Moore in clear after anti-doping rule probe
BRITAIN’S former number one-ranked doubles tennis player Tara Moore has been cleared of an anti-doping rule violation after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said yesterday she bore no fault for the offence.
Moore was provisionally suspended in June 2022 due to the presence of a prohibited substance in a sample she provided while competing in a WTA 250 event in Bogota, Colombia, where she lost in the final.
The ITIA had said her “A” sample contained Nandrolone metabolites and Boldenone. Both substances are on the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.
Moore said she had never knowingly taken a banned substance in her career.
However, the ITIA said that an independent tribunal determined that contaminated meat consumed by her and another player, Chile’s Barbara Gatica, in the days before sample collection was the source of the prohibited substance.
‘Accordingly, no period of ineligibility was imposed on either player, and the provisional suspensions imposed on each player under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme have been immediately lifted,’ the ITIA said.
Gatica, however, remains suspended from the sport due to separate Tennis AntiCorruption Program offences, the ITIA added.
Meanwhile, the major governing bodies of tennis this week confirmed they will aim to protect their athletes from online abuse by monitoring, reporting and helping to identify who is behind threats and other inappropriate contact.
The ITF, WTA, AELTC and USTA will use the Threat Matrix service to monitor players’ public-facing social media for abusive and threatening content, beginning Jan. 1.
‘This development reflects the commitment of the international tennis bodies involved to protect and support athletes from the mental trauma and potential real-world threat of online harassment and abuse,’ the organisations said in a joint release.