CAS to rule on Sharapova doping ban appeal in early October

BERLIN (Reuters) - A decision on former world number one tennis player Maria Sharapova's appeal against a two-year doping ban will be issued in the first week of next month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Tuesday. Five-times grand slam winner Sharapova, 29, was banned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in June following a positive test for the banned drug meldonium during January's Australian Open. Sharapova was named in Russia's official entry list for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but the CAS decided in July to defer its decision on her appeal against the ban. Sharapova is seeking to have her suspension, which was handed down by the ITF in June, wiped out or reduced. She had called the ITF's ruling "unfairly harsh" as an independent tribunal had found that she had not intentionally violated anti-doping rules. Meldonium was added to World Anti-doping Agency's list of banned substances at the start of the year after mounting evidence that it boosted blood flow and enhanced athletic performance. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)