Video: Jesse Ryder 'devastated' over six-month ban

New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder reveals that he is ‘devastated’ after being handed a six-month ban for alleged drug abuse.

Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricketer, said, “Well I was pretty surprised at actually failing the drug test for starters. We didn’t know why. We did all the research and found out how it got in my system and what it was and we went about it so it’s been a bit of a setback and hopefully I can move on from this.”

“Like you said, I was devastated. I had no idea what it was. I asked Drug Free Sport (after failing the test) if there was anything wrong with it? They said they couldn’t find anything wrong with it but you know it’s a risk to take supplements. But you know, you do the research. You try and find out as much as you can on the ingredients, if they’re banned and it came back with nothing so. I thought it would be alright to use.”

“It’s basically just a weight loss product. I got it through a mate (who) got me on to it. I’d seen good results. I was putting on weight during the season (and) just wanted to control it, and obviously it hasn’t done me any favours.”

“I checked out the ingredients to see if they were banned. I talked to a trainer who had the WADA (mobile) app on his phone. He went through all of that and that shows all the banned substances on the list. None of what was on the ingredients came up banned and then he came back and said ‘check again, make sure all is good.’ The one thing I regret not doing, and it’s probably cost me a bit is not going to Drug Free Sport (before taking the pills). It didn’t cross my mind when we found out that nothing was on the banned list. But my fault for taking them really.