Filippo Volandri has been hit with a three-month ban for abusing an asthma drug and will now miss the forthcoming Australian Open.
Italian punished for abusing an asthma drug
Filippo Volandri has been hit with a three-month ban for abusing an asthma drug and will now miss the forthcoming Australian Open.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) meted out the punishment after ruling that the 27-year-old's use of salbutamol was "beyond therapeutic needs".
The ban began on Thursday and will come to an end at midnight on April 14.
Volandri failed a drug test after competing at a tournament in Indian Wells, California last March.
"The Tribunal found that a sample provided by Mr Volandri on 13 March, 2008 at the ATP Tour event in Indian Wells... contained salbutamol at a concentration greater than 1,000 ng/ml," the ITF said in a statement.
Volandri had blamed his failed test on an inhaler he takes for treating asthma and insisted he had a medical exemption certificate to use Ventolin, which contains salbutamol, to treat his condition, but was nonetheless deemed to have exceeded his limit.
"The Tribunal accepted that Mr Volandri had not taken salbutamol with intent to enhance his sporting performance, rather he had taken salbutamol to treat his asthma," the statement added.
"However, it found that his ATUE (exemption certificate) only permitted him to use asthma medication in line with generally accepted asthma treatment guidelines, and that the amount of salbutamol he inhaled was not consistent with such use, and so could not be said to be proper therapeutic use.
"The Tribunal therefore found that a doping offence had been committed."
The world 109 had been scheduled to meet Mario Ancic of Croatia in the first round of the Australian Open which gets underway on Monday.
The ITF also announced that all of Volandri's results from March 13 onward will be voided, including money won and ATP points gained in the last nine months.
