Controversial tennis star has doping ban overturned
Controversial tennis star Dayana Yastremska has won her appeal and had her doping ban overturned after a number of uncertain months in 2021.
Yastremska, 21, was suspended in January after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found a banned substance in an out-of-competition urine sample she submitted.
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Yastremska was provisionally banned from tennis and took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The world No.29 from Ukraine then sparked controversy when she was filmed on a Tennis Australia charter flight to Melbourne for the Australian Open starting earlier this year, despite testing positive to a banned substance in an out-of-competition sample.
She was then placed in a hard 14-day lockdown after a passenger on that flight returned a positive test of their own.
Her situation worsened when the International Tennis Federation released a statement, at the time, saying that an independent tribunal had denied 20-year-old Yastremska's application to have her provisional ban lifted.
But after nearly six months, Yastremska had her case heard and the ban overturned.
Yastremska relieved after hearing
The Ukrainian missed the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon (due to start on Monday) due to her provisional ban.
Yastremska always maintained the result was due to a 'contamination event' and was overjoyed the ban had been overturned.
"I'm glad and relieved to announce that I have been cleared of any wrongdoing," Yastremska said on Twitter.
"I've been through a lot during the last six months and it has been difficult to cope with all the negative comments."
Yastremska also thanked her fans for sticking by her during the tough period.
with Reuters
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