Suspension of American Tennis Player Due to Doping

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has announced the suspension of Kanak Jha, who represented the United States in table tennis at the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics, for one year due to failing to provide his whereabouts on three occasions for doping tests. Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, stated in a release that "athletes who provide accurate information about their whereabouts can view this as a routine task." He added, "Given that effective testing without prior notice and out-of-competition is crucial since many banned substances have short detection windows... without a monitoring process based on the athlete's whereabouts, those who use doping will ultimately succeed." Failing to provide whereabouts three times within a 12-month period constitutes a violation of anti-doping rules. Jha, who helped the United States secure a gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games, failed to indicate his location on March 18, June 2, and September 4 of last year, and therefore his suspension will begin on December 1, 2022.