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Sharapova took meldonium to contain cold & abdominal pain etc.

tennistennistennisBY SANA MAHMOOD

On April 19, 1987 a girl was born in Nyagan (Russia) to Yelena and Yuri Sharapov. Baby was called Maria. She was predestined to rule the world with her charm and dexterity over the game of tennis.

Maria-Sharapova-20Today, with her 35 singles and five grand slams Maria Sharapova ranks third in the world (just behind the two Williams). Since 2003 till last year she did manage to win at least one single title every year.  And for over a decade she remained the World’s highest paid female athlete and earned some 285million US dollars.

maria 2Maria became World No. 1 in August 22, 2005 at the age of 18. That is when she complained of upper-abdomen pain and cold-related ailments. Her father took her to Dr. Anatoly Skalny in Moscow.

maria 1In 2006 her physician prescribed a therapeutic-cum-dietetic regime to enable her handle many issues including irregular heartbeat and diabetes. One of the eighteen medications and supplements contained the active ingredient Meldonium. Doctor said she should take that before competing.

Maria-Sharapova-10After she failed the test in March, 2016 the tribunal found emails exchanged between Maria and her doctor who continued treating her till 2012.   There are advices vis-à-vis augmenting the dosage before key matches: “One hour before games of special importance you can increase your Mildronate (containing meldonium) dose to three/four pills”.

Maria-Sharapova

Following confirmation that athletes were using meldonium with intention of enhancing performance by virtue of carrying more oxygen to muscle tissue, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had added the drug to its banned list last January. Mildronate is manufactured in Latvia and is not licensed in the US.

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbDid her support team know about the whole thing? Answer is that Sharapova did not tell them. Her father, doctor and manager (Max Eisenbud) were the only three people who were aware of it. 

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Maria’s sponsors like Nike and Head did not leave her despite imposition of  a two-year doping ban on Wednesday after testing positive for the banned medication meldonium at January’s Australian Open. Evian too became her sponsor maintaining that ITF tribunal had concluded that Maria did not use drugs intentionally.

9pbFasjqtGmCUCYS6GhdgQMany fellow athletes mercilessly criticized her for using drugs. For instance, Roger Federer maintained that he was for zero tolerance against doping: “You need to know what goes into your body; you have to be 100 per cent sure of what’s going on, if you’re not, you’re going to be damned. Of course she’s got the right to fight the case, like everybody else as well”.

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M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.