<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=white></TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=white><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=640 bgColor=indianred><TBODY><TR><TD class=tit width="90%">Sesil Karatantcheva has appealed against a two-year ban</TD><TD class=tit align=right>03/02/2006</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=white colSpan=2><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
Bulgarian teenager Sesil Karatantcheva has appealed against a two-year ban for using performance-enhancing drugs.
The verdict was announced on 11 January after the 16-year-old twice tested positive for banned steroid nandrolone.
"The player requests the annulment of the decision challenged," said a Court of Arbitration for Sport statement.
Karatantcheva has claimed that the high levels of nandrolone in her system were due to a pregnancy, which later ended in miscarriage.
"She puts forward that the presence of norandrosterone is due mainly to her pregnancy condition and to the regular absorption of food supplements," confirmed Cas.
Cas usually delivers its decisions within four months from the filing of the appeal.
(Source:
BBC Sport)
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=white> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=white><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=640 bgColor=indianred><TBODY><TR><TD class=tit width="90%">Karatantcheva to appeal ban</TD><TD class=tit align=right>12/01/2006</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=white colSpan=2><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>"I'm going to appeal against the decision of the ITF at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland," she told a news conference on Thursday, the day after the International Tennis Federation suspension was handed down.
Her father and coach said the grounds for any appeal would concern pregnancy although he did not directly address whether his daughter had been pregnant at the time of the test.
"It is a very unpleasant situation but I will not give up," said the 16-year-old, only the second women's player to be banned for drug-taking.
"Even if the court in Lausanne does not lift the ban I will accept it as a positive event. In two years time I will be 18 and I will be back even stronger.
"I will have plenty of time to improve my game and I do not feel it's the end of the world."
An independent anti-doping tribunal ruled samples given by Karatantcheva at the French Open last May and out of competition in Tokyo in July contained the banned steroid nandrolone.
French sports daily L'Equipe had quoted the player as blaming the high level of nandrolone in her system on a pregnancy that later ended in miscarriage.
A pregnancy test carried out by a French laboratory on the player's urine sample was negative, L'Equipe said last month.
"We introduced the whole medical documentation concerning the pregnancy to the tribunal in London," said Radoslav Karatantchev, the father and coach of Sesil, when asked about the L'Equipe report.
"It is really complicated case but we think we are right.
"We do not feel guilty. We will do our best to prove that we are innocent," said Radoslav.
The player's lawyer Darina Zinovieva said: "We will use the medical documentation in the appeal at the court in Lausanne and before that we do not want to reveal any details.
"We have strong arguments and in my opinion we have a pretty good chance in Lausanne."
Karatantcheva, ranked in the top 40 at the end of 2005, reached the quarter-finals at last year's French Open.
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