Russia’s doping crisis continued on Wednesday as the All-Russia Athletic Federation banned six athletes for failing tests.
A federation statement listed those banned, including former European championship 3,000m steeplechase silver medalist Lyubov Kharlamova, who has been suspended for two years.
Russia saw its ban from international track and field competition upheld on Monday, after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruled that it had not made sufficient progress in its anti-doping fight to merit reinstatement.
Russia was last year accused in a World Anti-Doping Agency report of widespread state-sponsored doping.
Its athletics team was barred from last summer’s Rio Olympics and is also to miss the IAAF World Championships that begin in London today.
However, 19 Russian athletes have been granted permission by the IAAF to compete as neutrals after meeting the exceptional eligibility criteria, essentially demonstrating that they have completed transparent anti-doping testing.
Other athletes banned on Wednesday included triple jumper Viktoria Gurova was handed a two-year ban for failing a retest of a sample from the 2012 London Olympics, where she had originally finished eighth.
Race walker Zilya Garipova and long-distance runner Yulia Smirnova were given one-year and four-year suspensions respectively for testing positive for the same substance as Gurova.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),
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