Sharapova's Doping Ban Reduced

She'll be able to compete again in April 2017
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 4, 2016 9:01 AM CDT
Sharapova's Doping Ban Reduced
Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open on Jan. 24, 2016.   (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

Maria Sharapova can take part in next year's French Open despite an initial two-year ban from tennis. The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the Russian tennis star's doping ban to 15 months on Tuesday, per the Guardian, noting she "had a reduced perception of the risk" of taking recently banned meldonium because she had taken it for 10 years without issue and relied on her agent to notify her about prohibited substances, which the panel found to be "reasonable." As the new ban will be served from Jan. 26, 2016—the date Sharapova failed a drug test—she'll be able to compete again in late April 2017. (More Maria Sharapova stories.)

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