Richard Gasquet escapes lengthy doping ban

Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban today when the International Tennis Federation ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub.



The 23 year old Frenchman convinced an independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine from kissing the woman he had just met at the club in Miami.



The tribunal panel of three lawyers said Gasquet consumed no more than a grain of salt of the drug, and a long ban would be an injustice.



Gasquet tested positive in a urine sample in March after he pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, with a shoulder injury.