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Maria Sharapova has been banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation after failing a drugs test.
The Russian was provisionally banned in March after testing positive for meldonium at January’s Australian Open.
The heart disease drug, which 29-year-old Sharapova says she has been taking since 2006 for health issues, became a banned substance on 1 January 2016.
Sharapova will appeal against the ban, which is backdated to 26 January 2016, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension,” she wrote on Facebook.
“With their decision of a two-year suspension, the ITF tribunal unanimously concluded that what I did was not intentional.
“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.
“I intend to stand for what I believe is right and that’s why I will fight to be back on the tennis court as soon as possible.”
(Source: BBC)
