The International Tennis Integrity Agency had punished the national tennis player for a month, as long as he complied with the program approved by the agency.
Chilean tennis suffers another blow. Bastián Malla has been suspended for two more months after the national failed to complete a marijuana use treatment program described in a sanction issued by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA for its acronym in English ) in 2022 .
Malla was initially suspended for a month after testing positive for cannabis, so long as he completed an agency-approved drug treatment program.
Obviously, after the player failed to provide proof of completion, the ITIA decided to extend the additional suspension period, which runs from December 19, 2022 to February 18, 2023 .
The positive for cannabis was detected during a doping control carried out during the Santiago Challenger, which took place between March 5 and March 13, 2022.
In this tournament, he played two qualifying matches, with a victory over Michel Vernier and a loss against the Argentinian Facundo Juárez. After this last duel, the test that gave this unfavorable result was carried out. Then, the following week, he lost by retirement to Colombian Cristian Rodríguez in the first round of the Concepción Challenger qualifiers.
“Mr. Malla, who has a career-high ATP ranking of 362, was tested at an ATP Challenger event in Santiago, Chile in March 2022. The player admitted the anti-doping rule violation and stated that his drinking was unrelated to athletic performance, which was accepted by ITIA “, underlined the initial sanction against the tennis player.
“The default suspension period provided for in Article 10.2.4.1 of the TADP is three months, which can be reduced to one month provided an adequate substance abuse treatment program is implemented “, they added.
“The one-month suspension period began on the date of the player’s voluntary provisional suspension and ended on Friday, May 6, 2022, the date on which the player was informed by the ITIA that he could resume the tennis subject to successful completion of the treatment program. If you do not meet these conditions, you will be subject to an additional two months of suspension. “, explains the press release.
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Source: Latercera
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