Former world number one tennis player, Maria Sharapova, is provisionally suspended from March 12 pending further action.
The Russian revealed she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open after testing positive for meldonium, a substance she has been taking since 2006 for health issues.
“I did fail the test and take full responsibility for it,” said the five-time Grand Slam champion.
“For the past 10 years I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago after I received the letter from the ITF (International Tennis Federation) I found out it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know.
“It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on Wada’s banned list and I had been legally taking that medicine for the past 10 years.
“But on 1 January the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known.”
She added; “I received an email on 22 December from Wada about the changes happening to the banned list and you can see prohibited items – and I didn’t click on that link.”
