Doping shocker again in tennis: Swiatek accepts one-month ban
CHENNAI: In another high-profile doping case in tennis, five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month ban for failing a test.
Months after it was revealed that world No 1 Jannik Sinner tested positive for banned substance twice, this has come as another shocker.
Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) during out-of-competition testing on a sample taken on August 12, 2024, ahead of the Cincinnati Open.
Trimetazidine (TMZ) is a non-specified substance under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code prohibited list and is metabolic modulators. It is banned at all times and incurs a provisional suspension once it is detected in a sample. The drug is usually used to treat disorders like angina and it helps more blood flow to the heart. Sinner too was let off with a one-month ban which has been challenged by WADA in the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS).
The International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA) has confirmed the decision. “Iga Swiatek, a 23-year-old tennis player from Poland, has accepted a one-month suspension under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, after testing positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August 2024,” said the statement.
However, the ITIA said it had accepted the positive test was caused by the contamination of a regulated non-prescription drug that is manufactured and is available in Poland to address jet lag and sleep issues. The ITIA has come to this conclusion after investigation that included testing of the product used by the athlete as well as a sealed unused product of the same batch at an World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory.
The ITIA said that “In relation to the Player’s level of fault, as the contaminated product was a regulated non-prescription medication in the player’s country of origin and purchase and considering all the circumstances of its use (and other contaminated product cases under the World Anti-Doping Code), the player’s level of fault was considered to be at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’.
Swiatek was informed about the positive test on September 12 and provisional suspension was slapped until October 4, “which resulted in her not competing at the WTA 1000 China Open, the WTA 500 Hana Bank Korea Open, and missing the deadline for the WTA 1000 Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open,” said the order.
Swiatek in a video statement said she was distraught when she learnt about the positive test. She said that she was going through a very tough times during the last two and a half months.
She said she spent sleepless nights and the whole thing would stay with her for the rest of her life. "It took a lot of strength, returning to training after this situation nearly broke my heart," she said.
According to ITIA, Swiatek exercised her right under the TADP to appeal the provisional suspension to an independent tribunal chair on September 22. She also provided them with testing results of her non-prescription medication melatonin which showed contamination.
The ITIA clarified that the contamination was confirmed by the independent and WADA-accredited Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory (SMRTL) in Utah, USA and the scenario was verified by an independent scientific expert from another WADA-accredited laboratory”.
It needs to be seen if WADA steps in, like in the case of Sinner, and approaches the CAS. Interestingly, this is the same drug that made headlines in 2022 when rising figure skating star from Russia, Kamila Valieva, tested positive and was subsequently banned by the CAS after the Russian anti-doping agency cleared her. She was 15 when she tested positive during a national competition in December 2021.
If she was banned for four years, another recent controversy surrounding WADA because of the same drugs erupted days before the Olympics when it was learnt that 28 Chinese swimmers tested positive for TMZ in 2021 but were not penalized. The WADA explained their position but the controversy is still raging.
