Parikshit Somani suspended for four years after positive trimetazidine test at Astana Challenger

Parikshit Somani was suspended for four years after a urine sample he provided during the ATP Challenger tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 31, 2025 tested positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine. The International Tennis Integrity Agency said the sanction follows an independent tribunal decision.

Somani, 26, reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 256. He was provisionally suspended on September 23, 2025; the tribunal disqualified his results from the Astana event and those obtained until September 23, 2025, with the loss of ranking points, prize money and other associated awards.

The sample's analysis identified trimetazidine, which is listed as prohibited at all times on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List. "An independent tribunal has suspended Indian tennis player Parikshit Somani for four years under tennis' anti-doping rules," the ITIA said.

Somani contested the finding, saying the substance had entered his system via food prepared by a family member. "In late 2025, while provisionally suspended, Somani accessed the ITIA's player support programme to investigate multiple prospective sources of contamination, but the products tested negative for trimetazidine at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, USA," the ITIA said.

In February 2026, Somani put forward his food contamination explanation to support his defence. "This became the basis of Somani's explanation at a hearing before an independent tribunal on 19 August 2026," the ITIA said.

The tribunal reviewed expert scientific opinions presented by both Somani and the ITIA and rejected the proposed contamination mechanisms, finding them "scientifically implausible", "highly speculative", and "unconvincing". It determined Somani had failed to establish the source of the prohibited substance, found no mitigating circumstances applied and imposed the mandatory four-year suspension under tennis' anti-doping rules.

The four-year period of ineligibility will run until September 2029.