ISTANBUL – Top US women basketball player Diana Taurasi has failed a doping test while playing for Fenerbahce in the Turkish national league championship, the Turkish press reported on Saturday.
The reports cited the Turkish Basketball Federation as saying that Taurasi tested positive for the mild stimulant drug modafinil, which can be used to combat insomnia and other sleep-related conditions.
She has been provisionally suspended from playing while her B Sample is tested. Her lawyer in the United States, Howard Jacobs, was quoted as saying that the drug is not a steroid.
Taurasi has won two Olympic titles with the United States and on four occasions she has been named most valuable player in the women’s NBA in the United States.
She has played for the last four years for Spartak in Russia before joining Fenerbahce in Turkey this season.
