LONDON: Russian star Maria Sharapova was banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Wednesday after a failed drugs test. “An independent tribunal appointed under Article 8.1 of the 2016 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme has found that Maria Sharapova committed an anti-doping rule violation under Article 2.1 of the programme and as a consequence has disqualified the affected results and imposed a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on January 26, 2016,” ITF said in a statement. The 29-year-old was provisionally banned in March after testing positive for banned substance Meldonium at Australian Open in January. Sharapova said she had been taking Meldonium since 2006 for health issues. The five-time Grand Slam winner said she would appeal against the decision. “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. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” Sharapova said after the ITF decision.