British tennis player Evans banned 1 year in cocaine case

LONDON (AP) - Davis Cup-winning tennis player Dan Evans will serve a one-year ban for testing positive for cocaine he said he kept in the pocket of a bag of toiletries.

The International Tennis Federation accepted on Tuesday that "inadvertent contamination" was responsible for the British player's positive test at the Barcelona Open in April.

Evans explained to an ITF panel he had used a small amount of cocaine when not competing four days before the test.

He then put the drug in a small travel bag where he also kept an approved medication he took during the Barcelona tournament.

The ITF accepted that Evans' fingers or medication became contaminated by cocaine residue.

The 27-year-old Evans, who was in Britain's Davis Cup-winning squad in 2015, is banned though April 23, 2018.

"Mr. Evans isˆ granted creditˆ forˆ hisˆ promptˆ admission," the tennis governing body said, noting the "time and expensesˆ savedˆ byˆ reachingˆ anˆ agreedˆ outcomeˆ ratherˆ thanˆ havingˆ aˆ disputed hearing."

He also forfeits 103,000 euros ($121,000) prize money and ranking points in events he played from late-April through June. His ranking peaked at No. 41 in March.