«Today begins the most difficult match of my life: a fight for the truth. I have been informed that I have tested positive for a substance called roxadustat in an extremely low amount,” the Romanian tennis player wrote on Twitter.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, two-time Grand Slam winner, has been provisionally suspended after she tested positive for roxadustat, a banned blood stimulant similar to EPO, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Friday.
Halep, the world’s number nine, was tested at the US Open and her A and B samples confirmed the presence of roxadustat, an anemia drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells, as well as the banned substance erythropoietin (EPO).
“Simona Halep, a 31-year-old Romanian tennis player, has been provisionally suspended under Article 7.12.1 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP) 2022,” the agency said in a statement. “The sample was split into A and B samples and subsequent analysis revealed that sample A contained FG-4592 (roxadustat), a prohibited substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 2022 Prohibited Substances List,” it added. he to it.
The 2019 Wimbledon champion asked for her B sample to be tested, confirming the initial finding. The former world number one described the ban as the “biggest shock of her life” and denied that she had knowingly used banned substances.
«Today begins the most difficult match of my life: a fight for the truth. I have been informed that I have tested positive for a substance called Roxadustat in an extremely low amount,” he wrote on Twitter. “Throughout my career, the idea of cheating has never crossed my mind because it goes against all the values I hold I was brought up. Faced with such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed,” he added.
Halep, who also won at Roland Garros in 2018, added that their battle was not for “titles or money” but for her honor and hoped the truth would eventually come out.
Maria Sharapova was the latest senior tennis player to be implicated in a doping scandal after the Russian tested positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open. She was initially banned for two years before being reduced to 15 months.
Halep’s suspension means she cannot participate in or participate in sanctioned events organized by the governing bodies of tennis. She won two titles this season and ended her season after undergoing nose surgery last month to treat breathing difficulties.
Source: La Verdad
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