[Iluvandy]

Your problem - not mine.

Not a problem.    Goodnight.

[althusser]

....are made of these, who am I to...

One comment though - I can see why some parents seek a diagnosis for a difficult child. One of ours has been a huge challenge and it can be irritating when people say 'discipline' is lacking, when you have tried every thing from reasoning to incetivising, to harsh punishment without it changing much.

But actually what is often needed is just time and trying - kids develop and who ever said it would be easy

[blueberryhill]

In the light of what we've been discussing, interesting prog on tonight at 9pm BBC1 "The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs."

Completely take that back. it was beyond dreadful. I apologise to anyone who watched it on my account!

[amongsttheleaves]

Sharapova's ban has been reduced from 24 months to 15 months by the CAS. So she'll be able to return to the game in late April 2017.

http://www.itftennis.com/news/243888.aspx

[amongsttheleaves]

If you want to wade through the full Aribtral Award report then here's a link:

http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Award_4643__FINAL__internet.pdf

The reduction appears to have been based on the extent to which they found Sharapova at fault, and have explicitly said she should not be considered to have have been cheating.

WADA is critised for not making it clear the drug had been banned. It's on the list, like all the other banned substances, how much clearer should it have been I wonder?

Meanwhile, Sharapova and her lawyer have decided to attack the ITF. The lawyer seems to forgotten that CAS reduced the ban, they didn't over-turn it, and that Sharapova has been banned, and is still banned until late April 2017.

[Aileen]

^ If you are a sports person, and you are taking drugs of any description, then you - or someone in your team-  make it your business to check said drug or drugs is/are admissible.  To pretend ignorance is utter rubbish.  Shame on her.

I agree, and unfortunately Sharapova isn't the only player to have had a ban reduced on the feeble excuse that they didn't realise that they'd done something wrong.  It was only three years ago that Marin Clilic got his ban for 'the incautious use of glucose' reduced because he said he didn't know that the glucose he had taken was double the normal strength, despite the fact that the label on the container clearly showed a warning to alert athletes about this fact.

[amongsttheleaves]

Seems that, unless tournaments take a stand, Sharapova is going to be handed out a lot of wildcards next year.

The WTA rule is that a previous winner of a slam or the WTA Finals is allowed unlimited WCs. There doesn't appear to be a clause saying that a player who has been banned for failing a drug test cannot be awarded WCs.

Tricky one for the tournaments, Sharapova has a huge fan base, and brings in money, but at the same time she has also failed a test and therefore bought the game into disrepute.