Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French tennis player Richard Gasquet was exonerated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport Thursday 17 December from any fault or negligence over cocaine in his system, which he says was from kissing in a nightclub. The CAS agreed his assertion is the most likely explanation for the minute amount of the drug found in his system 28 March during the ATP tournament in Miami, Florida, USA.

The amount was so small that it did not reflect social use of the drug, but rather incidental contamination, the court says. “It was also established that the player was clearly not a regular cocaine user, even in very small amounts.”

The CAS Thursday 17 December dismissed appeals filed in August by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to sanction Gasquet with a period of ineligibility of between one and two years.

The arbitrators said  that it was impossible for the player, even when exercising the utmost caution, to know that in kissing a woman who he had met in a totally unsuspicious environment, he could be contaminated with cocaine.”

An anti-doping tribunal of the ITF had declared Gasquet ineligible for a period of two months and fifteen days starting 1 May 2009 after he tested positive for the prohibited substance benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, which was present in the urine sample he provided 28 March 2009.

Background, GenevaLunch

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