Maria Sharapova drugs ban reduced from two years to 15 months

Russian Tennis star Maria Sharapova's doping ban was reduced from two years to 15 months on 4 October 2016. The Court of Arbitration for Sport cut nine months off the suspension imposed on Sharapova, who was tested positive for a banned substance - Meldonium - at the 2016 Australian Open in January 2016.

Earlier, the five-time Grand Slam winner was banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation for two years after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

Sharapova in a statement said that she had been taking the drug since 2006 for health related problems but never tried it to enhance her performance.

Ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport means that Sharapova can come back in Tennis court on 26 April 2017 and return to Grand Slam play at the French Open.

The CAS panel found that Sharapova bore some degree of fault for the positive test, saying a 15-month sanction was appropriate.

Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, had appealed to CAS in June seeking to overturn or reduce the suspension imposed by the International Tennis Federation.

What is meldonium?

Meldonium is a heart disease drug also known as mildronate and was banned by World Anti-Doping Agency's (Wada) on 1 January 2016.

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