Tennis: Puerta banned after positive test

Argentine tennis player Mariano Puerta has been banned from the sport for nine months, fined and stripped of ranking points after testing positive for a banned drug.

A promising clay court player once ranked as high as 18 in the world, he tested positive for the class one substance clenbuterol during the 2003 ATP event in Vina del Mar, Chile.

Puerta is the third Argentine in three years to be banned for doping following Juan Ignacio Chela and Guillermo Coria in 2001.