Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Lance Armstrong's promise to come clean about doping is "a little late", the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Thursday, accusing the disgraced cyclist of trying to use events to "gain advantage".
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) records leaked by hackers raised a lot of questions with healthy athletes seemingly taking banned substances, TASS news agency reported.
The Board of Control for Cricket India's Committee of Administrators will meet in Mumbai on November 3 to chalk out a plan to deal with mounting pressure from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), which wants Indian cricketers under its ambit.
Judo's governing body said that athletes were not obliged to take unscheduled drug tests when training in France in June and that those who refused, including Kosovo's gold medallist Majlinda Kelmendi, subsequently tested negative the next week.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Tuesday said that the government will provide all support to help dope-cleared wrestler Narsingh Yadav represent the country at the forthcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Five-times Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has criticised the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for not doing enough to make her aware that meldonium had been added to the list of banned substances last year.
The International Cricket Council will conduct random dope tests during the World Twenty20 Championship in India, which is a regular practice in all ICC events, Tournament Director M V Sridhar said on Thursday. "The random dope tests have been a part of ICC events for a long time. Random dope tests are performed at all ICC events and it is not a new phenomenon," Tournament Director M V Sridhar told PTI. Sridhar clarified that a series of drug scandals that have recently rocked the sporting world, including tennis star Maria Sharapova's revelation, has not prompted the ICC to take this step as dope tests have been in practice since 2011. "I have never said that it is being done because of drug test failures as this has been a practice for a long time," Sridhar insisted. "ICC events have had dope tests since 2011. They (other sports) have their own anti doping agency which performs as ICC is not part of WADA and cricketers have not signed any whereabouts clause. "For the record, ICC had performed random dope tests at 2011 World Cup, T20 editions in 2012 and 2014. There are times when these dope tests are done during training sessions," Sridhar added.
The man tasked with eliminating drug cheats says criminal gangs now control a quarter of all world professional sport.
Former 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell was banned for 18 months by a Jamaican anti-doping disciplinary panel on Thursday after he tested positive for a banned substance last year.
National Anti-Doping Agency Director General Navin Agarwal says all the Rio Olympics-bound sportspersons have undergone testing for banned substances and are dope-free. He, however, conceded that there were issues regarding testing of a few Rio-bound sportspersons as they were not available at the 'whereabouts' provided by them as mandated under the Anti-Doping Administration Management System (ADAMS) of the World Anti-Doping Agency, but NADA was able to get their testing done later on.
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.
Beijing Olympics 100 metres hurdles champion Dawn Harper-Nelson has been banned for three months after she tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that WADA has violated the Olympic Charter in banning Russia and hence they have a ground to appeal.
Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt said on Saturday that controversy over Jamaica's anti-doping programme is scaring off potential sponsors and costing him money.
Tennis is going through 'tricky' times amid the swirling 'rumours' of doping and betting, concedes Novak Djokovic but the World No.1 says he would not question the sport's integrity till the time concrete evidence is presented to prove wrongdoing.
The situation of Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova is "bad" after she tested positive for the banned substance meldonium and she may never play again, R-Sport news agency quoted Shamil Tarpishchev, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation, as saying.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
The two Russia national rugby sevens players suspended from all competition for taking the banned substance meldonium are Alexey Mikhaltsov and Alena Mikhaltsov, the sport's governing body, World Rugby, said on Saturday.
The International Olympic Committee's Ethics Commission recommended the provisional suspension of Lamine Diack as an honorary member of the IOC on Monday.
Simona Halep has been banned until October 2026 for two separate anti-doping rule violations
Mirabai Chanu was the historic success story of Indian weightlifting in a blemish-free 2017 in which the sport managed to stay clear of the dope scandals that have destroyed its credibility in the past.
The World Kabaddi League, on Tuesday, announced the list of 23 players who committed anti-doping rule violations, either before the draft or during and also in out of competition tests. Eleven players were found to have violated anti-doping regulations in the time since the start of the inaugural Wave WKL, according to the organisers.
British Olympic 4x100m relay silver medallist Chijindu Ujah's B-sample has also confirmed an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) and his case will be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Tuesday.
Spaniard Marta Dominguez Marta Dominguez has been stripped of her 2009 steeplechase world title and banned for three years due to anomalies in her biological passport that pointed to doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Damaging wind gusts, a fresh doping controversy and the robbery of a visiting government minister presented the Rio Games with a perfect storm of problems on Sunday, forcing organisers to scramble to keep the world's biggest sporting event rolling on.
Five-time boxing World champion M C Mary Kom on Saturday said it is very disappointing that India ranks number 3 in doping and urged the government and Sports Authority of India (SAI) to do more to curb the menace.
Russian steeplechaser Yulia Zaripova has been banned for two and a half years for doping offences, the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA said (www.rusada.ru) on Friday.
TUEs are issued by sports federations and national anti-doping organizations to allow athletes to take certain banned substances for verified medical needs.
The 29-year-old former French Open finalist failed the out-of-competition test in February after a urine sample was found to contain letrozole - a substance used in the treatment of breast cancer which is also on the banned drug list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
National Sports Federations and State Olympic Associations have been asked to collect feedback from the stakeholders such as athletes, coaches, support staff, central and state government ministries, match officials and sports administrators on how and when training should resume. The lockdown has been extended till May 17.
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.
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, who had pulled out of two top events -- FBK Games in the Netherlands and Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland -- due to a muscle strain he sustained last month, has started training but is yet to recover fully.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Cypriot weightlifter Antonis Martasidis and an unnamed Greek competitor have tested positive for banned substances and have been expelled from the Rio Olympics, their teams said on Friday.
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.
Simona Halep is unsure if she will play again if the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) does not uphold her appeal against a four-year doping suspension, the Romanian former world number one has said.
Russia has lost its appeal against its ban from next month's Rio Paralympics because of a state-sponsored doping programme, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), sports highest tribunal, said on Tuesday. The decision to exclude Russia's entire Paralympics team, initially made on Aug. 7 by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), means at least 250 Russian competitors are set to miss the Sept. 7-18 event.