Positive tests for Meldonium, a heart medication manufactured and sold over-the-counter in Eastern Europe, are responsible for Maria Sharapova’s impending suspension and the Russian U18 hockey team pulling its entire roster out of competition the day before traveling to a tournament.
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For her part, Russian Sports Minister’s anti-doping advisor, Natalya Zhelanova, said that approximately 40-43 Russian athletes have tested positive for meldonium, but some of their cases are not with RUSADA but with global sports federations, which, too, will consider their cases on an individual basis.
Haggerty declined to comment on how WADA’s notice might impact Sharapova’s case, citing what he called “the confidential nature of the [International Tennis Federation] process”.
“The fact that WADA felt compelled to issue this unusual statement now is proof of how poorly they handled issues relating to meldonium in 2015”, Sharapova’s lawyer John Haggerty said in a statement.
Alexei Kravtsov, president of the Russian Skating Union (RSU), said that five-times world champion Pavel Kulizhnikov and 2014 Olympic short track gold medallist Semen Elistratov – both found to have taken meldonium – should be allowed to compete again after the Wada decision.
Tarpischev also previously stated that he believed that Sharapova’s hearing could be in June, though he is yet to respond to the events of today.
The drug meldonium (mildronate) was included in the list of preparations banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from January 1, 2016.
Several athletes, including Russian gymnast Nikolai Kuksenkov and Bulgarian triple jumper Gabriela Petrova, have tested positive but said they stopped taking meldonium before the ban went into effect this year.
As a result, it is possible that athletes who took meldonium before January 1 “could not reasonably have known or suspected” that the drug would still be present in their bodies after that date, WADA said.
In other words, Sharapova is not arguing that the substance was just still in her body from usage before January 1 as other athletes have argued.
Meldonium increases blood flow and so can help athletes improve their performance.
“They were ready to study how long it would take for meldonium to be eliminated from the body of an athlete”.
A statement said: “The Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation supports and welcomes WADA for approaching the problem of meldonium not on formal grounds – immediately punishing all athletes – but instead demonstrated an intention to understand the situation by launching research clarifying the peculiarities of meldonium leaving the athletes’ bodies”.
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“If the concentration is between 1 and 15 μg/mL and the test was taken before 1 March 2016, given that the results of ongoing excretion studies are needed to determine the time of the ingestion”.
