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Wickmayer suspended for 1 year for missing tests
BRUSSELS (AP) U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer was suspended for one year by a Belgian anti-doping tribunal on Thursday for failing to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials three times.
Spokesman Koen Uman of the Flemish Doping Tribunal said the suspension "has immediate effect," meaning 20-year-old Wickmayer would have to withdraw from the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, where she was scheduled to play a second match on Friday.
Fellow Belgian Xavier Malisse was also suspended by the tribunal for breaking the whereabouts rule twice and missing a doping test.
Wickmayer has denied any wrongdoing and said on her Web site she planned to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The suspension came as a surprise as the prosecutor at the tribunal in October recommended Wickmayer receive only a warning for missing three tests over 18 months.
But the tribunal said in a statement that Wickmayer's failure to live up to anti-doping rules required the minimum one-year suspension, which was "reasonable and justified."
Wickmayer said last month she has had trouble with her password in the computerized system overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency. She also said registered mail at her home could not be signed off on since she was traveling to WTA tournaments.
She has insisted she never missed an anti-doping test and her samples were always negative.
Wickmayer, at a career-high 18th world ranking., has enjoyed a breakthrough year. Unseeded, she crashed the last four at the U.S. Open, having never passed the second round at any previous Grand Slams. She won her first two tour titles at Estoril in May and Linz last month, earning her a spot in this week's season-ending champions event in Bali. She won her first round-robin match against Kimiko Date-Krumm, and was favored to reach this weekend's semifinals.
Updated November 5, 2009
© 2009 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.