Russia has included Maria Sharapova on their preliminary team for the Olympic tennis tournament in August despite her provisional suspension for failing a drug test. The 29 year old had tested positive for meldonium at the January Australian Open. However, the country's tennis federation said her participation at Rio "should be resolved" this week.
Russian track and field athletes are banned from an international competition after recent doping scandals. Other sports remained totally unaffected, though. The International Tennis Federation had provisionally suspended the five-time Grand Slam champion on 12 March. The World Anti-Doping Association later admitted in April that scientistswere unsure how long meldonium stayed in the system, suggesting athletes who tested positive for the substance before 1 March could avoid bans.
However, Sharapova had already admitted she continued taking meldonium past 1 January, when the substance was added to Wada's banned list. She had faced an anti-doping panel in London last week, with the Russian Tennis Federation saying at the time that she may never play again. Sharapova was included in the team alongside Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Daria Kasatkina. If she is not able to compete, her place in the team will be taken by Ekaterina Makarova, the fifth-ranked Russian woman. Last week, Tarpishchev said that Sharapova’s situation was "bad" and she may not play again.
However, the organisation's president, Shamil Tarpischev, said, "She has been put on our Olympic application. It has to be submitted by 6 June."
