Maria Sharapova Suspended From Tennis for Doping

— -- Women’s tennis star Maria Sharapova has been banned from competing in the sport for two years for doping, an International Tennis Federation tribunal announced today.

An independent tribunal appointed by the ITF, the world governing body of tennis, said Sharapova provided a urine sample on Jan. 26, after her quarter-final match at the Australian Open in Melbourne this year. The sample was found to contain a drug called meldonium, which became a banned substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list as of Jan. 1.

Sharapova publicly announced in March that she had failed a drug test at the Australian Open, but maintained that she was unaware that the drug she had been taking for a decade, mildronate, was also known as meldonium. The 29-year-old Russian tennis player said she had started using the drug, which helps increase blood and oxygen flow, under a doctor's guidance in 2006 because of irregular electrocardiogram results as well as a family history of heart issues and diabetes.

The ITF argued that Sharapova continued taking the drug even though her records with the doctor ended in 2013. The governing body before the tribunal last month asked for the five-time Grand Slam winner to be suspended for four years. But the rules state that she could not be banned for longer than two if her use of the drug was found to be unintentional.

"Today, with their decision of a two-year suspension, the ITF tribunal unanimously concluded that what I did was not intentional," Sharapova said in a statement posted on Facebook today. "The tribunal found that I did not seek treatment from my doctor for the purpose of obtaining a performance enhancing substance. The ITF spent tremendous amount of time and resources trying to prove I intentionally violated the anti-doping rules and the tribunal concluded I did not. You need to know that the ITF asked the tribunal to suspend me for four years -- the required suspension for an intentional violation -- and the tribunal rejected the ITF's position."

Sharapova said she will appeal against the suspension, which is backdated to Jan. 26.

"I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension," she said in the statement. "The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.