Puerta set to appeal eight-year drug ban

MARIANO PUERTA is considering an appeal against an eight-year ban imposed for a second drugs offence.

The 27-year-old Argentinian tested positive for the banned stimulant etilefrine following his appearance in the French Open final in June.

He served a nine-month ban after he failed a test for clenbuterol in February 2003.

In a statement released through his solicitors, Puerta said: “My position has always been that I did not deliberately or knowingly ingest any prohibited substance.

“The tribunal’s decision and its reasoning upholds and confirms this to be the case. The tribunal accept that the substance, etilefrine, entered my system entirely inadvertently and without my knowledge as a result of accidental contamination by an over-the-counter medicine which my wife was taking.

“Accordingly, it ruled that I bore ‘no significant fault or negligence’ for the substance having entered my system.

“The tribunal also accepted that the concentration of etilefrine in my sample, detected at a level many times lower than the laboratory is required to be able to detect it for the purposes of its accreditation, was so low as to be incapable of enhancing my performance.

“The tribunal also noted that the substance bore marked similarities with ephedrine which is treated much more leniently under the code and that the amount of the etilefrine in my sample was substantially less than the permitted level of ephedrine.

“Despite these facts, the tribunal found that it had no alternative but to apply strictly the rules which mandated an eight-year ban.

“The tribunal, with a ‘heavy heart’, was ‘very uncomfortable’ about imposing the ban, which it described as ‘particularly harsh’, and expected and indicated that it would ‘welcome’ an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“I find it extraordinary that it could ever be thought satisfactory that a person’s livelihood can be terminated in circumstances such as these.

“I will, of course, be considering an appeal with my lawyers but no decision will be taken until the New Year.”

Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomed the ban as “a big step forward” in the bid to clean up tennis.

The ban has been backdated by the International Tennis Federation to June 5, 2005, meaning the player will be three months short of his 35th birthday when it ends.

Pound said: “Somebody who has tested positive twice in less than two years is someone who clearly doesn’t think the rules apply to him.

“We were always worried about the secrecy and apparent laxity of the testing programmes when the responsibility was in the hands of the players’ association.

“The testing regimes will get better over time and the deterrent effect of these kind of sanctions will I hope persuade players who might consider using these drugs not to do so.

Puerta has had his results in the French Open declared null and void and has forfeited entry ranking points and prize money of €443,282.