Arsan Arashova has been banned from tennis for two years after testing positive for meldonium ©ITF

Arsan Arashov, a 17-year-old tennis player from Kazakhstan, has been banned from competing in the sport for two years after testing positive for meldonium.

An independent tribunal, appointed under Article 8.1 of the 2016 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, found Arashov guilty of breaking Article 2.1.

The tribunal has disqualified the affected results and imposed a period of ineligibility of two years, which has been backdated to September 30 last year.

Arashov, who has a career high ranking of 1,729, provided a urine sample on July 9 last year during the Tourneo Playa de Gandia in Gandia in Spain, an International Tennis Federation Pro Circuit event.

At the tournament, Arashov was knocked out in the first qualifying round 6-1, 6-1 by Ignacio Calvo Milla of Spain.

The sample taken was sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Montreal in Canada for analysis.

It was found to contain meldonium, the heart attack drug.

On September 20 last year Arashov was charged but requested a hearing before an independent tribunal in accordance with Article 8 of the Programme.

A hearing was held on February 10 before the tribunal subsequently issued the decision on April 10.

Maria Sharapova was also banned after she tested positive for meldonium ©Getty Images
Maria Sharapova was also banned after she tested positive for meldonium ©Getty Images

Meldonium is the same substance that Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova tested positive for and, as a result, was banned.

Sharapova, a former world number one who has completed a career Grand Slam by winning all four major competitions in Australia, France, the United States and Wimbledon, was given a two-year ban on January 26 last year for violating anti-doping regulations.

The London 2012 Olympic Games women’s singles silver medallist tested positive for the substance which had only been banned by WADA on January 1 of 2016.

In June 2016, Sharapova appealed against the suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, following a hearing, the time period was cut from two years to 15 months.

The 29-year-old will return to competitive action on a tennis court at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart following her ban, with play due to begin in the German city on April 26, the same day her suspension is lifted.

She has also already been guaranteed a wild card into a tournament in Madrid, between May 6 and 13.