World athletics' governing body decided on Friday to maintain its doping ban on all Russian athletes, Sky News reported, quoting unnamed sources, leaving the country's hopes of competing in the Rio Olympics dependent on Olympic chiefs giving special dispensation at a meeting next week. The Council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was meeting in Vienna to decide whether to lift the ban after hearing from a task force that significant doping problems still existed in Russia. The suspension was first imposed in November and extended in March. A spokeswoman for Russia's athletics federation said she could not confirm the reports that the ban had been upheld.
Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) chief David Sharpe said a preventative task force funded to the tune of millions of dollars by the Australian government had conducted tests on 2,600 local athletes and 500 from overseas.
The delayed Games presents a massive headache to reorganise logistics, funding and sponsorship.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Russian track and field athletes look certain to miss out on this year's world championships after an IAAF task force recommended on Monday that the country's ban should run until November.
Union Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas on Saturday made it clear that Saketh Myneni is "no less deserving" than Rohan Bopanna for the prestigious Arjuna award despite questions being raised about his merit.
India lost the hosting rights of the 2021 men's World Boxing Championship to Serbia after the national federation failed to pay the host fee, prompting the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to terminate the agreement signed in 2017. The elite competition, which would have happened for the first time in the country, will now be held in the Serbian city of Belgrade.
Force India Formula One team boss Vijay Mallya feels beating McLaren for fifth spot in the team standings will be a 'big task' in the remaining four races of the season.
The committee has also detailed the scope and applicability of the SOP. It has been clarified that the SOP would be applicable to athletes and all other stakeholders involved in the training including the National Sports Federation (NSF).
Renowned athletics coach O M Nambiar, who nurtured Indian athletics great P T Usha, passed away in Kozhikode on Thursday due to age-related illness. He was 89.
The Sports Ministry on Thursday said it has started a "thorough review" of India's dismal outing at the Rio Olympics and is also seeking feedback and suggestions from the athletes who competed in the quadrennial extravaganza. India finished with a disappointing two medals, through PV Sindhu's silver in badminton and Sakhsi Malik's bronze in wrestling, at the two-week sporting gala last month.
'We are trying passionately to protect those clean athletes who are going to Rio 2016'
The CWG will be important not only for Vinesh and Sakshi but also for Bajrang Punia, who has been a bit iffy about his attacking prowess
India went down fighting to Argentina 1-2 in the semi-finals of the Olympics women's hockey tournament in Tokyo on Wednesday.
'Experience is important. But if you work hard, you can improve faster. There is a three-month gap now and we will look to train harder and improve our fitness for Olympics' 'I think we need to cut down simple errors on court and not give away easy points. We have got to work hard each day without thinking about the results, as giving our best is in our hands'
Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar finished a lowly 26th and 32nd respectively in the men's 10 metres Air Rifle event of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday
As Japan expands state of emergency, calls grow to cancel Games. Japan has repeatedly insisted it will hold the Games despite opinion polls showing a majority of respondents want them postponed again or cancelled.
Behind the scenes, sponsors who have pumped billions of dollars into the Tokyo Olympics have grown increasingly nervous about how the coronavirus outbreak will impact the tournament.
Brazil's athletes were not subject to dope tests for almost a month before the Rio Olympics, the country's sports ministry has said while refuting allegations it was a political decision to ensure the Games were not plunged further into crisis.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) dented any slim hopes that Russian athletes might have had of competing at the Rio Games in August by backing the IAAF's decision to uphold its ban on the country for systematic doping.
A sweeping reform package that changes how the scandal-hit governing body of world athletics operates was overwhelmingly passed at a special Congress on Saturday.
Sport and politics should not be mixed in an ideal world but in reality it can't happen in certain cases, feels champion shooter Abhinav Bindra amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of Uri terror attack.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
The outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus has forced the Indian women's hockey team to cancel its tour of China, leaving the federation with the difficult task of finding an opponent to compete with as part of its preparation for the Olympics. The Indian women's team was scheduled to travel to China from March 14 to 25. However, due to the fast-spreading disease, that has killed over 636 people so far and infected more than 30,000 people, it has been cancelled.
Although the change will have no immediate effect on current bans on the Russian federations for athletics, weightlifting and paralympics, it opens the door for their return, following the reinstatement of the Russian Olympic Committee after the country was banned from this year's Winter Games in South Korea.
Despite widespread speculation that FIFA will vote to switch the dates of the 2022 World Cup on Friday, soccer's world governing body will probably delay making a decision and instead set up a task force to analyse the huge implications of moving the tournament from the searing heat of the Middle East summer.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The athletes were unable to enter Australia due to government restrictions on foreign nationals travelling from China.
Russia's weightlifters face being banned from the Rio Olympics, subject to confirmation by the International Olympic Committee, in another collective doping punishment to hit the country.
The ranges are bursting at the seams with young talent and Indian shooting's present state could be a harbinger of hope for a perfect future.
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
India have finished as the best-performing nation in the sport in the 1990, 2002, and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Country's largest paramilitary force CRPF has decided to appoint Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu as it's brand ambassador and bestow the honorary rank of Commandant on the ace badminton player. Official sources said the force has moved a formal proposal in this regard to the Union Home Ministry and after getting required sanctions, Sindhu will be honoured and presented the rank badges and camouflage combat fatigues of the CRPF at a ceremonial event.
This year Olympic Games could feature an athletics programme without two of the sport's most powerful nations -- Russia and Kenya -- while a third, Ethiopia, is under immense pressure to show it has adequate anti-doping measures.
The Indian shooters fired a blank at the Rio 2016 Olympics with Abhinav Bindra missing the medal by a whisker but the 2008 Beijing Olympic champion said he has high hopes for Tokyo.
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.
Rashid Khan is ranked inside top 60 in the Olympic Golf Qualification Rankings -- the cut-off for Olympics -- but with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down all events globally, including India, he too has been confined to home.
FIFA has reportedly raised objections of holding the 2022 Qatar World Cup in the summer in light of health risks and speculations are that the tournament would be held in winter.
Yet the warrior-like instincts kicked in and we were all reminded that Nadal, as long as he is standing, remains a physical and psychological force of nature on a tennis court.
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