The young Croatian stopper Mario Vušković (22) was recently expelled from football until the fall of 2026 due to alleged doping.
Given that he is suspended from November 2022, it will be treated as if he has been banned from football for four years. The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal, but it seems that the case is not over yet, Index writes.
During the investigation in Vušković’s case, strong indications appeared that his blood samples were not adequately storedthat they were transported by private car and that they could very easily be contaminated and false positive. Also, the doping agent EPO is injected directly into the vein, and the screening of Vušković’s skin did not reveal traces of a needle.
After the rulings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Vušković and his legal team appealed to the Federal Supreme Court in Switzerland. The German Bild published the information that Vušković will find out the final decision on the suspension in March next yearwhen a new court case will be held.
The Croatian stopper was expelled from football for four years
A turn in Vušković’s case could bring a refutation of the so-called Sar-Page methodswhich determines the presence of EPO in the body. The method is already known to be not infallible, but it is the only method that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) trusts.
It is carried out so that the antibodies in the athlete’s urine sample are observed in the laboratory in order to find in the final image small black dots, shadows or spots that may indicate the presence of EPO in the body. WADA has only eight experts in the whole world who belong to the group authorized for this type of interpretation, which means that it passed the verdict on Vušković a very narrow circle of peoplewho, if they admit the omission, would harm their reputation and the reputation of the organization that supervises them.
Many experts dispute WADA’s method. Head of endocrinology at the University Clinic in Dresden Lorenz Hofbauer said that the scientific method of EPO analysis is based on “technology from the last millennium”, and chemistry professor David Chen claimed before the CAS that it was impossible for Vušković’s findings to show the presence of EPO.
The case is reminiscent of the spring of 2016, when the Czech triathlete To Voytech Sommer WADA’s experts determined a positive EPO test due to small shadows on the sample, but he did not accept the verdict. He contacted biochemists and molecular biologists, whose expert opinion was enough for the Czech Olympic Committee to overturn the suspension.
HSV’s big gesture: Mario Vušković got a new contract
They concluded that the interpretations from the WADA laboratories were too vague. WADA’s lawyer requested that Sommer does not cancel the sentence in order to preserve the reputation and effectiveness of the anti-doping system. Two years later, WADA submitted a request to CAS to release the triathlete, but on the condition that he remain silent about the entire case, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote. Mario Vušković he also hopes that he can win this tough fight.
Mario is the older brother of the most expensive Hajduk player in history Luka Vušković (17), who was sold by Hajduk to Tottenham last year, and is now on loan in Westerlo, Belgium. Mario also went through all the younger ages of the Whites and played 48 games for the first team. In 2021, HSV brought him on loan for 1.2 million euros, and then bought him back for another three million euros.
When he received confirmation of the suspension, Vušković said:
Yesterday I received this frustrating and unbelievable decision that has nothing to do with reality. I guess we live in a world where truth and justice mean nothing anymore. That’s why I want to send a message to those who decided to endanger my whole life: I have done nothing wrong and I will not stop fighting until I prove my innocence. You can rest assured that I will succeed and come back stronger than ever. I also want to thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who supported me during these difficult times.
(www.jabuka.tv)
