Spears case still running

BASKETBALL News: The Irish Sports Council and Basketball Ireland will press ahead with the Adriana Spears positive doping test case, even tough the player will not be returning to the woman's Superleague with Glanmire.

Spears opted last week to stay in America, for family reasons, and Glanmire subsequently announced the signing of Nigerian international Mobolagi Akiode, who went on to score 25 points in their 82-65 victory over Mercy Coolock in the National Cup quarter-finals.

The club will be pleased to have replaced one of the best players in the league so quickly with such a highly regarded player, as the 22-year-old Akiode played in the Athens Olympics last year.

The fear that, because Spears has left Glanmire, she is no longer subject to the full effects of the Sports Council's disciplinary system, and in turn the World Anti-doping Agency's (WADA) new anti-doping code, if her B sample also comes back positive for cocaine, were assuaged by Basketball Ireland chief executive Debbie Massey.

"A decision will still be made by the Sports Council's anti-doping panel," said Massey. "If found guilty the standard is a two-year suspension. If that is the case it must be upheld.

"The Sports Council's annual reports over the last three years have shown increased testing in basketball, like most other sports, year on year.

"Also, we have no problem with requesting a random test if there is a suspicion with players in Irish basketball. We want to get that message out loud and clear that it will not be tolerated, as that is not what sport is about," added Massey.

The recent scandal puts an even greater emphasis on the coming National Cup weekend, which is to be televised live on RTÉ at the end of the month.

The woman's quarter-finals took place over the weekend, with Glanmire now to play defending champions UL Aughinish and St Paul's facing Killester in the last four on January 28th at the National Arena.

Meanwhile, the men's Superleague produced some interesting results over the weekend, most notably in Dublin where cracks in Killester's superiority began to show as they went down to St Vincent's.

New signing Laurence Young's 30-point contribution failed to make a sufficient difference, although he did contribute handsomely (31 points) in the victory over UCD.

In contrast, the Tralee Tigers overcame their rivals in second place in the southern conference, the Limerick Lions, away, while the Killarney Lakers claimed their first league win of the season over fellow strugglers Waterford.

Waterford lost twice over the weekend, firstly to UCD, but this didn't stop the league's highest scorer, Jamal Johnson, racking up another 62 points. There was also a victory for Ballina as they overcame Shamrock Rovers Hoops.