Uzbekistani-American tennis player Varvara Lepchenko gets relieved as ‘Doping Ban’ gets reduced to 21 months
Uzbekistani-American tennis player Varvara Lepchenko gets relieved as ‘Doping Ban’ gets reduced to 21 months
Nearly two years after testing positive for a prohibited substance during a routine drugs test, American tennis player Varvara Lepchenko received a “consent award.” The former world No. 19 was initially given a four-year suspension, but she was able to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport after discovering a bottle of pills that had no label identifying the substance that was prohibited. As a result, her suspension has been reduced to 21 months and will be removed in May of this year.
Why did Varvara get banned?
After providing a urine sample on July 12, 2021, in connection with her participation in the WTA Hungarian Grand Prix held in Budapest, Hungary, from July 12 to 18, 2021, Lepchenko returned a positive test containing metabolites of adrafinil and/or modafinil, non-Specified Substances prohibited by the World Anti Doping Agency and the Tennis Anti-Doping Program. It was consequently decided last year that she would be prohibited for four years, with a commencement date of 19 August of that year.
But after successfully appealing the CAS’s decision to declare the 36-year-old unfit to compete for four years, the organization has now given her a “consent award.” Her appeal, according to the International Tennis Federation, was based on the discovery of a bottle of bemetil capsules she had bought in Ukraine in October 2020 and used capsules from in the days leading up to the competition in Hungary when she returned home following the hearing before the Independent Tribunal.
The ‘Doping Ban’ has been cut to 21 months
The ITF also acknowledged that those capsules and an unopened container it had independently acquired had been examined at a WADA-accredited lab and discovered to contain modafinil, which was not disclosed on the package label. All parties concluded that her ineligibility time has been lowered to 21 months. She will be free to play as of midnight on May 18 of this year.
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