Maria Sharapova has been banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) after failing a drug test at this year’s Australian Open.
Sharapova, the world’s highest-paid female athlete and a five times Grand Slam champion, stunned the sporting world in March when she announced that she had tested positive for meldonium, a substance she had been taking since 2006 but one that was added to the banned list on January 1 this year.
In a statement on Wednesday, the ITF said the 29-year-old Russian’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.
Minutes after the ITF’s decision was announced, Sharapova said she would appeal the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension,” Sharapova said in a statement.
“The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
@Agency report.
