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French tennis star Richard Gasquet awaits appeal

Tuesday, 11 August 2009

French tennis star Richard Gasquet awaits appeal

French tennis star Richard Gasquet is waiting for the an appeal to be heard but he is feeling optimistic that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will agree with an independent tribunal's view that he "took cocaine inadvertently".

23-year-old Gasquet had been suspended in May after he tested positive for the drug cocaine, however, a panel decided that a 12-month ban would not be fair because no more than “a grain of salt” was found in the doping test.

Gasquet claimed in his defence that the drug got into his body via a kiss shared with a woman he met in a nightclub and he was allowed to return to playing tennis.

Despite this ruling however, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has called for a longer ban of two years, and on Thursday, along with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) an appeal was launched to the CAS against the tribunal's earlier decision.

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