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Novak Djokovic says he has lost all trust in the anti-doping programme in tennis and fears he could become a victim of its negligence after fellow Serb Victor Troicki failed to have his 18-month doping ban overturned on Tuesday.
Troicki,who was banned by the International Tennis Federation ITF in July after failing to provide a blood sample at the Monte Carlo Masters in April,had his sanction reduced to 12 months by CAS,ruling him out until next July.
I think it8217;s just not bad news for him,it proves again that this system of WADA and anti-doping agency does not work. I don8217;t have trust in them anymore. I don8217;t have trust in what8217;s going on, Djokovic said.
I don8217;t know if tomorrow the representative,the DCOs doping control officer who are representatives of WADA there at the tournaments,because of their unprofessionalism,because of their negligence,because of their inability to explain the rules in a proper way,I don8217;t know if they8217;re going to misplace the test that I have or anything worse than that.
Troicki has denied any wrongdoing and based his appeal on his belief that he had been told by a doping control officer at the Monte Carlo tournament he would not be committing a doping violation if he did not provide a blood sample,providing he contacted the ITF to explain the situation.
The 27-year-old told an ITF independent tribunal that he had felt unwell on the day of the test following his early defeat and that his phobia about needles would make him feel even worse. He subsequently wrote a letter to the ITF8217;s anti-doping department to explain his reasons for refusing to give a sample.
The CAS hearing agreed that former world number 12 Troicki,who won the decisive rubber for Serbia in the 2010 Davis Cup final,was not significantly at fault and accepted there had been confusion between the doping control officer and Troicki over whether he could be excused the blood test.
Elena Gorodilova,the doping control officer at the centre of the case,disputes Troicki8217;s version of events in evidence supplied to CAS,saying whether or not he was entitled to skip the blood test was not her decision to make.