Sky Sports brings you live updates as they happen. Get breaking sports news, analysis, exclusive interviews, replays and highlights.
Sky Sports is your trusted source for breaking sports news headlines and live updates. Watch live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, F1, Boxing, Cricket, Golf, Tennis, Rugby League, Rugby Union, NFL, Darts, Netball and get the latest transfers news, results, scores and more.
Visit skysports.com or the Sky Sports App for all the breaking sports news headlines. You can receive push notifications from the Sky Sports app for the latest news from your favourite sports and you can also follow @SkySportsNews on Twitter to get the latest updates.
+ There are no comments
Add yours