Last night Maria Sharapova gave an interview to the media relating to a banned substance she is alleged to have taken since she was 16. Meldonium was not on the banned list until January 2016 so she didn't do anything illegal up to that date. However her team including her doctor and solicitors failed to notice that the drug was included on the new banned list which was explained in a mail 22nd Decemeber 2015. In the 27 year's of my mediocre Table Tennis career I never once had to take any substance for my health and if I was sent a new list of banned substance's I would check myself if any medication I was taking was included. I would also ask my GP to check the list for names of drugs that may go under a different alias.
Andy Murray tweeted in 2013 ''Read and respect the rules and everything is very simple''. He was referring to an incident between WADA & Marin Cilic and Vicktor Troiki. Troiki failed to turn up for a test and Cilic tested positive for a banned substance. Murray called them ''Unprofessional''. With the Olympics only a few months away, their is a dark cloud over Russian Sports and this Sharapova revelation only deepens the crisis even further.
Nike last night suspended their sponsorship deal with Sharapova and no doubt other companies will follow suit. The question on everyone's lips is, If the substance was banned recently, then surely it should have been banned year's ago but didn't appear on the radar. Can we assume that Meldonium which increases physical capabilities has somehow helped Sharapova since she was 16? Lot's of questions...
I really hope we don't have any more bans and that all sports remain clean.
John Bowe
Andy Murray tweeted in 2013 ''Read and respect the rules and everything is very simple''. He was referring to an incident between WADA & Marin Cilic and Vicktor Troiki. Troiki failed to turn up for a test and Cilic tested positive for a banned substance. Murray called them ''Unprofessional''. With the Olympics only a few months away, their is a dark cloud over Russian Sports and this Sharapova revelation only deepens the crisis even further.
Nike last night suspended their sponsorship deal with Sharapova and no doubt other companies will follow suit. The question on everyone's lips is, If the substance was banned recently, then surely it should have been banned year's ago but didn't appear on the radar. Can we assume that Meldonium which increases physical capabilities has somehow helped Sharapova since she was 16? Lot's of questions...
I really hope we don't have any more bans and that all sports remain clean.
John Bowe
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