Simona Halep reportedly makes big step toward clearing her name in doping case

A Romanian judge serving with the Court of Arbitration for Sport has revealed that Simona Halep has identified how Roxadustat got into her body.

In October, the ITIA announced that two-time Grand Slam champion Halep was being provisionally suspended after failing a doping test.

In her statement, Halep called it “the most shocking news” of her life.

In recent weeks, Halep has been working hard on clearing her name.

Now, it is being reported that Roxadustat was reportedly found in the supplement without proper labeling.

“It seems that the method by which Roxadustat entered the athlete’s body has been identified, namely by ingesting a contaminated food supplement. Contaminated product is a product that contains a prohibited substance, without this being specified on the product label or in information accessible through a reasonable search on the Internet,” Romanian judge Cristian Jura told ProSport Romania.

Halep halfway through clearing her name

After finding out how the prohibited substance got into Halep’s body, the next step is to prove “the lack of guilt and negligence.”

“The athlete is still at this moment between the lifting of the suspension, i.e. the removal of any sanctions, and the 4-year suspension from sports activity. The suspension can be reduced or even canceled if the two conditions stipulated by the World Anti-Doping Code are cumulatively met: to establish very clearly the way in which the substance entered the body and the athlete’s lack of intention to take the prohibited substance to improve sports performance. One of the conditions was met, it was clearly established how the substance got into the athlete’s body. The athlete must also prove the lack of guilt and negligence. That is, the athlete or other person must prove that Simona did not know or suspect and could not reasonably have known or suspected, even by exercising the most careful caution, that she used or was administered prohibited substances or that he used prohibited methods,” Jura explained.

It remains to be seen when will Halep be allowed to return to tennis.