Simona Halep was provisionally suspended from all forms of tennis competition in October 2022 after testing positive for a banned substance (Roxadustat). Then, a few months later, she was again found guilty of a second separate offense by ITIA. Although she tried to prove her innocence on several occasions. Halep was handed a 4-year ban in September last year. 

Several days have passed since that announcement. Multiple developments were also seen in this doping saga over the last few months. Now, her junior compatriot, Maria Sara Popa, comes up with an explosive revelation while putting Halep equally at fault for her fate.

‘They don’t get caught because they know exactly when to eliminate the substance’- Simona Halep’s 18YO compatriot makes a shocking revelation

Last year, Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratogolou took all the responsibilities of the ongoing doping saga. However, Simona Halep didn’t look too impressed with this late admission. She said that her trust was already broken. Maria Sara Popa happens to be a teenager who has been at the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy since she was 12 years old. 

Maria Sara Popa said, “I want it to end well, as does every person who supports it. There were mistakes on both sides. Maybe she should have been careful too. Maybe the people from Mouratoglou should have been careful too, to tell her exactly when to give her that substance, perhaps. I don’t know the details and I don’t want to go into too much. We don’t know the insides.”

Getting more logical about the scenario, Sara Popa continued, “There are athletes who take those substances. Only they don’t get caught because they know exactly when to eliminate the substance. And, they know exactly when to take them,” said Maria Sara Popa.

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She further added, “I, for example, was tested weekly and never took. But I can’t put my hand in the fire for the other athletes. Supplements are different from the substances that the physical trainers and doctors at the Academies give to the athletes. Supplements are exactly the daily pills that every person can take.”

Simona Halep recently took a firm legal step against the Canadian company that produced the nutritional supplement that put her career into a big question mark. Let’s find out more about this story.

Halep sues the Canadian nutritional company 

After testing positive for Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open, the 32-year-old Romanian tennis star is seeking more than $10 M in damages from Quantum Nutrition, which operates as Schinoussa Superfoods. She believes that they’re equally responsible for her 4-year ban. Roxadustat is a substance that stimulates the production of hemoglobin and RBC in the blood to treat anemia-related diseases.

Simona Halep said that she used the Schinoussa supplements and the Keto MCT during the US Open in 2022. She believes they were contaminated with Roxadustat and it was not disclosed on the label of the product. 

Halep has now sued them at a New York State Court in Manhattan. Her three-day hearing by ITIA also concluded last Friday. It will be interesting to see where this saga takes its course over the next few months.

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