- Former world no.1 Simona Halep is suing Quantan Nutrition
- Quantan Nutrition is a Canadian company that sold her supplement containing Roxadustat
- Roxadustat is a banned substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list
Former world no.1 Simona Halep is suing Quantan Nutrition, a Canadian company which manufactured a nutritional supplement that led to her four-year doping ban.
Quantum Nutrition which operates as Schinoussa Superfoods is looking at a $10 million suit from the Romanian tennis player currently appealing her tennis ban.
Simona Halep is Suing Quantan Nutrition
The basis of the multi-million-dollar lawsuit follows a positive test of roxadustat on Halep at the US Open 2022 according to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
Roxadustat is a banned substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list. Medically, it is used in treating anaemia by increasing haemoglobin and red blood cells production in the body.
However, in Halep’s case, an increase in Red Blood cells means an increase in oxygen in her body which enhances athletic performance.
Simona Halep has been banned for four years for doping. Photo/ Eurosport.
Halep now claims that it is evident that the Keto MCT supplement she bought from Quantan contained roxadustat but she wasn’t aware until October 2022 when ITIA temporarily banned her from playing tennis.
She maintained her innocence all through her trial saying that she upholds the ethics of the sport and doping would be the last thing she would do.
“We brought her collagen from a company. This collagen happened to be contaminated. There was no way to know it. But I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team—so me, basically—who brought her this collagen,” she said in an Instagram video in November 2022.
Following her four-year ban from playing tennis, she maintains that the Canadian company should pay her damages incurred including her reputation.
When Was Simona Halep Banned from Playing Tennis?
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) handed Simona Halep a tennis ban in September 2023. It came a year after she tested positive for roxadustat while playing in New York.
Before rendering a verdict, the ITIA tribunal hearing the case heard testimony from Halep and her team of science experts.
However, while the panel agreed with her claim that she had taken a contaminated supplement, they concluded that this could not have caused the level of roxadustat detected in her urine sample.
Simona Halep. Photo/Simon Halep X
ITIA’s chief executive officer Karen Moorhouse said the tribunal carefully analysed evidence before it and found the Romanian tennis star guilty.
“The volume of evidence for the tribunal to consider in both the roxadustat and ABP proceedings was substantial,” The Guardian reported.
She added: “The ITIA has followed the proper processes as we would with any other individual – in accordance with the world anti-doping code – fulfilling our purpose and responsibility to uphold the principle of fair competition, on behalf of the sport. The panel recognized that appropriate procedure had been followed within the written decision.”
Besides her first count of doping, she was also charged for irregularities found in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).
The sport of recording an athlete’s biological markers throughout time is known as Athlete Biological Passport. These biological markers reveal doping-related changes in blood parameters, hormones, and other body components.
ITIA in its judgment stated the irregularities in Halep’s ABP was a likely result of her initial doping. It added her doping ban period.
Did Simona Simona Halep Appeal Her Four-Year Doping Ban?
Simona Halep after appearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland to appeal her four-year tennis ban. Photo/Toronto Star
While Simona Halep is suing Quantan Nutrition, she has appealed her doping ban. She appeared at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland between February 7 and February 9 for proceedings.
After her three-day presentation, she expressed her relief at being allowed to get a fair trial.
My confidence in the prevalence of the truth remains intact. I look forward to reclaiming my place on the tennis courts,” Halep said.
The 31-year-old tennis star maintained that she had dedicated her entire life to tennis and that she always regarded the regulations governing tennis seriously.
She insisted on her innocence, saying that she had never used any illegal substances with knowledge or intent and that she was against the ITIA’s four-year ban.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login