1:29 PM
When the world’s highest paid female athlete, Maria Sharapova, announced at the start of March that she had tested positive for doping, the sporting world recoiled. She admitted to taking meldonium - a substance which as of the start of 2016 was banned by sports authorities globally.
Her lucrative sponsorship deals with Porsche, Tag Heuer and Nike were scrapped, while tennis pros such as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray called for her to be punished further. On Tuesday the U.N. suspended her role as goodwill ambassador.
In the country of her birth, however, her support appears not to have wavered.
A day after Sharapova’s press conference the head coach of Russia’s Olympic tennis team hailed the star as a “symbol of Russia” and urged Russia’s tennis federation to “fight for her to the last” . He also claimed her suspension from play was a “stab in the back” for Russia but did not clarify whom he was blaming for that.
Two days later Russian state media RIA Novosti cited legal experts two days after Sharapova’s press conference, suggesting her doctor's may be ones prosecuted for negligently letting her continue taking meldonium after it was banned.
Moscow’s Moskovskiy Komsomolets paper, meanwhile, quoted Sharapova’s fellow Russian players, Yekaterina Bychkova and Anna Chakvetadze who praised her decision to come clean and expressed hope she would play at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Her lucrative sponsorship deals with Porsche, Tag Heuer and Nike were scrapped, while tennis pros such as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray called for her to be punished further. On Tuesday the U.N. suspended her role as goodwill ambassador.
In the country of her birth, however, her support appears not to have wavered.
A day after Sharapova’s press conference the head coach of Russia’s Olympic tennis team hailed the star as a “symbol of Russia” and urged Russia’s tennis federation to “fight for her to the last” . He also claimed her suspension from play was a “stab in the back” for Russia but did not clarify whom he was blaming for that.
Two days later Russian state media RIA Novosti cited legal experts two days after Sharapova’s press conference, suggesting her doctor's may be ones prosecuted for negligently letting her continue taking meldonium after it was banned.
Moscow’s Moskovskiy Komsomolets paper, meanwhile, quoted Sharapova’s fellow Russian players, Yekaterina Bychkova and Anna Chakvetadze who praised her decision to come clean and expressed hope she would play at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
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