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Sharapova admits failing drug test at the Australian Open~Questions arise

Maria Sharapova Tennis Goddess in a Bikini

Make no mistake…The 28 year old Russian Maria Sharapova is a stunner as you’ll can see but now she’s stunned all of us with admitting to failing the drug test at the Australian Open in January 2016

I’ve been a great fan of Tennis Superstar Maria Sharapova & willed her on to win everytime she steps on court …even let it be in 2014 when she did not know who Sachin Tendulkar was and later apologised for it !

But…

Her failing drug tests at the Australian Open raises serious Questions

Sharapova says she has been taking Mildronate,also known as Meldonium for 10 years after she was regularly falling ill. She had a magnesium deficiency and family history of diabetes.

She has apologised  & taken full responsibilty in a news conference in LA

Consequences have been immediately severe :

  1. She has been provisionally suspended to play Professional Tennis
  2. Big Sponsors like Nike,Porsche & Tag Heur have suspended association with her that will cost her Millions of Dollars Endorsement Fees

While I wish this 28 year old  is not forced to retire & does get to play World Grand Slam & ATP Tennis again (she can’t be suspended from wearing a bikini though!) my mind is perplexed with two questions :

Question 1

For the last 10 Years was Maria Sharapova taking Mildronate  also known as Meldonium ,and prescribed by her family doctor,from 2006 because of a health issue as she claims or  because it was a performance enhancing drug as identified as such by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and banned from January 1,2016  ? ~ As a Tennis Superstar her Life is always under a microscope .Then why have we not heard of such a Health Issue that she yet must have for such a prolonged 10 years !?  

Question 2

How many such performance enhancing drugs are yet out there which have yet not been identified as such and therefore not yet banned & therefore consumed regularly by sportspeople for unfair advantage when competing ?  

Some Interesting Extracts from the Guardian on Meldonium & Extent of it’s use by Sportspeople: 

  •  Meldonium is used to treat ischaemia: a lack of blood flow to parts of the body, particularly in cases of angina or heart failure 
  • It is manufactured in Latvia and only distributed in Baltic countries and Russia. It is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States and is not authorised in the rest of Europe 
  • It increases blood flow, which improves exercise capacity in athletes
  • WADA found “evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance” by virtue of carrying more oxygen to muscle tissue 
  • The decision to add meldonium to the banned list was approved on 16 September 2015, and it came into effect on 1 January 2016. Wada had spent the previous year monitoring the drug before adding it to the banned list
  •  The drug was name-checked in the latest investigative documentary on Russian doping reforms by the German Hajo Seppelt . The documentary referred to a 2015 study in which 17% of Russian athletes (724 of 4,316) tested were found to have meldonium in their system 
  • A global study found 2.2% of athletes had it in their system
  •  It is classed as an S4 substance under the WADA code, which addresses hormone and metabolic modulators
  •  The standard ban under the World Anti-Doping Code is four years
  •  A memo was sent out to athletes by Russia’s anti-doping agency last September informing them of the decision to ban its use
  •  Several athletes have been suspended since the turn of 2016 after testing positive for the drug.  A few of these are Abebe Aregawi, the 2013 women’s 1,500m world champion ~ Endeshaw Negesse, the 2015 Tokyo marathon champion ~ Olga Abramova and Artem Tyschcenko, two Ukrainian biathletes ~ Eduard Vorganov, a Russian cyclist ~Ekaterina Bobrova, a Russian ice dancer.
  • read more

    BCCI & IPL~Both a Farce & have to Go if Cricket has to Live!

    BCCI & IPL~Both a Farce & have to Go if Cricket has to Live!

    Make no Mistake ! I’ve been Cricket Crazy and an Addict of the game since the time I was born! and have overlooked many sporadic instances of Fixing in the past few decades until IPL was conceived!

    In 2008/9 I must have been one of a minority in this cricket crazy nation who had predicted how IPL will mess up cricket big time

    I was right

    Of course Cricket needs to be entertaining to flourish but when it becomes just one big IPL ‘Tamasha’ it ceases to be Cricket

    The Money  in the Game has become  Obscene &  this has made Many Obscene ~ Cricketing Countries & their Legends of the Game have bowed to BCCI putting ‘Paisa’ before ‘Pride’  supposedly in the interest of globalising the game….for that matter even those who formed and played in a IPL rival league in India have been gained over!

    Spineless! 

    If Cricket has to win then both BCCI and IPL have to go ! ~ We all know this ! but we also know this will not happen!

    The rot runs right from the Top and how can even the Supreme Court expect that they clean up their Act! ~ you’re asking the people who have done it to catch those who have done it or see it’s not done again!

    While all are going gaga over Justice Lodha’s Verdict banning two IPL franchise owners(one pretends he isn’t) for life and suspending their two teams for two years,I’m shocked that the Verdict did not throw both teams out for good and instructed to investigate all  involved,especially players,of these franchises.

