Czech tennis player Ivo Minar was slapped with an eight-month ban in competitive tennis after testing positive for a banned substance after a Davis Cup match.
According to reports, the results came from a sample taken during a Davis Cup quartefinal match against Argentina on July 11.
The banned stimulant methylhexanamine was discovered according to the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Minar defended himself saying that he had no intentions of cheating and that the substance came from a food supplement which was later found out to have the aforementioned stimulant.
ITF stated that the ban will be lifted on March 10, 2010 and added that Minar’s results from tournaments in Hamburg, Stuttgart and Gstadd would be voided.
“The ITF accepted Mr. Minar’s account of the background to his positive test. Under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, however, it is a player’s strict personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substance enters his or her body, whether as an ingredient in a nutritional supplement or otherwise,” ITF said in a statement.
Minar won’t be appealing the decision to avoid a longer ban, this was revealed by Czech tennis federation president Ivo Kaderka.
