Conor Benn has been cleared of a doping offense after the World Boxing Council (WBC) ruled that a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” constituted a “reasonable explanation” for his positive finding.
A scheduled catchweight “grudge” bout against British rival Chris Eubank Jr scheduled for October last year was canceled after trace amounts of a fertility drug, clomiphene — which is known to elevate testosterone levels in men — were found in Benn’s urine.
Benn, 26, had denied intentionally or knowingly ingesting any banned substances and in December last year broke his silence in a long post on Instagram, saying: “The truth will soon come out.”
Photo: Reuters
On Wednesday, the WBC, having consulted a nutritionist, announced that it was reinstating the London boxer in its rankings and stated there was “no conclusive evidence that Benn engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of clomiphene.”
“Mr Benn’s documented and highly elevated consumption of eggs during the times relevant to the sample collection raised a reasonable explanation for the adverse finding,” it said. “The WBC shall include Mr Benn in its ratings during the period immediately following the issuance of its ruling.”
The global governing body said that it would correspond with the World Anti-Doping Agency over concerns about clomiphene as a food contaminant and “the potential for false positives caused by ingestion of contaminated food.”
Photo: AP
Despite the WBC ruling, Benn remains under investigation by UK Anti-Doping and the British Boxing Board of Control.
Until their inquiries are finished, Benn will not be licensed to box in the UK, but could fight in another country under a different jurisdiction.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS