British tennis player Tara Moore has received a four-year doping ban after returning a positive test in 2022 – 18 months after she was initially cleared of the offence by an independent tribunal
The 32-year-old was first sanctioned three years ago after banned substances nandrolone and boldenone were found in positive tests Moore underwent during a tournament in Bogota, Colombia in April 2022.
After receiving an immediate ban following month, Moore – a former British No1 doubles player – was forced to wait for 19 months for the tribunal to rule that the anabolic steroids had entered her bloodstream via contaminated meats eaten in the days before her initial urine test.
Moore shared a heartfelt statement in the wake of the decision as she decried the ’19 months of lost time’ that waiting for the hearing’s verdict that she ‘bore no fault or negligence’ had stolen from her.
Since returning to the tour in April 2024, Moore has frequently spoken out against what she believed was preferential treatment shown to Iga Swiatek, who was handed a one-month suspension after she tested positive for trimetazidine via contaminated melatonin.
But Moore will now face an extended spell on the sidelines which could bring a premature end to her career after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s appeal into the initial hearing verdict.
‘After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the Cas panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat,’ a Cas statement read.
‘The panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside.’
Moore’s second suspension will be effective immediately, but reduced to 19 months due to previous time served.
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