SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian striker Gabriel Barbosa was suspended for two years on Monday following a doping fraud investigation.
The country's Anti-Doping Sports Court of Justice voted 5-4 to punish Barbosa to April 2025.
He brought attention to himself by his erratic behavior during a surprise test on April 8, 2023, one day before Flamengo played the Rio de Janeiro state championship. Anti-doping officers who came to test players at the club training ground were largely ignored by Barbosa, who took his test hours after his teammates.
Barbosa’s lawyers argued his blood test at the time, which is considered a more effective test, proved he was clean, and added his unfriendly behavior toward the officers did not mean he tricked the test.
Flamengo said “there was no fraud, not even an attempted fraud."
“The club received the decision with surprise and will help the athlete in his representation at the Court for Arbitration of Sport,” it added in a statement.
Nicknamed Gabigol, the 27-year-old Barbosa is in the final year of his contract with Flamengo, which has given him national acclaim after failed stints at Inter Milan and Benfica.
FILE - Gabriel Barbosa of Brazil's Flamengo stands on the pitch during a Copa Libertadores group A soccer match against Argentina's Racing Club at Presidente Peron stadium in Avellaneda, Argentina, May 4, 2023. Barbosa was suspended for two years on March 25, 2024 following a doping fraud investigation. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello, File)
The striker was part of Brazil's Olympic gold medal squad at the Rio Olympics in 2016. He left that year for Europe but returned to Santos in 2018, and became one of the most prolific scorers in Brazil.
He moved to Flamengo in 2019 and helped it win two Copa Libertadores and two Brazilian leagues. But he has been benched since former Brazil coach Tite took over at Flamengo last October.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk will skate Tuesday morning. Whether he'll play for the Florida Panthers in their playoff opener on Tuesday night is anyone's guess.
Tkachuk — who hasn't played for the Panthers since Feb. 8 and hasn't played any games since the 4 Nations Face-Off two months ago because of a lower-body injury — went through practice on Monday with the reigning Stanley Cup champions, his second on-ice workout in a three-day span.
But the Panthers want to see how he gets through morning skate on Tuesday before deciding whether he plays in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series at Tampa Bay that night.
“He’s got to get through the morning skate tomorrow," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after Monday's practice. "We’re still monitoring the recovery off the practice. So, he was out early before we went, went through a whole practice, stayed until the end. We'll see how he feels coming back in tomorrow. And if he feels good and he gets through that morning skate and everybody's thumbs-up, then he’ll go.”
Tkachuk got hurt in the second game of the 4 Nations event, then tried to play in the final against Canada but didn’t take any shifts for the third period or overtime of that contest.
The Panthers placed Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve. He missed the team’s final 25 games of the regular season, yet still finished with 22 goals, 35 assists and 57 points — third-most on the team in all three categories. He was also second on the Panthers this season with 11 power-play goals.
It sounds like the decision is going to be whether he's ready for Game 1 or Game 2. Maurice noted that two more days — the game between the series opener and Thursday's second game — might be useful.
“We're close enough now that you also put yourself in that situation where you’d consider two more days, if you felt you were right there," Maurice said. "We'll just let the doctors and Matthew tell us where he’s at and then we’ll go from there.”
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FILE - Calgary Flames' Matthew Tkachuk, watches drills during NHL hockey training camp in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
