Maria Sharapova Faces Goan Schools' Wrath After Dope Taint

Maria Sharapova's legacy took a massive hit following her doping scandal but few would have imagined its impact hitting the Indian shores.

Sharapova, who is serving a two-year suspension after she tested positive for banned substance meldonium at this year's Australian Open, is now set to get the boot from English textbooks in Goan schools.

A chapter -- 'Reach for the Top' -- dedicated to the five-time Grand Slam winner was first introduced in Goan textbooks for Class IX students in 2006-07. The chapter tells students how Sharapova reached the peak of her career through her "unwavering desire to succeed and her willingness to sacrifice".

However, her tryst with performance enhancing drugs has not gone down too well with various associations and academicians in Goa.

Educationists and parents of school students have demanded that Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) drop the English chapter on the sports celebrity.

The board immediately took cognizance and issued a circular promising to remove the chapter from next year.

"Teachers are hereby requested that while teaching the above unit to focus on moral values, negative impact on the use of unfair means and proper character development so as to be responsible citizen in order to build a good society and a strong nation. In the next revision of the text book, the said unit shall be excluded from the book," Board secretary Shivakumar Jangam said in a recent circular issued to all schools.

The Russian tennis star has been a popular figure throughout the world and her rise as the poster girl of the sport is well documented. However, her doping scandal took the tennis world by storm.