LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) – Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep will return to tennis on Tuesday after sport's highest court found her positive doping test was not entirely at fault. He was granted immediate reinstatement.
of Court of Arbitration for Sports The judges partially accepted Halep's appeal, reducing her four-year suspension to just nine months. It was applied retroactively and expired in July last year.
The three judges found that it was “established on the balance of probabilities” that Halep had tested positive for a banned blood-boosting substance that “entered her body through the ingestion of contaminated supplements.”
The judge also ordered Halep to pay 20,000 Swiss francs ($22,650) in legal costs from the International Tennis Integrity Authority, which prosecuted her and asked CAS to suspend her for six years.
Halep has not played in the 2022 U.S. Open since testing positive for the banned blood-enhancing drug roxadustat.
After she turned 35, she was suspended from tennis until October 2026.
The agency banned Halep last year after a protracted investigation that revealed suspected fraud in her biological passport and potentially abnormal blood values measured over several years.
The court said investigators also appealed to CAS, seeking a stiffer ban of up to six years, but the judge dismissed Halep's charges regarding the blood values.
The former top-ranked Romanian denied any wrongdoing over the positive test, blaming it on contaminated nutritional supplements. Athletes must prove the source of the contamination to prove they are not responsible for doping.
“The CAS Committee found that Ms. Halep had some degree of negligence or negligence for the violation by failing to exercise due care when using the keto MCT supplement, but concluded that there was no significant negligence or negligence. ” the court said. Said.
Halep challenged the ban at CAS and attended a three-day closed hearing in Lausanne a month ago.
she Won Wimbledon 2019In the final, she defeated 23-time major champion Serena Williams. 2018 French Open.
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