Maria Sharapova may be spared the maximum four-year ban for failing a drug test if she can prove she has a condition which requires the treatment she tk, an anti-doping expert has said. Five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova announced on Monday she had tested positive for a substance called meldonium at this years Australian Open.Meldonium was placed on the banned list by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the beginning of the year, having been part of its monitoring programme throughout 2015. Geraint Hughes shows how easy it is to find meldonium on WADAs banned substances list Sharapova said she had legally taken the medication since 2006 to deal with health issues including an irregular heartbeat.Grindeks, the Latvian company which manufactures meldonium - banned by WADA as it aids oxygen uptake and endurance - says the normal course of treatment for the drug is four to six weeks.Depending on the patients health condition, treatment course of meldonium preparations may vary from four to six weeks. Treatment course can be repeated twice or thrice a year, said Grindeks in a statement.Only physicians can follow and evaluate patients health condition and state whether the patient should use meldonium for a longer period of time. Sharapova lost to Serena Williams in the quarter finals in Melbourne in January Sharapova will be provisionally suspended from tennis later this week and could face a ban of up to four years.However, former UK Sport anti-doping chief Michele Verroken believes she could receive a minimum of a one-year ban if she can prove she needed to take the drug for medical purposes.This is a strict liability issue and to test positive, as it were, for a prohibited substance is a strict liability matter, Verroken told Sky Sports News HQ. Sharapova fails drugs test Maria Sharapova reveals failed drug test at Australian Open You are responsible for what is found in your sample, you are responsible for what goes into your body.So, to just say that you didnt notice it had been added to the list will not be considered the excuse to totally evaluate an sanction.Now the challenge facing Maria Sharapova and her team is to bring forward the diagnostic evidence that she has a condition that required the prescription of this treatment.But if she can actually prove that she may get some leniency from the disciplinary panel. Barry Cowan says Maria Sharapova will have to pay the consequences for failing a drugs test Sharapova, who has been suspended by sponsors Nike, Tag Heuer and Porsche, says she accepts full responsibility for her actions but former British No 1 Jo Durie believes the Russian might have expected more help from people around her.Durie does not believe the former world No 1 is a drugs cheat either, saying it was a very big mistake that she is going to pay the price for.Everyones shocked and its just one big mistake isnt it from Maria and her team, who didnt pick this up, said Durie. Sir Bradley Wiggins admits he has sympathy for Sharapova after she failed a drugs test Maria has std up and said ultimately that its her responsibility, shes the athlete and she should check. But when you get to the top of your sport you are surrounded by a team of people who really should be advising you and checking and doing all these things.I just think its very sad that this has happened.I think that Maria is, in my opinion, an honest person whos made a very big mistake; shes going to pay for it.I dont think shes a drugs cheat, I really dont, I think shes been caught out with something she thought was perfectly okay to take and then didnt check the lists. Also See: Sharapova career reveiw Sponsors drop Sharapolva What is Meldonium? Tennis reacts to news Cheap Air Max 90 . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Cheap Air Max 90 Free Shipping . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result lked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. http://www.airmax90clearance.com/ . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker rm. Cheap Air Max 90 For Sale . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Air Max 90 Clearance . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. NEW YORK -- Only once has a left-handed pitcher won 20 games for the Toronto Blue Jays.J.A. Happ is getting close to becoming the second.Happ can become the first 17-game winner in the major leagues Wednesday afternn when the Blue Jays conclude a three-game series with the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.Toronto has had five pitchers get to 20 wins in team history and the only southpaw was David Wells who won 20 during the 2000 season. Like Wells, Happ is in his second stint with the Blue Jays.Happ won 19 games and made 50 starts after Toronto obtained him from the Houston Astros in a 10-player deal on July 20, 2012. After he was 11-11 with a 4.22 ERA in 2014, Toronto traded him to Seattle for outfielder Michael Saunders but last November, the Blue Jays signed him to a three-year deal following two months with the Pittsburgh Pirates.Happ has approached 20 wins by going 10-0 with a 2.66 ERA in his last 11 starts. After allowing four hits and getting seven strikeouts in seven innings during last Wednesdays 7-0 win over the Tampa Bays, he joined Roger Clemens in 1997 and Roy Halladay in 2003 as the only Toronto pitchers to have a run as gd.Clemens and Halladay were 12-0 in 13 starts and both were 20-game winners. Jack Morris in 1992 and Pat Hentgen are the only other 20-game winners in Toronto history but all of those hurlers were right-handed.Hes a different pitcher, hes a better pitcher, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. Hes a new guy, he gets ground balls now, he never used to do that and that bails you out of some innings. And he also gets strikeouts.Happ can achieve two things with a win Wednesday.He can join Wells and Jimmy Key as the only Blue Jays left-handers to win 17 games. Key did it in 1987 and 1991 while Wells achieved it in 1999 and 2000.Happ can also become the fifth Blue Jay to win at least 11 straight decisions. Clemens and Halladay share the record of 15 in 1998 and 2003 respectively while Dennis Lamp won 11 straight in 1985 and Clemens did so in 1997.Two of Happs victories have been against the Yankees, who are batting .206 against him in three starts. He allowed one run and seven hits in six innings April 13 in Toronto and, May 26 in New York, Happ allowed one run and three hits in a 3-1 win.The Blue Jays will be lking to beat the Yankees for the ninth time in 12 meetings after storming back from a six-run deficit for a 12-6 victoryy Tuesday.dddddddddddd After going scoreless off Michael Pineda through five innings Toronto hit four home runs off New Yorks bullpen following a 42-minute rain delay.Russell Martin, who was in a 4-for-28 slump, homered in consecutive at-bats and got the tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth after hitting a solo shot in the sixth. Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run home run, giving him 34 and 99 RBI while Troy Tulowitzki had a two-run home run among four hits.It just felt like the momentum was shifting in our direction, Martin said. When everybody gets that gd feeling and is kind of anxious to get back up to the plate, its a gd sign. We definitely got a little bit lucky, we got Pineda out of the game. It lked like he would have his A game today, so just got to point to the sky and thank whoevers up there for helping out.The meltdown by New Yorks bullpen pushed them 5 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot. Gary Sanchez homered twice while Pineda allowed four hits in five scoreless innings before the game changed drastically for the Yankees.Its unfortunate because Michael was really gd tonight, I wouldve loved to have sent him back out there, but with what he went through with that shoulder, we just felt we couldnt do it, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. His pitch count was around 70 and it was frustrating. I was hoping it would be a quicker rain delay, but when it got to be 45 to 50 minutes, it was frustrating.The Yankees will hope there are no more drastic turnarounds against them Wednesday and hope CC Sabathia can follow Pinedas strong outing. He also will try to end a nearly two-month slump that has seen go 2-5 with a 6.41 ERA in 10 starts since June 22.He is 7-9 and two of his losses have been in games started by Happ. He allowed two unearned runs in seven innings of a 3-1 loss at New York on May 26 and two earned runs in six innings five days later in Toronto.Although Sabathia is 15-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 24 career starts against Toronto, the left-hander is 0-4 with a 3.60 ERA in his last four starts against the Blue Jays as the Yankees. While Sabathia has pitched decently in those games, New Yorks hitters have struggled by batting .189 (24-for-127) and getting two hits in 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position. ' ' '