Novacek Wilander will face tribunal

MATS WILANDER and Karel Novacek will face an independent appeals tribunal next month to determine whether they tested positive…

MATS WILANDER and Karel Novacek will face an independent appeals tribunal next month to determine whether they tested positive for cocaine during last year's French Open. If found guilty they would be suspended for three months, missing the French Open and Wimbledon.

The players' American lawyers failed at the High Court in London yesterday to obtain an injunction to stop the International Tennis Federation from proceeding with its case against them. Neither player was present at the hearing.

Wilander, the former world number one, and Novacek, a Czech Davis Cup player, deny the allegations and say that the tests were flawed. They argued that their urine samples had been mishandled and alleged that the ITF failed to provide evidence on which the charges are based.

The court ruled that there was evidence to show that the ITF had followed accepted practice in handling the urine samples.

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On March 12th the lawyers representing Wilander and Novacek were given a provisional date of June 4th for a court hearing concerning the players' allegations that the ITF's anti-doping programme was in breach of contract and a restraint of trade.

Potentially, the action could have brought into question the right of international sports governing bodies to conduct their own anti-doping programmes. The ITF appealed for the right to proceed with the independent tribunal before the civil case went to court. This was upheld yesterday.

We welcome the court's decision," said Debbie Jevans, the administrator of ITF's anti-doping programme. And we will now be establishing the appeals committee, which will consist of three people who are independent of the ITF and the anti-doping, programme."