Tara Moore Faces Four-Year Doping Ban After CAS Overturns Initial Clearance

On July 17, 2025, British tennis player Tara Moore, aged 32, was handed a four-year doping ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), overturning an independent tribunal’s 2023 decision that cleared her of intentional wrongdoing. The former British No. 1 doubles player tested positive for the banned substances nandrolone and boldenone during a tournament in Bogotá, Colombia, in April 2022, leading to an immediate provisional suspension in May 2022.

After a 19-month wait, the tribunal initially ruled in December 2023 that Moore bore “no fault or negligence,” attributing the positive test to contaminated meat consumed before the test. Moore resumed her career in April 2024, but the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed the verdict. The CAS panel, after reviewing scientific and legal evidence, concluded that Moore failed to prove the nandrolone concentration in her sample resulted from contaminated meat, determining the anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) was intentional. Consequently, the tribunal’s decision was set aside, and Moore was banned for four years, reduced to 19 months to account for time served, effective immediately.

Moore, ranked No. 139 in doubles and No. 463 in singles as of her return, expressed frustration over the “19 months of lost time” in a heartfelt statement, decrying the emotional and professional toll of the initial suspension. Since her return, she has publicly criticized perceived leniency in the case of Iga Świątek, who received a one-month suspension for testing positive for trimetazidine due to contaminated melatonin. The new ban, which could end her career, has sparked debate about fairness in doping rulings and the challenges athletes face in proving unintentional violations.

Source: African Publicity