    When the Apex Court sits on judgement on the bigger issues in Cricket,I hope  they will order that BCCI be dissolved by the Government and a new Cricketing Body be formed with Politicians & even those legendary and other cricketers currently on BCCI payrolls as coaches and consultants and commentators who have shamelessly kept quiet on all wrongdoings be kept out completely from the Administration of the Game….and stop worshiping such ex players as God! 

    Wishful thinking as Politicians across Parties today rule  BCCI and the State Cricketing Bodies

    Looks like every Cricket Game I do see will be ‘Fixed’ Eyes ~ Guilty till proven Innocent ! …you may well ask then why see it!…Yet need to get fully deaddicted from the game but should get there soon if matters continue like they do…..but one thing i can definitely do is to stop viewing and listening to  the vested ‘Sicko’ Panelists who keep appearing ad nauseam on TV Debates defending the indefensible and believing themselves too !     read more

    Should I too demand PADMA !?

    PADMA Awards ~ Wrestler Sushil Kumar has been recommended for it,Shuttler Saina Nehwal raised her voice for it and now Pugilist Vijender Singh too is demanding it

    The Controversies over  the criteria and timing of recognition for awarding India’s highest civilian Honours continues….

    In a lighter vein :

    Me to Wife : Darling I think I too will seek PADMA ~ Sushil Kumar wrestled for it,Saina Nehwal shuttled for it and now Vijendra Singh is punching for it 

    Wife : You can’t even manage me ,what you’ll manage PADMA !…moreover what have you achieved !? they  are all Sporting Celebrities

    Me :  I may not be a Celebrity but I’m Sporting and have we not celebrated 25 years of togetherness ! ~ t’s a great achievement !

    On a serious note :

    These controversies arise because the recognition & selection criteria for bestowing these acclaimed and coveted awards is not above board in all respects

    More often than not it’s not the Sports & Arts &  Other Celebrities who are at fault even though it’s sad that many have to demand when they actually command such recognition at the highest levels when striving to  attain the highest heights and win laurels for India

    Sadly many deserving have to lobby the undeserving Politicians and Bureacrats in the Ministries for these awards

    Sadly all of this tends to dilute the  valuation and grand stature of these Awards

    Wednesday Morning ~ Sombre Thoughts on 26/11 & Dangers of Cricket

    Got up early this Wednesday morning with some Sombre Thoughts on 26/11 & the Dangers of Playing Cricket on & off the Field……

    26/11 ~ Six Years ago on November 26,2008 on this very Day which too happened to be a Wednesday, Mumbai was shaken to it’s core by a Terrorist Attack on South Mumbai Targets that killed 164 & wounded 308 and scarred Millions of Mumbaikars…among those killed were quite a few known to my family and me….Praying for all & hope such a tragedy never occurs again

    Cricket ~ Danger on the Playing Field ~Phil Hughes the South Australian Opening Batsman was felled by a Bouncer at the SCG and is in a Coma & on Life Support…fervently praying for him

    …brought alive a Memory of the mid 1980s when I was just 23 and in Bahrain and while bowling at the Bahrain  Sports Club (now Indian Club) Practice Nets on a Matted Pitch I broke the Nose of a team mate who was batting…he bled profusely and had to fly to Mumbai for Surgery …he was really good about it…God Bless him…all rallied around me to say it was not my fault though I was feeling terrible and must have profusely apologised a million times…can really understand how Sean Allott,the NSW Bowler who bowled that Bouncer to Phil Hughes must be feeling right now…much worse than even I did

    Danger off the Playing Field….also aghast at the dangers off the Cricketing Pitch that BCCI’s behaviour & Actions have raised to a feverish Pitch and Supreme Court has had to step in…There is Corruption in the Game we Know….Matches are Fixed we know…Betting is Rampant we know…Clear Conflict of Interest Exists we know….Yet these BCCI B@#$%^&* continue to behave without basic morals  and without shame …there continues political patronage and godfather rules….even Mudgal Committee has exposed a Pandora Box in a report that is yet to be made public…Why has BCCI postponed it’s AGM again and again only to facilitate N Srinivasan who remains under cloud ? Why are so many State Cricketing Bodies supporting N Srinivasan despite knowing it is wrong to do so !? Why are Stalwarts Ex  Test Cricketers & Commentators keeping silent in this unholy mess!? Clearly their Bread is buttered by being on BCCI Payrolls !….Why are Top Indian Cricketers being shielded and continue to don the India Cap despite their wrongdoings !? Why is Supreme Court not yet naming these Cricketers named in the Mudgal Report !?…we all know who they are but till names are released all Cricketers will be viewed with suspicion….The Game of Cricket is bigger than the Cricketers who play it read more

    It is a S Day alright…Sunday Newspapers to Sanjaya Baru Controversial Book to Ss in the Premier League Derby

    🙂 It is a S Day alright…Sunday Newspapers to Sanjaya Baru’s Controversial Book to all the S’s in the Premier League Derby

