Latest news with #WorldAnti-dopingAgency
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sinner set for hero's welcome in Rome but how will the locker room react?
Jannik Sinner could not help but crack a wry smile when he faced the media before the US Open last year in the aftermath of his anti-doping case, one of the most high-profile in the history of tennis. Sinner, the best player in the world, had been attempting to emphasise just how low the concentration of the banned substance clostebol had been in his urine sample, and therefore how irrelevant it was to his performances on the court. Advertisement 'A different part is the amount I had in my body, which is zero point zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero… one,' he said, theatrically counting out each zero with his fingers. 'So there are a lot of zeros before coming up a one.' Related: Jack Draper backs Sinner as return from ban nears: 'He doesn't deserve any hate' Last summer was a period of significant tension, uncertainty and doubt for Sinner when his anti-doping case became public, but it was also tinged with relief. After initially successfully overturning the automatic provisional ban that follows a positive doping test, he had been cleared by an independent tribunal to continue competing without penalty. As he tried to put the case behind him, he had good reason to smile. Instead it turned out to be the first episode of a protracted saga that has drawn global attention, opened him up to scathing criticism and may have significant implications for many future cases in other sports. Next week, after a three-month suspension, Sinner will make his return to professional tennis. The circumstances surrounding his comeback could hardly be more dramatic. Sinner, one of the most high-profile Italian athletes of his generation, will begin his comeback on home soil to a hero's welcome at the Italian Open in Rome. Advertisement The relief Sinner felt in August faded relatively quickly. The World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) had accepted Sinner's explanation that his fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, had bought an over-the-counter healing spray that contains clostebol for his own personal use and that Sinner's physio, Giacomo Naldi, had inadvertently contaminated the player during their routine treatment after using it for a cut finger. But Wada was not prepared to leave it there. It opted to appeal against the result of the first instance hearing, seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. A hearing was set for April. Even as Wada officials were still publicly pushing for a suspension, they were privately in contact with Sinner's team to look at a case resolution agreement, a provision in place since 2021 that offers more flexibility in what Wada sees as more minor cases. Separately, reforms have been proposed for the next iteration of the Wada anti-doping code that would allow for more lenient penalties for unintentional contamination cases from 2027. Under the current Wada rules, a no significant fault or negligence ruling for an anti-doping violation based on a banned substance rather than a contaminated legal product carries a minimum 12-month ban unless the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) intervenes. The two parties settled on a three-month suspension period, which also meant that Sinner would not miss any grand slam tournaments. Since Sinner's case was made public, it has received criticism at every stage, particularly due to the belief that the No 1 has been the beneficiary of favouritism that lower-profile athletes would not be granted. Comparisons have been made with other cases, including the 18-month ban Mikael Ymer of Sweden received in 2023 for three whereabouts failures and the 19 months it took for the British doubles specialist Tara Moore to be cleared of doping after being provisionally banned in May 2022. The International Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) has since appealed against her case. The anti-doping authorities have pushed back on these comparisons, arguing that all cases operate under completely different facts and circumstances. Advertisement The announcement of Sinner's case-resolution agreement and suspension prompted another wave of criticism. Novak Djokovic described the widespread frustration a day after the ban was announced: 'A majority of the players that I've talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also last few months, are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled. A majority of the players don't feel that it's fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening. It seems like, it appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers and whatnot,' he said. Daniil Medvedev also stressed the need for consistency in future: 'I hope that the next few times, the players will be able to do that,' the Russian said. 