Sports tribunal reduces Sharapova doping ban by nine months

ZURICH, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday reduced by nine months former world number one tennis player Maria Sharapova's two-year doping ban. An arbitration panel "found that Ms Sharapova committed an anti-doping rule violation and that while it was with 'no significant fault', she bore some degree of fault, for which a sanction of fifteen months is appropriate," Switzerland-based CAS said in a statement. The ban took effect from Jan. 26, 2016. Five-times grand slam winner Sharapova was banned by the International Tennis Federation in June following a positive test for the banned drug meldonium during January's Australian Open. (Reporting by Joshua Franklin, Editing by Michael Shields)