British tennis player Greg Rusedski has been cleared of a doping offence despite testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone last July.

A three-man panel appointed by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) said in a statement on Wednesday that the Canadian-born 30-year-old had been cleared after a closed-door hearing in Montreal last month.

The tribunal ruled that the ATP had created the underlying situation in the first place "by distributing tablets that, on the best available scientific evidence, appeared to have been contaminated by prohibited substances".

Rusedski, who had faced a two-year ban, which would have effectively ended his career, admitted in January that he had tested positive during the RCA championships in Indianapolis last July.

He based his defence on the fact that seven other male players were exonerated last year after an independent inquiry ruled that they had taken contaminated supplements handed out by ATP trainers.

The ATP accepted last year that it may have unwittingly fed its players banned performance-enhancing substances but said it had stopped handing out the supplements in May, 2003.

Rusedski, on holiday this week with his wife Lucy, said in a hastily released statement that the judgment had come as a huge relief.

"Late yesterday I was informed by the Tribunal that I had been found not guilty of a doping offence," the player, once ranked as high as number four in the world, said.

"The verdict was clear and unequivocal. This is an enormous relief to me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife Lucy, my family...and all my friends for standing by me and believing in my innocence.

"Their constant love, support and loyalty gave me the strength to get through this ordeal. I have also been tremendously encouraged by the overwhelmingly favourable reaction of the general public.

UNANIMOUSLY REJECTED

"To be allowed to carry on playing competitive tennis and to clear my name has been my priority throughout and now I am looking forward to resuming my career."

The player, a runner-up at the U.S. Open in 1997, said he will give a full response next Tuesday when he has returned to London.

Last July, the ATP overturned a two-year ban and fine on Czech tennis player Bohdan Ulihrach. Six other players were not prosecuted despite registering high readings.

Rusedski's positive test came two months after the ATP stopped handing out the electrolytes and he was believed to be the only player to have exceeded the allowable limit since the announcement.

A statement from Rusedski's lawyers said: "In the Ulihrach case it was disclosed that the player was likely to have tested positive based upon substances given to him by his own governing body, the ATP.

"Mr Rusedski took exactly the same substances and attributed his finding, also, to material given to him by the ATP. As such he argued that it was unfair that the ATP should seek to prosecute him for substances which they themselves had given him, and which in all probability had caused him to test positive.

"In this case the ATP argued unsuccessfully that Mr Rusedski could be held to be positive as he must be taken to have known that he should not take substances given to him by the ATP.

"The Tribunal unanimously rejected this contention."