The tennis world number one Sinner will not be banned despite positive tests in March. For doping expert Sörgel, this is a big mistake. And Sinner’s statements are an excuse.
Doping expert Fritz Sörgel believes that it is “unacceptable” for tennis world number one Jannik Sinner to compete in the US Open, which begins next Monday in New York, despite his acquittal after two positive doping tests. At the same time, he hopes that the American anti-doping agency USADA, headed by Travis Tygart, will step in and prevent the Italian from competing, as Sörgel said in an interview with Sky.
The Italian anti-doping agency should also intervene quickly. It must first impose an indefinite ban, then the case will go to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). “Sinner will be banned for that long,” demanded the professor of pharmacology. Theoretically, a ban of two to four years is possible, even if this would be “difficult to push through.” The matter has a strange aftertaste for him “in any case.” “This stinks to high heaven,” Sörgel told the “Sport1” portal.
Sinner tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol twice in March, as the International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia) announced on Tuesday. Sinner will not be banned because an independent tribunal of the private arbitration body Sports Resolutions found that the 23-year-old had been exposed to the anabolic steroid by a physiotherapist.
Expert assumes deliberate doping
“This version is not very credible. It was written on the box that a doping test would be positive. And to explain these values, the drug must have been taken over a long period of time. A few days are not enough,” said Sörgel on Sky. He suspects deliberate doping.
The ointment containing the anabolic agent is massaged into the skin to promote regeneration. “This is ideal because in low doses it penetrates the skin and reaches exactly where the inflammation or injury is. This means that the athlete can return to physical activity more quickly. And if you do this for a few weeks, it’s simply doping,” says Sörgel. Sprays and ointments containing clostebol are not permitted in Germany.
If the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) does not take action in such cases or if the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) does not make clear judgments, “and, as in recent years, acquits based on similar excuses, then it will continue like this. Now a clear line must be drawn,” said Sörgel on Sport1.
Source: Stern
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