Marin Cilic’s doping punishment will end up lasting much longer than three months. The ITF announced on Monday that Cilic will be on the sidelines until January 31 of next season.
Initially suspended for three months pending a decision in his doping case, Marin Cilic cannot return to tennis until January 31, 2013. The ITF made its ruling on Monday, announcing that Cilic was found to have the banned substance nikethamide in his system during a test at the BMW Open in Munich this spring.
According to the report, Cilic inadvertently ingested nikethamide when he took Coramine glucose tablets and “did not intend to enhance his performance in doing so.”
The 24th-ranked Croat’s punishment includes a nine-month suspension, back-dated to May 1 when the test was issued. Cilic continued to play until an abrupt withdrawal prior to his Wimbledon second-round match against Kenny De Schepper. He will forfeit all prize money and ranking points accumulated from Munich through Wimbledon.
Read the full ITF decision here.
If all glucose tablets are not equal then athletes would be aware of this fact and should know to double check the ingredients before taking an unfamiliar brand. Given that athletes are the second largest market after diabetics for rapid action glucose, and manufacturers would know which substances are on the banned list, this information would be featured in the packaging.
I have a grandchild with a severe peanuts allergy. From the age of 5 she knew to scrutinise the packaging of any unfamiliar products and to question people closely to ensure there were no peanut products in what she was about to eat.
My point being, if a small child can do this then a professional athlete can take steps to avoid accidentally ingesting banned substances.
The plea they were unknowingly exposed to a banned product is frequently used as a defence but rarely comes across as plausible although it seems to be accepted all too easily by (gullible?) ITF officials as mitigating circumstances.
Correction. In the above comment I had assumed Cilic had bought a different brand but not taken steps to check the ingredients. I have since re-read the background to his plea and discovered he claimed he bought his ‘usual’ brand but the French version mysteriously differed.
Coramine is ONLY manufactured and distributed in France (and French territories) and is sold as an OTC respiratory aid (not a glucose boost) and is clearly marked on the packaging as such. Therefore if he has been using Coramine regularly he can only have been obtaining it ‘under the counter’ in other countries or from French sources. This makes a mockery of the assertion he has never ‘knowingly’ used any PED.
^^and the bit that it was his mother who bought the offending medication! Bah Humbug!
#Mummy’sFault
^^^ Laying the blame on his mother is the pits.
It’s bad enough that players succumb to the temptation of taking PEDs in the first place but what I find every bit as reprehensible is the web of lies and trumped up excuses which follow when they have been caught out.
He has already managed to get a reduced sentence. Now i read he is going to appeal against the decision – on what grounds I wonder.
^^On what grounds? It was all Mummy’s fault, of course!
Sorry, but this seals it for me, Cilic knew what he was doing, there was nothing inadvertent about his drug use, he knew this drug was used in horses:
http://www.thetennisspace.com/marin-cilic-silent-drugs-bans-and-nikethamide/
“Whether Cilic’s explanation (and Brett’s) of what happened is to be believed is another matter. Nikethamide is not well known in tennis but it is clearly on the banned substances list for a reason (although, like cocaine, it’s only banned in competition) Former world 100 metres champion Torri Edwards tested positive for it in 2004 and though she claimed she had taken it accidentally through a glucose tablet, she was banned for two years. It has been used heavily, over the years, in horse racing and other sports.”
This drug clearly sounds like a PED.
RITB: You and I seem to be alone in being so cynical about his claim to innocence. All I can say is if his appeal is upheld I will lose all faith in the claim by the ITF and ATP they are stepping up their efforts to make tennis a clean sport.
Coramine is an analeptic drug. Not a glucose supplement. It cannot be bought by accident. End of story.
^^and then throwing his mother under the bus…….
*head-shake*
Take a look at this
http://preview.tinyurl.com/nzwyugx
btw: the maximum length of suspension is 1 year now: it was was reduced from 2 years in 2005.
I’m not gunning for Cilic per se. It’s the venality of the ITF that gets up my nose. Having caught someone in the net they should make the charge stick and not accept weaselly excuses.
The writer of that article is also wrong in saying ‘One such product, aggressively marketed in Germany, is Gly-Coramin, whose name makes it plausible to mistake it for a simple glucose supplement.’
Coramin was the original trade name for Nikethamede.
It’s rather unfortunate the offending substance should sound like something marketed by a well-known tennis wear brand 🙂
Didn’t luckystar like Cilic. She has to be very disappointed. Anyway,I find it hard to believe that tennis players take medication/tablets without consulting with their team. If that is what Cilic did, it was simply unprofessional.(and blaming his mum about this incident is simply wrong.)
