Tennis story by Brian Watters, Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:04:00 GMT


LONDON - Argentinean tennis player Mariano Puerta's career effectively looks to be over after the International Tennis Federation's anti-doping programme handed him a eight-year ban for taking a banned substance.

Unless an appeal is upheld, Puerta will never again compete on a tennis court. The 27-year-old Argentinean was the runner-up to Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the French Open in June. The Federation felt that since Puerta is a second offender, they had to take strict steps to ensure that such offenders are not let off lightly. Puerta issued a statement through his London lawyers saying, "My position has always been that I did not deliberately or knowingly ingest any prohibited substance. The tribunal's decision . . . confirms this to be the case. The tribunal accepts that the substance, etilefrine, entered my system . . . as a result of accidental contamination by an over-the-counter medicine which my wife was taking. Accordingly it ruled that I bore 'no significant fault or negligence'."

However, he admitted that the tribunal had no other alternative except to hand him a tough sentence. Puerta will also have to return the £300,671 prize money he won at the French Open since that result stands cancelled. Earlier, Puerta had served a nine-month ban after failing a test for clenbuterol in February 2003.

Commenting on the ban, Dick Pound, chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency said, "Somebody who has tested positive twice in less than two years is someone who clearly doesn't think the rules apply to him. The testing regimes will get better and the deterrent effect of these kind of sanctions will, I hope, persuade players who might otherwise consider using these drugs not to do so."

Puerta was not banned for life since the tribunal felt that his doping offence was accidental. This means that Puerta has a chance to appeal, but the chances are that he would have to serve out the ban.

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