Jannik Sinner’s recent case resulting in a three-month ban was “a million miles away from doping” according to a senior official at the World Anti-Doping Agency .
Sinner tested positive for the anabolic agent clostebol last year which he said had entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
The men’s world No 1 was initially cleared by an independent tribunal after being provisionally suspended, however Wada had appealed against that decision to the court of arbitration for sport. On Saturday it was confirmed that a deal had been reached which would see Sinner banned from 9 February to 4 May, with Wada accepting the Italian player had not deliberately cheated.
“This was a case that was a million miles away from doping,” the Wada general counsel, Ross Wenzel, told BBC Sport. “The scientific feedback that we received was that this could not be a case of intentional doping, including micro-dosing.
“When we look at these cases we try to look at them technically, operationally and we don’t do it with fear of what the public and the politicians or anyone is going to say.”……………………………..
However, Wenzel added: “Once you’ve reached an agreement, what you can’t do is then say: ‘Oh, but we’re going to have this apply from two months in the future for a period of three months.’ It must come into effect quickly. Of course, once the deal is done, it’s important that it is executed and that it is made public for reasons of transparency.
“The sanctions that we impose and the code even says this, they’re blind to the calendar. The correct sanction should be imposed and it comes into effect when it comes into effect and it shouldn’t be modulated or modified to take into account whether the events that are coming up are significant or not significant.”
Yara El-Shaboury writer and sub-editor for the Guardian
Photograph: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images
