Simona Halep doping accusation update: Romanian tennis star has 20 days to challenge the indictment or enter a plea

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has 20 days to decide whether to contest the doping charge against her or enter a plea agreement, Paul Ciucur and Dan Mihai, the only Romanian lawyers at London-based Sport Resolutions, told the public television TVR.

“We have to see what irregularities could have happened and whether these irregularities can cause a different result than the existing one,” Mihai told TVR. His independent sports agency handles Halep’s hearing.

“The investigation phase has ended. From now on, Simona Halep has 20 days to either challenge the indictment or conclude, there is also this possibility, a plea agreement that would reduce her sanction from 4 years, which is the standard, to 3 years,” Ciucur added.

Halep, a former WTA #1, is prohibited from entering any competition after testing positive for roxadustat, a banned substance that enhances blood oxygenation.

In the past three years, she has been underwent anti-doping testing 55 times, including those 27 times in the year when she won the Wimbledon (2019).

Should Halep choose to defend herself by contesting the indictment, she needs to prove her innocence under two conditions: “One, to have kept an open bottle from which she ingested the substance, the supplement she claims to be contaminated and, two, to still have two identical, sealed vials from the same batch,” Ciucur explained.

Support for the Romanian star has been pouring in, including from her former coach Darren Cahill, ex-husband Toni Iuruc, Romanian minister of justice Cătălin Predoiu, and her fellow countrywomen Sorana Cîrstea, Jaqueline Cristian, and Mihaela Buzărnescu.

“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed,” Halep wrote on her social media amidst the allegation.

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