Maria Sharapova to learn fate over doping ban on Tuesday

04 October 2016 04:38

Five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova will find out whether her appeal against a two-year doping ban has been successful on Tuesday afternoon.

The 29-year-old admitted in March that she tested positive for meldonium at January's Australian Open.

A two-year ban was imposed by the International Tennis Federation in June, back-dated to January, and she appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking a reduction.

Sharapova, who won a silver medal at London 2012, was forced to sit out the Rio 2016 Olympics after the appeal was initially postponed.

A verdict will now be delivered at approximately 1400 BST on Tuesday, according to a short statement published on the CAS's official website.

Sharapova argues that she had been using the Latvian-made heart disease drug under medical advice for a decade and had not realised it had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list on January 1, 2016.

But an ITF disciplinary panel dismissed this explanation, pointing out that meldonium had been on WADA's "watch list" of controversial drugs for over a year and there had been numerous warnings to athletes about it becoming prohibited in late 2015.

Source: PA