Russian professional tennis player Maria Sharapova has been suspended for two years for an anti-doping rule violation, the International Tennis Federation announced Wednesday. Her "period of ineligibility" will be backdated to Jan. 26, 2016, the day Sharapova tested positive for the heart disease drug, meldonium, at the Australian Open.
Sharapova responded to the announcement almost immediately with a public statement saying that she would not accept the "unfairly harsh" suspension and that she planned to appeal the decision. She has maintained that she did not intentionally seek the blood flow-boosting drug for performance enhancement, but for health issues:
Sharapova began taking meldonium in 2006, prior to when the ITF added it to its list of banned substances on Jan. 1, 2016. She has been provisionally suspended from the sport since March.
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