India’s first tennis dope failure at 16!
NEWDELHI: Aryaan Bhatia became the first Indian tennis player to fail dope test and has been put under provisional suspension, t he National Anti- Doping Agency (NADA) said on Friday.
The 16-year-old’s urine sample was taken during the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship held here in October last year. The NADA had collected samples for the first time from tennis players during the championship.
The national doping watchdog also provisionally suspended seven other sportspersons last month for flunking dope tests. They are Sandeep Kaur (powerlifting), Ankit Gosai (handball), Jithu Thomas (volleyball), Yaiphaba (canoeing), Vishan Singh (kayaking and canoeing) and Shivam Kasana (cycling).
HALEP BEATS JULIA
DOHA: Top seed Simona Halep battled past German Julia Goerges 7-6(1) 7-6(6) in the Qatar Open on Thursday to set up a semi-final clash against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. Playing in her first tournament with new coach Thierry Van Cleemput, Halep raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set before her ninth-seeded opponent fought back to force a tiebreak.
NISHIKORI ADVANCES ROTTERDAM: Japan’s Kei Nishikori carved out a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 win over Latvian Ernests Gulbis on Thursday to power into the Rotterdam Open quarter-finals.
He needed an hour and a quarter to advance as he booked a third victory against former French Open semi-finalist Gulbis, who was a lucky loser at the Ahoy Arena. Nishikori will face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, who defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.