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Parikshit Somani Receives Four-Year Ban After Positive Test
Parikshit Somani is an Indian tennis player.
A test found the banned substance trimetazidine in his sample.
The test was taken during a tennis event in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Somani said the substance came from food prepared by a family member.
He said the food may have been contaminated by the family member’s medicine.
A tribunal reviewed this explanation and expert scientific opinions.
The tribunal decided that the explanation was not convincing.
It also said Somani had not shown where the substance came from.
He was therefore suspended from tennis for four years, until September 2029.
Indian tennis player Parikshit Somani received a four-year suspension under tennis anti-doping rules.
He tested positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine during an ATP Challenger event in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Somani said contaminated food prepared by a family member caused the positive test.
An independent tribunal described the food-contamination explanation as scientifically implausible, highly speculative, and unconvincing.
The suspension runs until September 2029, and no mitigating circumstances were applied.
- Who
- Indian tennis player Parikshit Somani and the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
- What
- Somani received a four-year suspension after testing positive for trimetazidine.
- Where
- The positive test occurred during an ATP Challenger event in Astana, Kazakhstan.
- When
- He was provisionally suspended from September 23, 2025; the tribunal hearing took place on August 19, 2026, and the ban runs until September 2029.
- Why
- The tribunal rejected Somani’s food-contamination explanation and found that he had not established the source of the prohibited substance.
Somani’s Defense
Tribunal’s Finding
Source of the substance
Somani’s Defense
Somani said food prepared by a family member had been contaminated by the family member’s medicine during preparation.
Tribunal’s Finding
The tribunal found the food-contamination theories scientifically implausible, highly speculative, and unconvincing.
Investigation and evidence
Somani’s Defense
Somani investigated possible contamination sources through the ITIA’s player support programme and presented expert scientific opinions.
Tribunal’s Finding
Products tested during the investigation were negative for trimetazidine, and the tribunal concluded that Somani had not established the substance’s source.
Penalty
Somani’s Defense
Somani’s explanation sought to account for the positive test through inadvertent contamination.
Tribunal’s Finding
Because no source was established, the tribunal determined that no mitigating circumstances applied and imposed a four-year suspension.
Key facts
- Player
- Parikshit Somani, a 26-year-old Indian tennis player
- Prohibited substance
- Trimetazidine
- Event
- An ATP Challenger event in Astana, Kazakhstan
- Penalty
- Four-year suspension
- Ban period
- Until September 2029
- Provisional suspension
- Effective September 23, 2025
- Career doubles ranking
- No. 256
- Tribunal finding
- The food-contamination theories were deemed scientifically implausible, highly speculative, and unconvincing
Quotes
International Tennis Integrity Agency
The governing agency that announced Somani’s suspension
“In late 2025, while provisionally suspended, Somani accessed the ITIA's player support programme to investigate multiple prospective sources of contamination, but the products tested negative for trimetazidine at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, USA.”
rediff.com
“An independent tribunal has suspended Indian tennis player Parikshit Somani for four years under tennis' anti-doping rules.”
rediff.com
freepressjournal.in
Independent tribunal
The tribunal that heard Somani’s doping case and imposed the suspension.
“The tribunal determined that Somani had not established the source of the prohibited substance found in his sample, and therefore no mitigating circumstances apply.”
freepressjournal.in
Sources
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