Kazakh teenager handed two-year doping ban

Paris - Kazakhstan teenager Arsan Arashov was banned for two years on Thursday after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced.

The 17-year-old, ranked at a lowly 1,729 in the world, failed the drugs test when playing in an ITF event in Gandia, Spain in July last year and his suspension has been backdated to September 2016.

Meldonium hit the headlines when former world number one and five-time major winner Maria Sharapova tested positive for the substance at the 2016 Australian Open.

Her two-year ban was reduced to 15 months and she is due to return to the sport in Stuttgart on April 26.