Tribunal Rejects 'Scientifically Implausible' Food Defense, Bans Somani Four Years

Parikshit Somani's explanation was that the drug came from his family's kitchen. A relative takes trimetazidine, a heart medication, and Somani said traces must have ended up in food prepared for him. An independent tribunal didn't buy it, and he is now banned from tennis until September 2029.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced the four-year suspension Wednesday. The tribunal's description of his defense was blunt: scientifically implausible, highly speculative and unconvincing. At the August hearing, his side couldn't show where the contamination actually came from.

Somani, 26, peaked at No. 256 in doubles. The positive test came at a lower-level event in Astana, Kazakhstan, last year.

Trimetazidine has a history in doping cases. Swimmer Sun Yang tested positive for it in 2014, and it was the drug in figure skater Kamila Valieva's case at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, where her lawyers also pointed to contaminated food. Valieva got four years too.

The ban is total. Somani can't play, coach or even attend events run by the ATP, the WTA, the Grand Slams, World Tennis or any national federation until it ends.