'I hope that it will create a precedent where everyone will have the opportunity to defend themselves better than before. Otherwise, if it's not going to be possible, it's going to be bizarre.' During his time away from the sport, Sinner has kept a low profile, making only a couple of public appearances, but he has begun to speak publicly in the buildup to his return. In a recent interview with the Italian broadcaster Rai, Sinner, 23, admitted that the doubts from his colleagues had briefly led him to consider quitting: 'When I arrived in Australia in January I was uncomfortable, also because it seemed to me that the other players looked at me differently. For a moment, I even thought about giving up everything,' he said. Advertisement By the end of that Australian Open, Sinner had won his third grand slam title. He stressed the importance of enclosing himself and his team in a 'bubble' and focusing on the people around him. His return to competition will force him to confront those feelings again as he navigates lingering doubts and uncertainty inside the player locker room, this time after actually being penalised. He will, however, also have some allies. It came as no surprise that the first prominent player Sinner trained with was his friend Jack Draper. Aside from Sinner's Davis Cup teammates and other compatriots, Draper has been one of the few top players to consistently support the Italian publicly. Since the ban began, Draper has sent Sinner text messages emphasising his admiration for him and how he sees him as an inspiration for his own career. 'I think it's important for people to know and recognise that the guy's very, very kind-hearted and a good human being. So he doesn't deserve any of the hate that he gets,' Draper said last week in Madrid. The results on the court have only added to the uniqueness of this situation. It is undeniable that Sinner has managed the tension and uncertainty surrounding him remarkably well, producing the most dominant stretch of form in his entire career. He is 36-1 since last August when the case was announced, elevating his grand slam title count to three with wins at the US Open last year and Australian Open in January, which remains his only tournament of 2025. He won the Cincinnati Masters 1000 event last year while staying up until the early hours of the morning to participate in the first hearing remotely. Sinner's absence presented a great opportunity for the rest of the field, yet most of the ATP top 10 has instead been in total disarray. Carlos Alcaraz has been struggling with consistency and health, Alexander Zverev collapsed under the pressure of being the highest-ranked player for most of Sinner's suspension and Djokovic is feeling his advancing age at 37 years old. Other top players, such as Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have also struggled this year. Even with a three-month advantage, nobody has even come close to dethroning Sinner. Now, as he returns to great fanfare, attention and criticism after a suspension that will mark a significant part of his story until the final day of his career, the next challenge for the best player in the world will be to find his footing on the court again and re-establish himself as the dominant force in his sport.
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Sinner set for hero's welcome in Rome but how will the locker room react?
Jannik Sinner could not help but crack a wry smile when he faced the media before the US Open last year in the aftermath of his anti-doping case, one of the most high-profile in the history of tennis. Sinner, the best player in the world, had been attempting to emphasise just how low the concentration of the banned substance clostebol had been in his urine sample, and therefore how irrelevant it was to his performances on the court. 'A different part is the amount I had in my body, which is zero point zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero… one,' he said, theatrically counting out each zero with his fingers. 'So there are a lot of zeros before coming up a one.' Last summer was a period of significant tension, uncertainty and doubt for Sinner when his anti-doping case became public, but it was also tinged with relief. After initially successfully overturning the automatic provisional ban that follows a positive doping test, he had been cleared by an independent tribunal to continue competing without penalty. As he tried to put the case behind him, he had good reason to smile. Instead it turned out to be the first episode of a protracted saga that has drawn global attention, opened him up to scathing criticism and may have significant implications for many future cases in other sports. Next week, after a three-month suspension, Sinner will make his return to professional tennis. The circumstances surrounding his comeback could hardly be more dramatic. Sinner, one of the most high-profile Italian athletes of his generation, will begin his comeback on home soil to a hero's welcome at the Italian Open in Rome. The relief Sinner felt in August faded relatively quickly. The World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) had accepted Sinner's explanation that his fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, had bought an over-the-counter healing spray that contains clostebol for his own personal use and that Sinner's physio, Giacomo Naldi, had inadvertently contaminated the player during their routine treatment after using it for a cut finger. But Wada was not prepared to leave it there. It opted to appeal against the result of the first instance hearing, seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. A hearing was set for April. Even as Wada officials were still publicly pushing for a suspension, they were privately in contact with Sinner's team to look at a case resolution agreement, a provision in place since 2021 that offers more flexibility