Cilic eligible to play again from Oct 26 after court reduces doping suspension

The doping suspension of Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic has reportedly been reduced from nine months to four months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), making him eligible to return to playing from October 26 this year.

The 47th ranked Cilic had tested positive for the banned stimulant nikethamide at the Munich Open in May and was banned by an independent tribunal in September, although it was later backdated to May 1, meaning he would have been able to return to action on February 1, 2014.

According to Sport24, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that the CAS set aside the decision of the independent tribunal and replaced it with a period of ineligibility of four months, with the start back-dated to 26 June 2013, the date on which Cilic accepted a voluntary provisional suspension.

Cilic, who has not played since Wimbledon where he withdrew before his second round match citing an injury, provided a urine sample during the Munich even which was found to contained the stimulant, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of banned substances, the report added.