Tara Moore Handed Four-Year Ban After Doping Appeal Loss

British tennis player Tara Moore has been banned from the sport for four years after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned a previous ruling that had cleared her of doping violations.

Moore, 31, tested positive for two banned anabolic steroids — nandrolone and boldenone — during a tournament in April 2022. An independent tribunal initially accepted her explanation that the substances likely entered her system through contaminated meat, and she was provisionally cleared.

However, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed that decision to CAS, which concluded that Moore failed to establish the source of the substances to the required standard. As a result, the four-year ban was imposed, effective retroactively from May 2022 and lasting until early 2028.

The ruling is a major setback for Moore, once ranked inside the world’s top 100 in doubles. She has not played competitively since her provisional suspension two years ago.

The ITIA stated:

“The CAS Panel determined that Ms Moore was unable to demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that the positive tests resulted from meat contamination.”

Moore has not yet issued a public statement following the updated verdict.

This case highlights the ongoing challenges athletes face regarding anti-doping protocols and the stringent standards required to prove unintentional ingestion.