in what Wada sees as more minor cases. Separately, reforms have been proposed for the next iteration of the Wada anti-doping code that would allow for more lenient penalties for unintentional contamination cases from 2027. Under the current Wada rules, a no significant fault or negligence ruling for an anti-doping violation based on a banned substance rather than a contaminated legal product carries a minimum 12-month ban unless the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) intervenes. The two parties settled on a three-month suspension period, which also meant that Sinner would not miss any grand slam tournaments. Since Sinner's case was made public, it has received criticism at every stage, particularly due to the belief that the No 1 has been the beneficiary of favouritism that lower-profile athletes would not be granted. Comparisons have been made with other cases, including the 18-month ban Mikael Ymer of Sweden received in 2023 for three whereabouts failures and the 19 months it took for the British doubles specialist Tara Moore to be cleared of doping after being provisionally banned in May 2022. The International Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) has since appealed against her case. The anti-doping authorities have pushed back on these comparisons, arguing that all cases operate under completely different facts and circumstances. The announcement of Sinner's case-resolution agreement and suspension prompted another wave of criticism. Novak Djokovic described the widespread frustration a day after the ban was announced: 'A majority of the players that I've talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also last few months, are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled. A majority of the players don't feel that it's fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening. It seems like, it appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers and whatnot,' he said. Daniil Medvedev also stressed the need for consistency in future: 'I hope that the next few times, the players will be able to do that,' the Russian said. 'I hope that it will create a precedent where everyone will have the opportunity to defend themselves better than before. Otherwise, if it's not going to be possible, it's going to be bizarre.' During his time away from the sport, Sinner has kept a low profile, making only a couple of public appearances, but he has begun to speak publicly in the buildup to his return. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion In a recent interview with the Italian broadcaster Rai, Sinner, 23, admitted that the doubts from his colleagues had briefly led him to consider quitting: 'When I arrived in Australia in January I was uncomfortable, also because it seemed to me that the other players looked at me differently. For a moment, I even thought about giving up everything,' he said. By the end of that Australian Open, Sinner had won his third grand slam title. He stressed the importance of enclosing himself and his team in a 'bubble' and focusing on the people around him. His return to competition will force him to confront those feelings again as he navigates lingering doubts and uncertainty inside the player locker room, this time after actually being penalised. He will, however, also have some allies. It came as no surprise that the first prominent player Sinner trained with was his friend Jack Draper. Aside from Sinner's Davis Cup teammates and other compatriots, Draper has been one of the few top players to consistently support the Italian publicly. Since the ban began, Draper has sent Sinner text messages emphasising his admiration for him and how he sees him as an inspiration for his own career. 'I think it's important for people to know and recognise that the guy's very, very kind-hearted and a good human being. So he doesn't deserve any of the hate that he gets,' Draper said last week in Madrid. The results on the court have only added to the uniqueness of this situation. It is undeniable that Sinner has managed the tension and uncertainty surrounding him remarkably well, producing the most dominant stretch of form in his entire career. He is 36-1 since last August when the case was announced, elevating his grand slam title count to three with wins at the US Open last year and Australian Open in January, which remains his only tournament of 2025. He won the Cincinnati Masters 1000 event last year while staying up until the early hours of the morning to participate in the first hearing remotely. Sinner's absence presented a great opportunity for the rest of the field, yet most of the ATP top 10 has instead been in total disarray. Carlos Alcaraz has been struggling with consistency and health, Alexander Zverev collapsed under the pressure of being the highest-ranked player for most of Sinner's suspension and Djokovic is feeling his advancing age at 37 years old. Other top players, such as Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have also struggled this year. Even with a three-month advantage, nobody has even come close to dethroning Sinner. Now, as he returns to great fanfare, attention and criticism after a suspension that will mark a significant part of his story until the final day of his career, the next challenge for the best player in the world will be to find his footing on the court again and re-establish himself as the dominant force in his sport.
