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.
Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid favoured sportspersons signing the "whereabout" clause of anti-doping agency WADA as this would reduce chances of corrupt practices in the game.
The payment of Kremlin grants will cease the month after anti-doping authorities find an athlete, coach or sports specialist guilty of involvement in the use of performance- enhancing drugs, Putin's decree said.
A German TV documentary alleging widespread doping and cover-ups among Russian track and field competitors contains 'a pack of lies', the country's athletics federation president said.
Australia has backed a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommendation that Russia be banned from international athletics, including the 2016 Olympics, after a report alleged systemic state-backed cheating.
Rajesh Karkera journeys through verdant countryside to the little-explored pristine Lonar lake in eastern Maharashtra.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
The IOC said it had not detected any significant abuse of clenbuterol after finding "very low levels" of the banned substance during re-testing of samples from the Beijing Olympics.
World Athletics, the sport's governing body, limited the number of Russians eligible to compete internationally this year to 10 in response to doping offences by senior staff at Russia's suspended athletics federation.
Athletes arriving in Tokyo for next year's Olympic Games, postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be exempt from the 14-day isolation period Japan has imposed on anyone arriving from overseas to help stop the virus spreading.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, on Monday, said bringing the BCCI under the ambit of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) is one of his biggest achievements since assuming his new office three months ago.
Leading sports powerbrokers gathered at the International Olympic Committee's headquarters on Tuesday morning to discuss further crackdowns on drug cheats before the Rio Games.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Dog-meat tweeting judge in Sun doping case had doubtful impartiality
Kenyans convicted of doping offences will face at least three years in prison and heavy fines under a draft law to be submitted to parliament, the chairman of a government-backed anti-doping task force.
Star India wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt will have to wait to know whether his bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympics is upgraded to silver till the time his sample is cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Reports emerged that the grappler's bronze would be upgraded to silver after second-place finisher of the London Games -- late Besik Kudukhov of Russia -- was stripped off his medal for failing a dope test.
The former head of Russian athletics Valentin Balakhnichev, the country's former head coach Aleksey Melnikov, and Papa Massata Diack, the son of the former IAAF President Lamine Diack, have all been banned from the sport for life over corruption charges.
The late legend would have turned 90 today.
The Kremlin's spokesman said on Wednesday that a failed drug test by Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova should not be "projected onto" the whole of Russian sport.
The expulsion, which would have to be approved by the World Athletics Congress, would lead to Russian athletes being sidelined from international competitions, including those who had previously been authorised to compete as neutrals.
The statement added that the suspension bars the athlete from "participating in any competition or activity in athletics prior to a final decision at a hearing conducted under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct".
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Russia continues to violate anti-doping rules despite its suspension from international track and field and orders from world athletics' governing body, the IAAF, to eradicate cheating, Germany's ARD broadcaster said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kusal Perera has had all anti-doping charges brought against him dropped by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Qatar-based laboratory that conducted the test withdrew its initial finding.
Why didn't the BCCI CEO mention Pakistan in his letter?
Russia was banned from taking part in or hosting world championships, including the World Cup as part of doping sanctions imposed by WADA.
Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt said he hopes American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson can "refocus" and get back on the track after she completes a one-month ban following a positive test for cannabis.
Sensational media reports of widespread blood doping in world athletics has also pointed the finger of suspicion at Indian athletes, though experts in the country are not very clear about how it could have happened.
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.
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.
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.
'We are trying passionately to protect those clean athletes who are going to Rio 2016'
Swimming's world body FINA promised on Wednesday to investigate "as a matter of utmost urgency" new allegations of Russian doping if they could be substantiated by evidence.
The IOC seems reluctant to ban the entire Russian team from next month's Olympic Games, despite mounting concern over doping violations, the co-author of the report that led to Russia's ban from track and field events said on Wednesday.
India's former cricket skipper Anil Kumble has been nominated to the athletes' committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The leg spinner, who retired last month as the third highest Test wicket-taker with 619 wickets, has been included in the list announced on the WADA website (www.wada-ama.org).
On Wednesday, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) wrote to the sports ministry to comply with the High Court order.
The World Anti-Doping Agency expressed its frustration after plans to launch an ''extraordinary'' audit into allegations that Jamaica's athletes were rarely drug-tested before the London 2012 Games were pushed back until 2014.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
The anti-doping laboratory that will test athletes during this year's Olympic Games will be fully WADA compliant by this month's deadline, Rio organising committee president Carlos Nuzman said on Thursday.
Russia's new athletics head said his priority was to ensure Russian sportsmen and women compete at the 2016 Olympics as the sport tries to tackle rampant doping. "This is not an easy time for Russia, it is not an easy time for athletics," said Dmitry Shlyakhtin, who was elected as the new president of the Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) on Saturday. "Going to the Olympic Games is task number one."
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