Tennis: Wada Barred From Rusedski Drug Hearing

Officials from the World Anti-Doping Agency have been barred from attending Greg Rusedski's hearing into charges that he took the performance-enhancing steroid nandrolone, due to take place in Montreal on Monday.

Wada's director general David Howson had been scheduled to act as an observer at the hearing as part of a Wada review of the Association of Tennis Professional's anti-doping procedures.

Speaking before he was informed of the decision to exclude Howson, Wada's chief executive Dick Pound said his organisation had been invited to attend by the ATP. "It will give us a chance to look at their procedures first hand and also to interview some key people," he told the Guardian.

But legal advisers working for the British No2 subsequently informed the ATP that Wada would not be welcome. The ATP informed Wada on Thursday evening.

A spokesman for Rusedski said last night that both the player and the ATP "were not too keen" on Wada's presence. The ATP declined to comment.

Under ATP rules, players are entitled to object to the presence of observers but a Wada spokesman said it "regretted" the decision.

The Wada review will examine issues at the heart of Rusedski's defence. The ATP asked Wada to examine the cases of 47 players who displayed elevated levels of nandrolone last year.

Seven players were charged and subsequently cleared of doping offences after the ATP ruled that the drug might have been present in contaminated energy drinks given to players by its own training staff.

The electrolytes were subsequently tested and found negative - throwing doubt upon the theory and prompting the Wada inquiry.

Rusedski will argue that the nandrolone in his sample has the same "fingerprint" as the nandrolone taken by cleared players, and that he should be cleared. But the ATP said the contaminated drinks were withdrawn in May last year. Rusedski tested positive in July.

His biggest hurdle will be to demonstrate to the three-man panel, chaired by the Canadian barrister Yves Fortier, how the drug got into his system. Last month sources close to Rusedski said he was unsure how he came to ingest the drug.

"Rusedski has clearly tried to get lost among the other players, but he has got a big hurdle to clear," said Pound. "There's no doubt the drug was in his system. The question is how did it get there?"

After finalising his defence with his lawyer Mark Gay and the QC David Pannick, Rusedksi said last night: "I'm feeling strong and confident . . . as I know I am innocent. I am advised that the tribunal chairman is very highly qualified in this area so I am confident of a fair trial.

"I am driven by the fact that the seven other players with identical findings of the metabolites of nandrolone and the same unique fingerprint were exonerated."

Rusedski expressed great confidence in his legal team. Gay is one of Britain's most eminent sports lawyers, though he usually acts for governing bodies in cases against individuals. He represented the FA in its case against Rio Ferdinand and the IAAF against the 400 metres world-record holder Butch Reynolds.

Pannick is a specialist in civil liberties who successfully represented the home secretary Jack Straw and the government against Myra Hindley when she applied for parole.