On another note, I found some very interesting comments from GUlbis about Djokovic elsewhere. http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Tennis—Ernests-Gulbis-I-dont-like-Djokovic-that-much-He-changes-because-of-success-articolo12966.html
Gulbis said:”I swear there is more bitchiness in men’s tennis than women’s. I don’t like Djokovic that much. We know each other since I’m 12. He was a normal guy then, but since his first big success he changed, his eyes changed. We never fought, but I felt he changed because of success. And I don’t like people like that. I like strong characters that don’t change because of success or money. That’s why I be careful not to change myself”.
@Thomas
You’re right Cilic was a real favourite of Luckystar’s. She will be saddened by his fall from grace – as indeed are many people, including myself.
he’ll be back….and hopefully better than ever (in the words of Mike and Mike).
What I am finding funny is how the noise from Fedbots about Rafa’s alleged drug use has ratcheted up since his win at Flushing Meadows. There are even blog sites dedicated to the subject. All speculation of course, bordering on slander. And yet, here is a genuine, documented doping case (including Troicki’s) and what’s the general consensus about it? He was hard done by, poor Cilic! Most have just……………ignored it.
If this does not prove once and for all that these are not people with tennis’s interests at heart, but bitter Fedtards apprehensive about Rafa possibly catching up on Fed’s Slam haul, I don’t know what will.
I too have been struck by how little, if any, comment there has been about both the current cases on all the sites I’ve visited. When James Blake flew a kite on the subject doping in tennis last year TT nearly crashed there were so many people jumping in with their two cents’ worth.
I was also taken aback by Tipsy’s gratuitous outburst at the end of his match on Sunday implying Troicki had been wronged. He spoke about him being a crucial member of the DC team, how he was sorely missed etc. etc. and hoped the ‘misunderstanding’ would soon be sorted out………… or words to that effect.
I have just read on another site that Troicki was banned from entering the stadium in Belgrade last weekend. An appeal was made to the ITF but they refused to back down.
Now I understand what lay behind Tipsy’s outburst referenced above.
At least the ITF seem intent on showing their tougher stance is not an idle threat.
Of course having a rich papa hasn’t had any bearing at all on the way Gulbis behaves…
Just a little teeny, weeny, bit lacking in self-awareness, I’d say.
he won a match today….
and lost only one game….
Hs Ha. Bully for him……………
Lol wc. Next match he will lose…
… having won only one game….
Gulbis is like olives, you either love ’em or hate ’em..
Ah, Ha. That’s obviously why I don’t care for him one tiny bit.
he got breadsticked by JURGEN ZOPP but won the match
posted by RITB on the non-tennis forum:
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/10/cilic-cleared-play-again-after-suspension-reduced/49565/#.Ump2VBBRCDe
By accepting the Cilic plea that a banned substance was inadvertently ingested the Court of Arbitration have rendered the ITF toothless in their declared campaign to clean up the sport. Reducing the original nine month sentence, plus restoring his points and prize money, means Cilic has been virtually cleared of guilt in spite of the fact the ITF did not believe in his innocence or they would not have sought to have the sentence increased from nine months to two years.
What is more, it sends out the wrong message to players. Those who want to cheat will continue to do so knowing should they be unlucky enough to be caught in the testing programme, it is relatively easy to escape the consequences by trumping up a story that will be accepted.
^^^basically, all the player has to do is plead stupidity and he is off………
Cilic’s been punished enough already
Agreed with ed and ritb. Need to send a message of consistency.
I guess Troicki will be back in action in time for DC final now.
That is not the point, Ricky. What next, feel sorry for Lance Armstrong? Not suggesting Cilic’s transgressions are anywhere near Armstrongian proportions……..
you just did….
Ricky, this is not a witch hunt against Cilic. It is a protest at the way doping offences are handled. We are being asked to believe that efforts are being increased to clean up the sport and yet we have a situation where the CAS has overturned an ITF ruling and all but implied Cilic was an innocent victim.
Set up for Troicki.
#FriendInHighPlaces
NID
Not knowing you were driving at 120mph because you failed to look at your speedometer is not accepted as an excuse when caught in a speed trap. You lose your driving licence.
Reading various other reports and the follow up comments, there is a widespread misapprehension that it’s the ITF who have backed off. Whereas it was the independent Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who on an appeal by Cilic, overruled the ITF, reduced the sentence, and reinstated the points and winnings. Theoretically the ITF could appeal against the CAS decision but such instances are rare.
As Hawkeye says, the stage is set for Troicki to be reinstated. His case is slightly different in that he did not test positive – he merely avoided providing a sample.
So much for clamping down on drugs in tennis. I suppose there is a case for arguing the ITF may have made examples of both Cilic and Troicki as a warning to tennis players but are not exactly unhappy to have the penalties rescinded.
#BrushingTheProblemUnderTheCarpetAgain
Otherewise known as Having your Cake and Eating it.