Tennis star Maria Sharapova's doping ban has been reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
She was initially banned for two years after testing positive for the banned medication meldonium during last January's Australian Open.
But the ban - imposed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) - has been reduced to 15 months, meaning the five-time Grand Slam champion will now be able to compete at the French Open next year.
The Lausanne-based CAS said Sharapova "bore some degree of fault" for the positive test but a 15-month "sanction" would be more "appropriate".
The former world number one admitted taking meldonium for 10 years but said it was to help treat illnesses, a heart issue and a magnesium deficiency.
She also claimed it had entirely escaped her attention the product had been added to the banned substance list published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 1 January, just before the Australian Open.
In a statement issued by her agents, Sharapova described the reduction of her doping ban as "one of my happiest days".
"I've gone from one of the toughest days of my career last March when I learned about my suspension to now, one of my happiest days, as I found out I can return to tennis in April (2017)," she said.
"In so many ways, I feel like something I love was taken away from me and it will feel really good to have it back.
"Tennis is my passion and I have missed it. I am counting the days until I can return to the court."
Sharapova said she had learned from the doping episode and hoped the ITF, her sport's governing body, had too.
"I have taken responsibility from the very beginning for not knowing that the over-the-counter supplement I had been taking for the last 10 years was no longer allowed," she added.
"But I also learned how much better other federations were at notifying their athletes of the rule change, especially in eastern Europe where Mildronate (its trade name) is commonly taken by millions of people.
"Now that this process is over, I hope the ITF and other relevant tennis anti-doping authorities will study what these other federations did, so that no other tennis player will have to go through what I went through."
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