New Delhi: The World Anti-Doping Agency has decided not to appeal Iga Swiatek’s one-month suspension for failed drug test, viewing the explanation provided by the tennis star as ‘plausible’.
The five-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1-ranked women’s tennis star has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Eva Lys.
WADA had appealed the decision to exonerate men’s No.1 Jannik Sinner from his doping offence, with a hearing scheduled at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, in April.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) had not suspended Sinner, deciding that he was not negligent despite two positive tests for an anabolic steroid in March.
In Swiatek’s case, ITIA’s resolution was kept under wraps till November of last year during which she was provisionally sidelined, skipping three tournaments in October, finishing her suspension during the off-season.
‘Well evidenced’
“WADA sought advice from external legal counsel, who considered that the athlete’s contamination explanation was well evidenced, that the ITIA decision was compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, and that there was no reasonable basis to appeal it to the CAS,” WADA said through a statement on Monday.
Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine or TMZ, a banned substance used as heart medication, and had accepted a one-month suspension.
The Pole had failed a drug test in August, in an out of competition test, leading to the ITIA accepting her explanation of ‘unintentionally’ using prohibited substance that got contaminated wit her non-prescription medication melatonin that she took to deal with jet lag and sleep.
The ITIA had decided that Swiatek’s level of fault was “at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence.”
WADA said that “scenario is plausible and that there would be no scientific grounds to challenge it.”
While she was sidelined, Swiatek had termed her break as “pretty chaotic. For sure, it wasn’t easy; it was probably, like, the worst time in my life.”
“It got pretty awkward. Like, we chose for the first tournament to say personal reasons’ because we honestly thought the suspension is going to be lifted soon,” she said.
“From the beginning it was obvious that something was contaminated because the level of this substance in my urine was so low that it had to be contamination.”
Iga Swiatek has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Eva Lys. Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
