World no. 1 Jannik Sinner said he’s surprised by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against last month’s decision to clear him of blame and negligence after twice testing positive for low levels of clostebol – a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass – in consecutive weeks during the US swing arguing inadvertent contamination by his now-former physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi.
Sinner under duress as drug issues linger
AS his Beijing campaign continues, Jannik Sinner may have a bigger issue after news today confirmed Wada are appealing last month’s ruling by an independent tribunal to clear him of any fault nor negligence after his positive drug test – they want the Italian to serve a ban between one and two years as punishment.
The 23-year-old, who rose to top of the ATP world rankings in May and has won two of the season’s four Grand Slams, said he was obviously “very disappointed and also surprised” by an appeal that will likely take months to come to an eventual conclusion unless fast-tracked, one of the many wrinkles leading to widespread criticism when the original story broke after his Cincinnati title triumph.
Wada argue the ruling wasn’t correct under the applicable rules, have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) saying he should be banned for between one and two years. Sinner recovered from a set down to beat Russia’s Roman Safiullin in the last-16 while news broke, something he was briefed on a few days earlier.
The case was presented to a tribunal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), who said its process was run per Wada guidelines but respected its right to appeal.
Sinner was provisionally suspended on two different occasions in April for less than a week, but challenged the decision and allowed to continue playing without public knowledge while they reached a conclusion.
Sinner’s defence said he was inadvertently contaminated by the banned substance by physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi, who he has since stopped working with.
The ITIA accepted Sinner’s explanation that Naldi had applied an over-the-counter spray – widely available in Italy – containing clostebol to treat a cut on his own hand.
The tribunal ruled that Sinner was not to blame, but stripped him of his ranking points and prize money for reaching the Indian Wells semi-finals.
Wada aren’t questioning his explanation, but rather believe he shares some of the blame and it’s now on CAS to decide whether the Italian should be held responsible.
As it stands, he’s free to play on. As BBC’s Russell Fuller rightly points out, the ITIA appealed to CAS back in January against the decision to exonerate Britain’s Tara Moore of doping and no hearing has been scheduled at the time of writing.
Picture source: Getty Images
Mo and Sports 