British tennis player Moore given four-year doping ban

Tara Moore will be banned from playing until the start of the 2028 season

British tennis player Tara Moore has been banned for four years for a doping offence, despite being cleared by an independent tribunal 18 months ago.

An appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

The four-year ban starts immediately, but will be reduced by the 19 months Moore was provisionally suspended when the case first came to light.

The 32-year-old was Britains top ranked womens doubles player when she was provisionally banned in May 2022 having tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone at a tournament in the Colombian capital Bogota the previous month.

But in December 2023 an independent tribunal ruled contaminated meat was the source of the positive test, and that Moore "bore no fault or negligence".

The British player said she had suffered "19 months of lost time and emotional distress", and that her reputation had been damaged as a result of the case.

She returned to the tour in April 2024 and has played mostly on the ITF World Tour since.

Earnings for doubles players are meagre, although Moore did make it into the main draw for Wimbledon and the US Open last year, as well as for the Australian Open this January.

But following a hearing in March, this ruling from Cas means she will not be free to play again until the start of the 2028 season.

"After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the Cas panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat," Cas said in a media release.

"The panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside."

Other than through a highly unusual procedural appeal to the Swiss courts, Cas decision is binding on all parties.

"For the ITIA, every case is considered according to the individual facts and circumstances," the ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse said.

"Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly.

"In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Todays ruling is consistent with this position.

"We understand that players and their support teams may have questions about this decision, and we will answer these fully once we have reviewed the details of the ruling."