I tuned in the Australian Open last night to watch Andy Roddick's match. The commentators were all a buzz about U.S. Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova testing positive for a banned substance.
The New York Times provides the basic facts:
On Monday, Kuznetsova was named by a Belgian sports minister as the player who tested positive for a banned substance during an exhibition in Belgium last month.
[. . .]
According to a statement released by Claude Eerdekens, the sports minister, the substance found in Kuznetsova's urine sample was ephedrine, a stimulant that was a common ingredient in asthma medication and is common in herbal remedies.
According to the World Anti-Doping Agency's code, to which professional tennis and all other Olympic sports adhere, ephedrine is banned only in competition. Kuznetsova's positive result occurred in an unsanctioned exhibition match Dec. 19 in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi.
[. . .]
Kuznetsova said she had a cold and was taking medication.
"There's absolutely no reason why I would take a stimulant to enhance my performance at an out-of-competition exhibition match in the middle of the off-season," Kuznetsova said in a statement released Tuesday.
[. . .]
Kuznetsova and the WTA's chief executive, Larry Scott, expressed outrage at the way this case has been handled by Eerdekens, the sports minister for the French-speaking community in Belgium whose health officials carried out the testing in Charleroi.
According to The Australian, WTA chief executive Larry Scott confirmed the Belgian Invitational where Kuznetsova tested positive for a banned stimulant was an "out of competition" event.
Scott said that under ITF anti-doping rules, ephedrine was banned only during competition, as it offered no performance enhancement when taken outside tournament play. He said because the Belgian tournament was not considered in-competition, Kuznetsova had no case to answer.
Kuznetsova was playing in a charity exhibition during the off-season.
Why they would even test at an "out of competition" event is beyond me. What a stupid and insensitive way to deal with such an issue. Eerdekens owes Kuznetsova a very big apology.
Oh, by the way Roddick won his match 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.
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