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Tennis world body hits back after Sharapova’s criticism
LONDON: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) hit back on Thursday at criticism over its handling of Maria Sharapova’s drugs ban for meldonium.
LONDON: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) hit back on Thursday at criticism over its handling of Maria Sharapova’s drugs ban for meldonium.
The administrator of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme denied it had sought a four-year ban for the former world number one and, in a statement, rejected suggestions by the Russian that its independent tribunal was “not neutral”.
Five-times grand slam winner Sharapova was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to return to action in April after her two-year suspension was reduced to 15 months on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old said then that other sports federations had been more effective at communicating with athletes and hoped the ITF would take note.
“The ITF did not try to ban Ms. Sharapova for four years, as has been suggested,” the tennis governing body said. “The ITF stated clearly that it was the responsibility of the Independent Tribunal — and subsequently the CAS Panel -- to determine what the appropriate sanction should be.
“Ms. Sharapova has stated that the Independent Tribunal was ‘not neutral’,” it added.
“Ms. Sharapova’s legal team was given the opportunity to object to the appointment of any member of that Tribunal in advance of the hearing, and they agreed in writing that they had no such objection.”
The ITF believed it had taken appropriate steps to publicise changes to the prohibited list and it was “not true” to say that it was aware of widespread use of meldonium in Eastern Europe and should have given specific notice.
“In fact, it was accepted by Ms. Sharapova in the hearing before CAS that the ITF did not know before 2016 about the extent to which meldonium was used by athletes from any region, or that Ms. Sharapova herself was using meldonium,” it said.
WIMBLEDON MATCH IN FIXING PROBE
The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) revealed on Thursday they are investigating whether a match at this year’s Wimbledon was fixed.
The TIU received an alert regarding one match played at the grass-court Grand Slam in London.
Its alerts come from regulators and betting organisations, who can report matches if they notice suspicious betting patterns.
The TIU said it received 96 alerts from July to September, of which two came in Grand Slams, the first at Wimbledon and the second at the US Open.
NADAL IN QUARTERS
Second seed Rafael Nadal survived a late fightback from Adrian Mannarino as he beat the French qualifier 6-1, 7-6(6) on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the China Open during a rain-hit day in Beijing. “I think I played a fantastic first set. Great level of tennis, serving very good, hitting so good. During the second set, I slowed the rhythm a little bit and he played very well,” said Nadal.
