Football
Reuters 18y

Hood banned one year for French Open test

LONDON -- Mariano Hood of Argentina has been banned for one year for doping, the International Tennis Federation said in a statement on Wednesday.

Hood, 32, tested positive for a masking agent, finasteride,
after a men's doubles match at the 2005 French Open,
when he was partnered by Martin Damm of the Czech Republic.

He is the fifth Argentine to be banned for doping in recent
years.

An independent tribunal accepted that Hood had taken a hair
loss treatment for several years and failed to notice that
finasteride had been added to the list of prohibited substances
in 2005.

Six weeks ago, another Argentine, Mariano Puerta, was banned
for a record eight years for failing a drugs test for the second
time. He tested positive at the French Open for the banned
stimulant etilefrine.

Puerta, 27, has since appealed the ban to
the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Three other Argentines -- Juan Ignacio Chela, Guillermo
Coria and Guillermo Canas -- have received bans for banned
substances in the past five years.

Hood must forfeit his ranking points and prize money of $22,630 from the French Open. The ban started Oct. 10, 2005, the ITF said on its Web site.

Hood, primarily a doubles player, has won $828,644 in his
career and lifted 13 titles.

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