Former World No. 1 Simona Halep provisionally suspended by ITIA for doping

Simona Halep. Pic/AFP

Former World No. 1 Simona Halep has been provisionally suspended for doping, confirmed the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Friday.

"The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has confirmed that Simona Halep, a 31-year-old Romanian tennis player, has been provisionally suspended under Article 7.12.1 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). The ITIA sent the player a pre-charge notice of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation on 7 October 2022 under Article 2.1 of the Programme (presence of a Prohibited Substance in a Player's Sample) and/or Article 2.2 (Use of a Prohibited Substance without a valid TUE)," the ITIA said in an official statement.

ITIA said that the adverse analytical results for non-specified substances hold a compulsory provisional suspension.

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"Halep, who has a WTA ranking of 9, provided a sample whilst competing at the US Open in August 2022. The sample was split into A and B samples and the subsequent analysis found that the A sample contained FG-4592 (Roxadustat), which is a prohibited substance listed in the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. Adverse Analytical Findings for non-specified substances carry a mandatory provisional suspension," the statement further read.

The former world number one took to her Instagram and said that this "came as the biggest shock of my life".

"Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed. I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later the truth will come out about the titers or the money It's about honor, and the love story I have developed with the game of tennis over the last 25 years," Simona Halep said.

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