VALERIA Bhunu, Zimbabwe’s highest-ranked feminine tennis participant, has been slapped with a prolonged ban by the Worldwide Tennis Federation (ITF) after a banned substance, Mesterolone was present in an out-of-competition pattern.
The 27-year-old Cape City-based tennis participant revealed in a press release on social media that she has been banned till December 2024 for testing optimistic for a banned substance.
Bhunu examined optimistic for the outlawed substance after offering a urine pattern in December final 12 months, earlier than being formally charged just a few weeks later.
She, nevertheless, pleaded her innocence, insisting that she would by no means knowingly take a banned substance.
“As it’s possible you’ll already bear in mind, a urine pattern which I supplied in December 2021 examined optimistic for traces of Mesterolone Metabolite. I’m firmly dedicated to the ideas of unpolluted sport and have by no means knowingly or deliberately taken any prohibited substances,” Bhunu mentioned in a press release.
The tennis star, who’s the daughter of former Tennis Zimbabwe president Regis Bhunu, mentioned she nonetheless would not know the way traces of Mesterolone ended up in her system, and has been battling to show her innocence since being notified of the offence.
“I have no idea the reason for the optimistic check. Nonetheless, I’ve been suggested that the extraordinarily low focus of Mesterolone Metabolite that was detected in my pattern (an estimated 0.11 ng/mL) is according to the optimistic check having been brought on by a contamination occasion,” she mentioned.
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“I’ve made appreciable efforts to show my innocence, together with spending a big portion of cash investigating the reason for the optimistic check.
Nonetheless, sadly, I merely do not need the required monetary means to battle my case any additional.
“Subsequently, I’ve had no selection however to comply with a settlement with the ITF.
Given the circumstances of my case, the ITF has diminished the ordinarily relevant interval of ineligibility by 9 months, such that I will likely be
eligible to return to competitors in December 2024.”
Bhunu, who reached a career-best WTA rating of 497 in November 2016 has two singles titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour circuit.
She claimed her maiden singles title on the ITF Ladies’s Tour in 2015 in South Africa and needed to endure an extended wait earlier than claiming her second title in Monastir, Tunisia in June final 12 months.