MADRID, 24 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has presented her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against her four-year ban for failing an anti-doping test, as confirmed this Tuesday by the body based in Lausanne (Switzerland).
“The CAS has registered the appeal filed by Simona Halep against the decision issued by the court of the International Tennis Integrity Agency on September 22, 2023, which indicated that she had committed an anti-doping rule violation and was sanctioned with four years of imprisonment. sanction, beginning on October 7, 2022 and the disqualification of all results obtained in competitions between August 29, 2022 to October 7, 2022, including the loss of any medals, titles, ranking points and prize money” , noted the CAS.
The court confirmed that it has already started its arbitration procedure and noted that the former world number one requests that this decision be “annulled” and that “the sanction be reduced.” Now, the panel of arbitrators will be constituted to decide on this appeal after the corresponding hearing is held.
The CAS stressed that “it is not possible to indicate a deadline for the issuance of the decision” and that this “will be final and binding, with the exception of the right of the parties to file an appeal before the Swiss Federal Court within a period of 30 days.” .
Simona Halep, 32, was provisionally suspended in October 2022 after testing positive for the banned substance ‘Roxadustat’ and last September her four-year ban was confirmed after the Tennis Integrity Unit court ruled who had committed intentional anti-doping rule violations.
If the sanction is confirmed, the Romanian, who in a statement issued at the time of the suspension stated that “she had never consciously or intentionally used any prohibited substance”, will not be able to compete again until October 2026, when she will be 35 years old.