A TENNIS star’s suspension has been overturned after he successfully argued that a failed drug test was the result of sharing towels with his father.
Juan Sebastian Dominguez Collado, 23, was provisionally banned by the International Integrity Agency (ITIA) in December after testing positive for banned anabolic steroid clostebol.
A tennis player has seen a suspension overturned after arguing that sharing towels caused a positive drug testCredit: Getty
The Guatemalan athlete refuted the decision, and pleaded his case that the test was a result of close contact with his father, who he claimed was using prescribed products that included clostebol.
He pointed to several potential avenues of cross contamination, including the communal towels which he and his father were sharing at the time.
And now the ITIA has deemed the explanation satisfactory, officially clearing Collado to take to the court again.
The ITIA released a statement that read : “In the days leading up to Domínguez Collado’s doping control test, the player was sharing living quarters with his father, who, on the advice of his physician, had been conservatively treating a condition with two separate clostebol-based products, multiple times a day.
“Domínguez Collado asserted that he and his father had regular physical contact and shared access to a mobile device.
“In addition, the player shared communal towels with his father, who stated that he had regularly used the towels to wipe his hands after applying the products to his body, as an alternative to washing after each application, further increasing the exposure to the clostebol residue.
“As part of the investigation, the ITIA sought scientific advice from the WADA-accredited laboratory in Montreal, Canada, where the sample was analysed, for expert views on the plausibility of the player’s explanation.
“Upon review, the laboratory confirmed that the player’s explanation was plausible based on the low level of clostebol in the player’s sample, and, having taken all evidence into account, the ITIA determined that the player’s explanation was more likely than not the source of the clostebol.”
Collado had reached a career-high ATP ranking of 1660 in October, the same month that he returned the positive test for the banned substance.
Sharing towels is not the only bizarre explanation that has been given by tennis stars to explain abnormal test results.
Goncalo Oliveira was handed a four-year ban in October after testing positive for traces of methamphetamine, which he explained by claiming it who had taken the drug.
Collado is also not the first tennis star to have a run-in with clostebol.
The steroid is the same substance which , after his physio was deemed to have used a spray containing the substance on a cut.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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