A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
The Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajeev Mehta on Monday requested the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to expedite the process for the vaccination of the country's Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes and officials against COVID-19.
The World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from the world's top sporting events for four years, a period that includes the next summer and winter Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for tampering with doping-related laboratory data. The sanctions against Russia, the host of last year's soccer World Cup, also bar it from hosting major sporting events for a four-year period or applying to host new events in that period.
Russia still has a shot to compete in the athletics competition at the 2016 Olympics if they can prove they are drug free, the head of a probe into the country's doping scandal said on Tuesday.
The ruling by the CAS, sport's highest tribunal, will be taken into consideration by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as it ponders whether to impose a blanket ban on Russia from all sports.
The sport's governing body said on Tuesday that the seven had all met the "exceptional eligibility criteria" after satisfying the board that they have been training in an environment that passes the necessary anti-doping requirements.
Indian shot putter Inderjeet Singh, who returned positive for banned substances last month, alleged that his dope samples might have been tampered with as the National Anti-Doping Agency gave him two different results on the same sample collected on June 29, a claim denied by the NADA. Inderjeet, one of the 36 Indian track and field athletes who qualified for the ongoing Rio Olympics, circulated documents at a press conference which showed that the National Dope Testing Laboratory had given two different results of the A sample taken on June 29 during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Hyderabad.
Unbeaten US boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and Filipino boxer-turned-politician Manny Pacquiao have left no stone unturned in ensuring that they enter the ring for Saturday's 'Fight-of-the-Century' bout completely drug-free.
A bitter court battle, followed by an embarrassing dope scandal, before some redemption through an Olympic medal -- Indian wrestling in 2016 mirrored the script of a Bollywood potboiler in which Sakshi Malik emerged as the new star on the horizon. For most part of the year, wrestling hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, making it a tumultuous Olympic build-up after two-time medallist Sushil Kumar found himself ousted from contention just a couple of months before the Games in Rio. The chain of events that set in ended up disgracing the sport before Sakshi emerged an unlikely saviour in the Brazillian city.
A relieved Narsingh Yadav has said he is eager to go to the Olympics now and win a medal for the country.
The reason: Vitaly Mutko has delivered victories on the sports field for the past decade and a half to match Putin's ambition of restoring national pride, and the Russian leader stands by the people who give him loyal service.
With Narsingh's participation in serious doubt, Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com spoke exclusively to Sushil Kumar's coach Satpal Singh.
World indoor 1500 metres champion Abeba Aregawi has been suspended from Swedish athletics after she tested positive for a banned substance, the national federation said on Monday.
Chanu has decided to present her case before the hearing panel of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in Hungary.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Russia could be banned from participating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics if proposed changes to the World Anti-Doping Agency Code announced on Thursday are fast-tracked.
The International Judo Federation -- which lists Russian President Vladimir Putin as its honorary president -- will allow the sport's Russian squad to participate in the Olympics, its head told Reuters on Tuesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Over 500 dope tests every year in the last four years, specialised diet and nutritional supplements only from Germany -- these are the ingredients that went into the Indian weightlifters' sensational haul of five gold medals at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast.
Sanjita Chanu will be conferred with the Arjuna award as per a 2018 Delhi High Court order, which directed the selection committee to consider her and keep the decision in a sealed cover to be disclosed only if she was absolved of the doping charges.
On Wednesday, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) wrote to the sports ministry to comply with the High Court order.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
American Ursula Papandrea will continue to lead the sport's governing body as Acting President.
By forcing Kenyan athletes to undergo additional drugs tests before allowing them to compete in Rio, the International Olympic Committee is trying to intimidate his countrymen, a former running champion said on Wednesday.
The newly chalked Futures Tours Programme (FTP) and the hefty compensation of Rs 850 crore to now-defunct Indian Premier League franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala will be discussed extensively when Board of Control for Cricket in India's Special General Meeting is held in New Delhi on Monday.
Individual Russian track and field athletes assessed as clean will be able to compete for their country in Brazil, the Olympic Games' top official said on Tuesday, diluting a blanket ban the sport's global federation had called for.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
Continuing to back dope-tainted wrestler Narsingh Yadav, a top Wrestling Federation of India official on Friday claimed the 74-kg freestyle wrestler would have clinched the silver medal had he taken part in the Rio Olympics instead of being banned for four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Shot-putter Tajinder Singh Toor on Monday qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a new national record at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Russia still needs to demonstrate a "cultural shift" in its commitment to clean sport if its track and field athletes hope to compete under the nation's flag again, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said on Friday.
Barred from international competition, Russia is training its athletes at a series of special domestic tournaments and banking on hopes a doping ban will be lifted in time for this year's Rio Olympics.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
More sporting bodies sanctioned Russian and Belarusian athletes on Tuesday over Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has branded the International Olympic Committee's decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russia at next month's Rio Games as "spineless" and expressed surprise that more athletes were not speaking out.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India insisted that the number of playing days per year for the ever-busy cricketers will decrease.
Jamaica's Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has "no problem" with plans by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to test the hair follicles of athletes in a bid to clamp down on drug cheats in sport.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt on the national sports budget as the central government on Monday allocated Rs 2596.14 crore for the financial year 2021-22 -- a reduction of Rs 230.78 crore when compared to the amount earmarked initially for the previous year.
The sports ministry, on Thursday, received a hike of Rs 258.2 crore in the union budget for 2018-19, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Parliament in New Delhi.
