By Chris Oddo | Wednesday April 13, 2016

The World Anti-Doping Agency released a statement that could lead to lenience in the ban of Maria Sharapova and many other athletes that have tested positive for the banned substance meldonium this year.

See the Full Statement from WADA Here

“In the case of meldonium, there is currently a lack of clear scientific information on excretion times,” WADA’s statement reads. “For this reason, a hearing panel might justifiably find (unless there is specific evidence to the contrary) that an athlete who has established on the balance of probabilities that he or she ingested meldonium before 1 January 2016 could not reasonably have known or suspected that the meldonium would still be present in his or her body on or after 1 January 2016. In these circumstances, WADA considers that there may be grounds for no fault or negligence on the part of the athlete.”

It is difficult to determine how or if WADA’s revelation will alter Sharapova’s current provisional ban, which started on March 12. Sharapova freely admitted that she had not read WADA’s emails about a meldonium ban, but she never stated in her press conference that she had actually ingested the drug after January 1st. Though it appears there is a very strong case for Sharapova to make against WADA, much will depend on whether or not she has taken the drug after January 1st, and what level of the drug was found in her system when the test was given.

Whether this helps Sharapova isn't clear, since her defense wasn't that it stayed in her system after stopping. But, sloppy work by WADA.

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) April 13, 2016

Sharapova’s lawyer, John Haggerty, has already taken to Facebook to release a scathing statement that admonishes WADA.

“The fact that WADA felt compelled to issue this unusual statement now is proof of how poorly they handled issues relating to Meldonium in 2015,” Haggerty writes. “Given the fact that scores of athletes have tested positive for taking what previously was a legal product, it's clear WADA did not handle this properly last year and they’re trying to make up for it now. The notice underscores why so many legitimate questions have been raised concerning WADA's process in banning Meldonium as well as the manner in which they notified players. This notice should have been widely distributed in 2015, when it would have made a difference in the lives of many athletes."