WADA warns athletes over 2017 banned substances

Athletes have been warned to prepare for an updated list of banned substances coming into force in 2017.

Last year meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited substance list and several athletes later tested positive for the drug.

Tennis player Maria Sharapova is now serving a two-year ban.

“Athletes and their entourage have ample time to familiarise themselves with the list,” Wada president Craig Reedie said.

“There can be no tolerance for people who intentionally break the rules.”

The updated list comes into force on 1 January 2017.

It covers substances and methods banned in and out of competition, and which substances are banned in different sports.

Wada said in April that scientists were unsure how long meldonium stayed in an athlete’s system.

It also suggested athletes who tested positive before 1 March could avoid bans, provided they had stopped taking it before 1 January.

Sharapova, 29, tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open in January 2016 and an out-of-competition test on 2 February.

The Russian said she had been taking meldonium since 2006 for health reasons and was unaware it had been added to the banned list as she knew it only by the name mildronate.

- BBC