Sinner case ‘a million miles from doping’: WADA

AFP | London

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Jannik Sinner’s three-month ban for a pair of positive drug tests has been defended by the World Anti-Doping Agency after claims the world number one’s punishment was too lenient.

Sinner’s long doping saga came to an end on Saturday after the tennis star agreed to the ban, admitting “partial responsibility” for team mistakes which led to him twice testing positive for traces of clostebol in March last year.

The Italian was facing a potential ban of two years after WADA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his initial exoneration by the International Tennis Integrity Agency.

But WADA withdrew its appeal and came to an agreement with Sinner over his three month ban after accepting the 23-year-old was inadvertently contaminated by his physiotherapist.

Sinner said that the banned substance entered his system when his physio used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.

The sanction has been questioned and criticised by current and former players including Novak Djokovic.

However, WADA’s general counsel Ross Wenzel believes the sanction level was “in the right place” for what had occurred.

“This was a case that was a million miles away from doping,” he told BBC Sport on Tuesday.

“The scientific feedback that we received was that this could not be a case of intentional doping, including micro-dosing.