    Sunday Newspapers

    Began with devouring the Sunday Newspapers with my Sunday Norm South Indian Masala Dosas and Sambhar at Sonarica Home

    Emailed four interesting ‘Reads’ to my Family as below that began with a Sunday Quote

    Life is about creating yourself, not finding yourself — George Bernard Shaw

    1 Travel

    Sunday Mumbai Mirror ~ Travel Column by 29 year old Marketing Executive Vahishta Mistry ~ he sold off all his possessions and set out to explore the world…he writes about Koh Chang,a an island in Thailand and the uncrowded beaches on the eastern side where he spend the night in a beach tent and went diving

    http://www.mumbaimirror.com/others/leisure/Break-away-Backpackers-paradise/articleshow/33671185.cms

    2 A Young Thoughtful Mind Lost forever

    Boston Globe ~ ‘The Opposite of Loneliness’ is a Book penned by Marina Keegan who graduated from Yale as a 22 year old in 2012 and died five days after graduating in a car accident….She had explored India to observe the spread of Humanism….Her Words Live on as she Sought Meaning over Money

    http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/07/marina-keegan-posthumously-published-writings-capture-prodigious-young-talent-lost-far-too-young-age/Ek8QXwZ55ZQHii1xwSAHUI/story.html

    An absorbing article on her is also in today’s Sunday Edition Page 18 of the Times of India

    3 Digital Reconstruction of a 400 Million Year Old Fossil Plant

    Sunday Mid-Day Page 13 ~ A Biology & Paleontology Graduate Jeff Benca of the Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Paleontology,UC ,Berkeley reconstructs a plant thought to be long extinct

    http://epaper2.mid-day.com/epaper/13-apr-2014-252-edition-Mumbai-Page-1.html

    4 The Speaking Tree ~ Go Vegan for World Peace

    Times of India ~ The Speaking Tree Supplement ~Go Vegan for World Peace

    http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/lifestyle/go-vegan-for-world-peace

     Sanjaya Baru’s Controversial Book ‘The Accidental PM’

    Then it was over an Hour at Crossword in Kemps Corner in South Mumbai to pick up two Books…. Sanjaya Baru’s Controversial Book ‘The Accidental PM’ that has been smartly timed to launch during Elections…his inside story in the PMO as UPA 1’s Media Advisor to the PM…he reveals how the PM has virtually no say in UPA 2 Government with Sonia Gandhi deciding on much….was told the book was fast selling out and only four copies were left…sure there will be a reprint …if I find it’s worth reviewing  then plan to blog it later…..the second ‘FlashBoys’ by Michael Lewis has been released overseas last week but the copies should be available in India by April 15,2014 was told…Lewis blasts High Speed Trading that has actually rigged Wall Street read more

    Take a Bow Yuvi as India lose World T 20 Finals

    Take a Bow Yuvi…only to apologise…. as India lose World T 20 Finals

    Make no mistake …I’m a great fan of Yuvraj…but I also believe one cannot rest on past laurels….India will not let him forget today

    Sri Lanka had the fire and passion to win today and they did to lift the World Cup T 20 defeating India in Dacca

    Right from the start nothing went right for India as they lost the toss and were put into bat by Malinga when Dhoni said he would have also preferred to chase

    India managed to score just 13o for 4 in the 20 overs with not a single boundary of the last 27 balls !

    Why? Prime reason was that the in form Virat Kohli who was on 70+ then in just 56 balls faced just 8 or 9 balls of the last four overs of which we scored just 19….in fact only 15 came of the last three…who was the culprit here ? Yuvi…he was at the crease from the 11th over to the beginning of the 19th over scoring just 11 of 22 balls ! he just could not connect !…a bad cricketing sense not accepted nor expected at this top level…Dhoni faced most of the last two overs and Raina did not even come in to bat and was left frustrated as was all of India

    Thank God Virat did not repeat history…he averages just 25 when India bats first in a  T 20 and over 70 when we chase….today he scored over 70 at more than a run a ball and his aggregate of 319 in this ICC T 20 World Cup made him the Man of the Tournament

    Some consolation as India won five matches on the trot easily only to be easily defeated in the Final today with 13 balls yet to be bowled!

    Cannot blame Dhoni here except I thought in form Raina should have come in two down ahead of Yuvi…we were clearly short by 20 runs at least and could not defend 130…150 would have seen a match on ! and not a one sided affair

    Remember that Sri Lanka has shown fire in their belly in this tournament….they defended a low score of 119 against New Zealand to enter the Semis when their spinner Rangana Herath playing his first match in this tournament took a match winning 5 for 3 in 3.3 overs ….sadly our spinners Ashwin or Mishra or even Jadeja could not bowl such a match winning spell in the Finals !…Dhoni tried six bowlers in the first 9 overs !

    Sri Lanka deserved to win…Congratulations to them and Malinga

    Now we have four different countries as T 20 World Champions in the four World Cu[p T 20 Editions till date

    Now we have IPL in the UAE ! Well Done BCCI for ‘Fixing’ this ! read more

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