Ex-world number one Simona Halep provisionally suspended for doping – L’Équipe

Romania’s Simona Halep, former world number one, has been provisionally suspended for doping, the Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Friday. Currently ranked ninth in the world, Halep (31) tested positive for Roxadustat, a substance that promotes the endogenous production of erythropoietin (EPO), during the US Open last August, specifies the Agency. Notified in writing of a violation of the World Anti-Doping Code on October 7, the two-time Grand Slam winner (Roland-Garros 2018, Wimbledon 2019) requested the analysis of the B sample, which confirmed the first results. She was therefore provisionally suspended, in accordance with the rules of the tennis anti-doping program. She denies having doped Halep, who won the WTA 1000 in Toronto in August, had been eliminated in the first round of the US Open by a player from the qualifications, the Ukrainian Daria Snigur (124th in the world). She ended her season more than a month ago after undergoing nose surgery to treat breathing problems. Upon the announcement of her provisional suspension, which prohibits her from taking part or attending any official competition, she immediately denied having doped. “Today begins the toughest match of my life: a fight for the truth, she wrote in a message posted on her Twitter account. I was notified of a positive test for a substance called Roxadustat, in extremely low quantities, an unprecedented shock for me. Roxadustat, which is one of the EPOs in the nomenclature of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is a molecule that stimulates the production of erythropoietin by intervening in the production of red blood cells: it promotes their production by the body, and therefore its better oxygenation. The substance is prohibited both in-competition and out-of-competition. “I will fight to the end to prove that I have never knowingly taken a prohibited substance” “Throughout my career, the very idea of ​​cheating never crossed my mind because it is totally against the values ​​that have been transmitted to me, continues Halep in his message. Faced with such an unfair situation, I feel lost and betrayed. I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took a prohibited substance and I am convinced that sooner or later the truth will come out. “It’s not a question of titles or money. It’s a question of honor, and of the love story that I have developed with tennis for twenty-five years. The Roxadustat was detected for the first time during a check on the walker Bertrand Moulinet, in 2015, and has been banned since. In France, the molecule is known by the high health authority under the name of “Evrenzo” and can be given in the treatment of symptomatic anemia associated with chronic kidney disease.