Why 1 month for Swiatek, 4 years for me: Halep
The Straits Times
|November 30, 2024
BUDAPEST - Simona Halep questioned the "big difference" in how doping cases are treated after world No. 2 Iga Swiatek was handed a one-month drugs ban, while the Romanian was out of action for over 18 months following two separate anti-doping violations.
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The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Nov 28 that Swiatek had accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
The Pole tested positive in August, but the ITIA, which runs tennis' anti-doping programme, accepted that it was caused by contamination of her medication melatonin.
Halep was provisionally suspended in October 2022 and later banned for four years, a period which was reduced to nine months in March after an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
She had strongly denied knowingly taking the banned substance roxadustat and said she had evidence to show small amounts of the anaemia drug entered her system from a contaminated licensed supplement.
This story is from the November 30, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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