Simona Halep provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned substance
Updated
Mon, Jan 20: Sam Stosur is officially suspended for three months after testing positive for a banned substances. The world number one has been provisionally suspended from the Australian Open after receiving a diagnosis for a banned substance.
The Australian Open is not only Australia’s major championship tournament but is also the most important one and the one with the most prize money, with the total worth more than £250 million for the tournament. Sam Stosur was provisionally suspended for a month after testing negative for a banned substance in a doping test taken four days earlier. The three-month suspension was confirmed yesterday at a meeting in the city of Canberra between the Australian Olympic Committee and the International Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation Anti-Doping Rule Violation Commission.
In order to return to competition, Halep must submit a sample for a new doping test. The AOI says it will have the results of the test by Monday and will take “appropriate action” against Sam Stosur. The Australian Open is expected to take place in late March.
On the same day of Sam Stosur’s suspension, Roger Federer is provisionally suspended for a similar period for testing positive for furosemide during a drug test conducted during the Australian Open. Furosemide is a diuretic that can be used to mask the use of doping. The ITA rule violation commission says this was the first instance of a player being provisionally suspended for this substance.
Federer has been provisionally suspended since June 10 after he tested positive for the substance in a doping test taken as part of anti-doping drug testing at the 2012 Australian Open. AOI Chairman John Coates says Federer had “made a full recovery from the effects of the substance” and Federer’s ban has been lifted.
Australia’s Sam Stosur has made an unannounced