Russian teenager banned from tennis for nine months following anti-doping breach – for no reason other than being a ‘good player’
Russian tennis federation (RTF), citing the ‘anti-doping regulations’, banned the player for 9 months
Angered by a decision by a sports administrator to ban a player for one year for a doping offense, members of the Russian tennis federation decided to go one step further and demanded the player be banned for “no reason”.
The player, Nastya Karatasova, is being banned from tennis for nine months after a positive sample test for the banned substance dehydroch�loro is shown by a Moscow laboratory. Karatasova, who won two major tournaments, was banned three years ago for a suspicious blood test, the first of which the RTF is known to have tested positive for banned substance.
In March, Russian authorities started a new investigation into the two positive blood samples submitted in 2010 to be analyzed by the Moscow laboratory. As a result, the laboratory was forced to close for six months, and the Russian tennis federation was forced to take over the work. The organization is claiming that “all tests that were carried out are in line with the regulations”, and Karatasova’s coach, Alexander Popov, stated on Instagram that it is “a mistake, a mistake, a mistake and a conspiracy against Russian tennis and me and my work.”
What is happening in Russia?
The latest Russian doping scandal to rock the tennis world involved the blood test of a player named Karatasova, who went on to win two major tournaments. Earlier this month, a former Soviet state tennis coach was caught trying to manipulate a doping test, and Russian authorities claimed that the man was carrying out a “continuing investigation”.
In early May, an anonymous letter threatening a tennis player with a six-month ban after a positive doping test was sent to both the Russian tennis federation and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The WADA has refused to release the letter, and stated that the decision to ban Karatasova was the result of the “