Sharapova may avoid four-year ban for using drugs

Former UK Sport anti-doping chief, Michele Verroken, has said Maria Sharapova could receive “a minimum of a one-year ban”, if she can prove she needed to take the drug for medical purposes.

Former world number one, Sharapova, revealed in a press conference on Monday evening, that she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open.

The 28-year-old Russian tested positive for meldonium, which she has been taking since 2006 for health issues.

Sharapova, who have won five Grand Slam titles, admits she does not know what sanctions she will face.

“This is a strict liability issue and to test positive, as it were, for a prohibited substance is a strict liability matter,” Verroken told Sky Sports News HQ.

“You are responsible for what is found in your sample, you are responsible for what goes into your body.

“So, to just say that you didn’t notice it had been added to the list will not be considered the excuse to totally evaluate an sanction.

“Now the challenge facing Maria Sharapova and her team is to bring forward the diagnostic evidence that she has a condition that required the prescription of this treatment.

“But if she can actually prove that she may get some leniency from the disciplinary panel.”

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