The official body responsible for anti-doping procedures in Polish sport has confirmed they will not be appealing Iga Swiatek’s doping case.
The former world No.1 served a one-month suspension earlier this year after testing positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ). After getting provisionally suspended for 22 days between September and October, Swiatek managed to overturn that penalty by providing evidence that the cause of her failed test was a contaminated jet lag medication she was taking. An independent hearing later concluded that the tennis star bore “no significant fault or negligence” and did not intentionally take trimetazidine. Swiatek was issued with a one-month suspension (including the 22 days she was provisionally suspended) and her level of fault was deemed to be at the ‘lowest end of the range.’
Following their assessment of Swiatek’s case, the Polish Anti-Doping Agency (POLADA) has announced they will not be appealing the decision of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The body says the ruling was in line with the anti-doping regulations.
“(The) Polish Anti-Doping Agency would like to inform that after a comprehensive examination and verification of the full legal file of the athlete Iga Swiatek, has decided not to appeal the decision made by Independent Tennis Integrity Agency in the case of the tennis athlete,” POLADA said in a statement.
“Conducting an in-depth and thorough analysis by Polish Anti-Doping Agency’s experts made it possible to make an objective decision that complied with anti-doping regulations.”
Meanwhile, the World Anti-Doping Agency will have until January 21st to file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). They have already filed an appeal against the ITIA’s decision on Jannik Sinner’s failed doping tests. The world No.1 has been cleared of wrongdoing after it was accepted that he was contaminated with clostebol by his former physio who was using a spray containing that substance on his hands. WADA is arguing that the finding of “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules.
Recently asked if she might find herself in a similar situation to that of Sinner, Swiatek is hopeful that this will not be the case.
“I gave every possible evidence and there is not much, honestly, more to do,” she said.
“There is no point to do an appeal in our opinion.
“But, you know, I guess overall, this whole process was pretty abstract sometimes and hard to understand from a point of view where you don’t think about the law and everything.
“But honestly, this is about the law and the wording and this kind of stuff. So I’m not expecting an appeal, but I have kind of no influence on what’s going to happen.
“But I can say from the processes that I went through and how they treated me from the beginning, that it seemed fair for me.”
“I managed to give the source (of the contamination) pretty quickly. That’s why the case closed, pretty quickly.”
Swiatek is currently playing at the United Cup alongside Hubert Hurkacz.
