Breaking News: Polish Agency Quickly Dismisses False Doping Claims Against Iga Swiatek After Cyber Attack Due to…
Poland’s anti-doping agency (POLADA) has confirmed they were the victims of a cyber attack that resulted in a series of false details being released online, with world No 1 tennis star Iga Swiatek caught up in the story.
A host of Polish sports stars were named after the story initially broke, with Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski and Swiatek among the highest profile.
Yet the claims proved to be completely false, with POLADA quick to release a statement to end any confusion.
“Info presented in this post about Polish athletes is a fake,” read a statement on the X account of POLADA.
“All of these posts are aimed to discredit Polish athletes, who don’t deserve that because they compete clean. None of these athletes was positive and none of the presented dates is matching doping controls which were conducted.”
Another tweek confirmed this story was all due to a cyber attack as they POLADA added: “In connection with the hacking attack we inform you, that data is used by cyber criminals for various purposes, including widely understood disinformation.
“In the public domain fake news discrediting Polish athletes has appeared.
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“None of the listed athletes will have a positive result and none of the terms presented correspond to conducted anti-doping controls.”
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The Athletic reported that tennis doping chiefs at Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) have confirmed there are no adverse findings against Swiatek, who is currently in Cincinnati playing in the WTA 1000 tournament.
This story will be an inconvenience to Swiatek as she looks to return to WTA Tour action after she claimed a bronze medal for Poland on clay courts in the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
Now she is trying to adapt to hard courts ahead of the US Open and she has admitted tennis needs to reconsider the demands being placed on players with the relentless schedule.
Swiatek will play her first tournament since the Olympics at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati after she missed the Canadian Open in Toronto.
In her pre-tournament press conference, Swiatek brought attention to the relentless tennis schedule and expressed concern it is getting more challenging each season.
“Our calendar is crazy, probably the toughest one in sports,” said the Pole.
“There are sports that are really tough because, physically, you might get beat up. But most sports have four months off, sometimes even six. Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely.”
The five-time Grand Slam champion also looked back with prize on her Olympic run in Paris, as she sealed a medal after banishing her disappointing from missing out on a gold.
“It was pretty stressful and it wasn’t easy,” added Swiatek.
“But I’m happy that I could leave Paris with a medal and with a lot of knowledge about myself. The most important thing for me was to learn from this experience.
“I was proud of myself and I was happy that I could deal with all this pressure and still get a medal. It wasn’t like a normal tournament, for sure.
“I literally felt after the Olympics that I need to kind of reset and also just focus on getting my technique back together and just grinding on court.
“Here is the perfect place to do it. It feels a little bit less crazy, but on the other hand, even before the tournament, there are many people and a lot of fans. So you still feel that it’s an important tournament anyway.”
The world No 1 is the favourite to the US Open, which gets underway in New York later this month, where she will be looking to repeat her title win from 2022.
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