Maria Yuryevna Sharapova's appeal against her banning on positive testing meldonium is going to be heard in a London court on Wednesday. The dope test has been conducted during Australian Open and the Russia born American tennis star remains out of the court since March. However, verdict against the appeal case will be handed down in June, possibly prior to the Wimbledon.
Though controversy exists over the date of hearing, but the five Grand slam title winner seems to be upbeat about her prospects for success. Posting of her training photos to the social media suggests for a quick return. The pending appeal is based on World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) recent admission on possibility for presence of meldonium in the player's system long time after its use, reports The Guardian.
Meldonium has been banned from January 1, 2016 labeling as a performance enhancing drug. Sold under the brand name Midronate, meldonium may increase tolerance and speed recovery through improving blood flow while acting on central nervous system. The positive test has led Sharapova from the professional tennis tour while tenure of the banning is yet to be ascertained, according to a report published in Forbes.
The anti-angina drug has been manufactured in Latvia since 2006 and has been widely used to treat a range of conditions including the possible onset of family-related diabetes. Sarapova claims to remain ignorant on placing the drug in WADA's banned list. However, her point of appeal has got some grounds since it is yet to ascertain how long meldonium remains in the body after consumption. Moreover, the nature of performance enhancement still remains unclear and WADA itself acknowledges the fact, reports Newsweek. During hearing, lawyers of Sharapova will probably represent the argument that the drug has remained in her system before the banning on meldonium gets enforced. Probability for detection of the drug depends on its pharmacokinetics and detectable level of existence. Pharmacokinetics of meldonium need to be ascertained till now and it is not clear, whether WADA conducted dope test has measured the level of existence. Furthermore, WADA is yet to clarify meldonium's permissible level of existence in cases unlike Sharapova. The tennis star has ingested the drug before banning gets enforced and trace presence of the drug residue in her body- the two probable strong points of argument appears for her lawyers.
