Chateau de Bethusy, Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French tennis player Richard Gasquet took part in a seven-hour review of his suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport Tuesday 10 November. The review follows demands by Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) and the International Tennis Federation for his penalty to be increased to a one-year ban.

The review came on the day when Wada celebrated its tenth birthday, with director general David Howman saying “All over the world, awareness is much higher today than it was ten years ago . . . Global anti-doping efforts in general have become smarter and much more sophisticated with experience.”

Gasquet was suspended in April 2009 after testing positive for cocaine during the March Miami Masters tournament. He missed Wimbledon in the UK and the French Open in Paris as a result. He told an independent tribunal called by the Court of Arbitration in July that he was contaminated with cocaine when he kissed a girl in a nightclub several times. Cocaine is a banned substance, considered an illegal stimulant when used during a tennis match. The Court gave him the shorter ban

Wada and the tennis federation are pushing to have a strict interpretation of Wada doping rules applied, where any athlete is held responsible for substances in his or her body, reports AP.

Links to other sites: AP, Court of Arbritration for Sport, Wada, International Tennis Federation, Reuters factbox on Wada

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