Maria Sharapova to appeal 2 year ITF ban

Maria Sharapova will appeal a two-year ban for doping imposed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Wednesday (June 8), she said on her Facebook page.

“The ITF asked the tribunal to suspend me for four years – the required suspension for an intentional violation — and the tribunal rejected the ITF’s position,” she wrote.

“I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” added the Russian in a statement addressed to her fans.

The former world number one was handed a two-year ban by the ITF following her positive test for banned drug meldonium at this year’s Australian Open.

In a statement the ITF said the 29-year-old five-times grand slam champion’s ban would be back-dated to Jan. 26 this year, meaning her results from the Australian Open where she reached the quarter-finals, would be disqualified.

Sharapova, at the time the world’s highest-paid female athlete, 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.

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