Russian former world number one Maria Sharapova was handed a two-year ban by the International Tennis Federation on Wednesday following her positive test for banned drug meldonium at this year's Australian Open, a ban the tennis star has vowed to appeal.
In a statement the ITF said the 29-year-old five-time grand slam champion's ban would be back-dated to January 26 this year, meaning her results from the Australian Open where she reached the quarter-finals, would be disqualified.
Maria Sharapova stunned the sporting world in March when she announced that she had tested positive for meldonium, a drug she said she had been taking for a decade to treat diabetes and low magnesium. Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of banned substances at the start of the year after evidence that it boosted blood flow and enhanced athletic performance.
Maria Sharapova responded in a statement posted on her Facebook page and vowed to fight the "unfairly harsh" ban.
"While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension," she said. Source
In a statement the ITF said the 29-year-old five-time grand slam champion's ban would be back-dated to January 26 this year, meaning her results from the Australian Open where she reached the quarter-finals, would be disqualified.
Maria Sharapova stunned the sporting world in March when she announced that she had tested positive for meldonium, a drug she said she had been taking for a decade to treat diabetes and low magnesium. Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of banned substances at the start of the year after evidence that it boosted blood flow and enhanced athletic performance.
Maria Sharapova responded in a statement posted on her Facebook page and vowed to fight the "unfairly harsh" ban.
"While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension," she said. Source
