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Diana Taurasi's EuroLeague Women
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Diana Taurasi was in the middle of her best EuroLeague Women campaign when she received the news that a urine sample she provided after a domestic league match in Turkey with Fenerbahçe was not okay.She requested for the second sample to be tested and we learnt on Thursday, 6 January, that her club Fenerbahçe had terminated her contract.
According to various news sources, traces of Modafinil were found in her sample. Taurasi was provisionally suspended in December at the moment of notification of the first test results.
Taurasi remains suspended and will not be able to play basketball in most of the leagues in Europe and hence will not be able to register for another club before the end of the EuroLeague Women deadline on 31 January 2011.
Although she was informed of a positive drug test, she has not made any public statements (at the time of writing this story) on her next cause of action.
Taurasi had played 75 games in the EuroLeague: of which 7 games for Dynamo Moscow during the 2005-2006 season.
She then spent the next four seasons (2006-2010) playing for Spartak Moscow Region. She was in 59 games and won the title on each occasion.
After five seasons in Russia, she decided to join a former coach László Rátgéber in Turkey. She also joined up with her WNBA team-mate Penny Taylor.
In her 7 games this season she averaged 24.6 points.
In her EuroLeague career Taurasi converted 46% of her shots and scored a total of 1413 points at an average of 18.5 ppg. (She scored 217 three-pointers from 476 attempts).
During the European off-season Taurasi spent her time playing in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury. She was the rookie of the year in 2004 and has 2 WNBA rings (WNBA Championships) and a host of other titles.
For the moment her basketball career is on hold while she decides on whether to continue the process or accept the results.
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picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france
Date created: 11 January 2011
