CAS reduces Sharapova's doping ban to 15 months

Record ID: 84755

  • Title: CAS reduces Sharapova's doping ban to 15 months
  • Date: 4th October 2016
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - MARCH 7, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARIA SHARAPOVA, SAYING: "Thank you for being here on such short notice. I wanted to let you know that a few days I received a letter from the ITF (International Tennis Federation) that I had failed a drug test at the Australian Open. I did fail the test and I do take full responsibility for it. For the past 10 years I have been given a medicine called mildronate, by my doctor, by my family doctor, and a few days ago after I received the ITF letter I found out that it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know. It's very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on WADA's (World Anti-Doping Agency) banned list and I had been legally taking the medicine for the past 10 years. But on January first the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance which I had not known." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARIA SHARAPOVA, SAYING: "I know that with this I face consequences and I don't want to end my career this way and I really hope that I will be given another chance to play this game. And I know that many of you thought that I would be retiring today and announcing my retirement but if I was ever going to announce my retirement it would probably not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet." LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - JUNE 19, 2008) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SHARAPOVA BESIDE THE CATWALK AT FASHION SHOW
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2016 14:03
  • Keywords: Maria Sharapova tennis doping CAS Russia
  • Location: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Sport,Tennis
  • Reuters ID: LVA00252LAF5Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS A WHITE FLASH TO SEPARATE TWO SOUNDBITES
    The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday (October 4) reduced by nine months former world number one tennis player Maria Sharapova's two-year doping ban.
    An arbitration panel "found that Ms. Sharapova committed an anti-doping rule violation and that while it was with 'no significant fault', she bore some degree of fault, for which a sanction of fifteen months is appropriate," Switzerland-based CAS said in a statement. The ban took effect from Jan. 26, 2016.
    Five-times grand slam winner Sharapova was banned by the International Tennis Federation in June following a positive test for the banned drug meldonium during January's Australian Open.
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