South China Morning Post
03-03-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
World Anti-doping Agency extends intelligence and investigations offensive to Oceania, Asia
A World Anti-doping Agency programme aimed at building cooperation with law enforcement in Europe led to seizures of more than 25 tonnes of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) – officials now hope to see a similar impact in Oceania and Asia. Advertisement Wada launched the Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) programme in Europe in 2022, hoping it might lead to five anti-doping operations being launched among the 48 countries that took part. Almost a year on from the end of the programme, there are more than 100 operations still ongoing across the continent, more than 25 tonnes of illicit PEDs seized and 25 laboratories shut down, said Gunter Younger, Wada's I&I Director. 'They prevented more than 500 million doses of PEDs coming on the global market, which is really significant,' said the German. 'So this is where our management decided, wow, that's a good project, we want to continue. Wada's I&I programme in Europe has prevented more than 500 million doses of performance-enhancing drugs from coming into the global market. Photo: Reuters 'Now we are hoping to have the same impact, perhaps on a different scale, in Asia and Oceania.'
Reuters
02-03-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
WADA extends intelligence and investigations offensive to Oceania
MELBOURNE, March 3 (Reuters) - A World Anti-doping Agency programme aimed at building cooperation with law enforcement in Europe led to seizures of more than 25 tonnes of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and officials now hope to see a similar impact in Oceania and Asia. WADA launched the Intelligence and Investigation (I&I)programme in Europe in 2022, hoping it might lead to five anti-doping operations being launched among the 48 countries that participated. Nearly a year on from the end of the programme, there are more than 100 operations still ongoing across the continent, over 25 tonnes of illicit PEDs seized and 25 laboratories shut down, WADA's I&I Director Gunter Younger told Reuters. "They prevented more than 500 million doses of PEDs coming on the global market, which is really significant," said the German. "So this is where our management decided, wow, that's a good project, we want to continue. "Now we are hoping to have the same impact, perhaps on a different scale, in Asia and Oceania." WADA I&I staff are meeting anti-doping and law enforcement officials on Australia's Gold Coast this week to share intelligence and build crime-fighting capacity in the Oceania region. The workshop is the first of six to be held across the region and Asia this year as WADA pushes national anti-doping watchdogs and police to collaborate to shut down illicit PED production and distribution. Sponsored by Sport Integrity Australia, the Gold Coast workshop is confined to Oceania participants including New Zealand and Pacific nations. Other workshops in Saudi Arabia, India and Thailand this year will feature Asian nations, including China, a major producer of materials used in PEDs. China's participation is important, says Younger, to better understand the country's legal framework for these materials. "Sometimes powder used in PEDs or pre-cursors are allowed but trafficking is not allowed," he said. "So if we know (the legal framework), then we can provide this intelligence to China .... if there are criminals and (activity) is against the law in China." CHINA'S COMMITMENT China's commitment to anti-doping efforts came into question last year when it emerged 23 of the nation's swimmers tested positive for the same banned drug in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics but were cleared to compete at the Games. Chinese authorities blamed contamination from a hotel kitchen after an investigation. WADA declined to contest the findings on the advice of lawyers. While defending WADA's handling of the case, Younger noted it had strained relations with the United States, a vital link in the global anti-doping fight. He said the majority of illicit PEDs seized in Europe during the WADA programme were produced in Asia and bound for the U.S. market. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into the handling of the Chinese case last year and the U.S. government withheld more than $3.6 million in funding due to WADA in 2024, about 6% of the global body's annual budget. Despite the friction between WADA and the U.S., Younger said his I&I team has a good operational relationship with counterparts at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and that he hoped to roll out I&I workshops in the Americas with U.S. involvement. But he conceded it may be a while before this happens. "I know it's political. I stay out of political discussions. If I have a case tomorrow with the U.S., I will call them and say, 'Let's work together' ..." he said. "So therefore we are hoping by next year, 2027 .... it will be resolved so that we can go back to where we should be, namely fighting against doping and not each other."
South China Morning Post
15-02-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Jannik Sinner accepts 3-month doping ban
Published: 5:55pm, 15 Feb 2025 Updated: 5:57pm, 15 Feb 2025 Tennis world No 1 Jannik Sinner has accepted a three-month ban for doping after a settlement with the World Anti-doping Agency (Wada). The ban relates to the Italian's positive test for a banned substance last year. 'Mr Sinner will serve his period of ineligibility from 9 February 2025 to 11.59 pm on 4 May 2025,' Wada said in a statement on Saturday. The ban will leave him eligible to return before the French Open. More to follow ...
