Despite never testing positive for any performance enhancing drug Pole Vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva (pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin) will along with 67 other Russian track and field athletes be banned from taking part in the Rio Olympics

(Photo: Creative Commons)

Athletics

Yelena Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic pole vault champion, has suffered another blow in her attempts to compete in Rio after athletics’  world governing body rejected her appeal along with 67 other Russian athletes to line up as neutrals in Brazil.

Russia was suspended from track and field events by the International Association of Athletics Federations,  known as the IAAF,  back in November 2015.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeal by 68 Russian track and field athletes seeking to overturn the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.

British Athletics has confirmed that Jama Aden, the Somali coach who was arrested by Spanish police on doping charges, no longer works with Mo Farah even though he was “an unofficial facilitator” for Farah when he trained in Ethiopia in 2015.

Aden, whose Ethiopian protégé Genzebe Dibaba is the 1500m world record holder, was charged with having administered athletes with banned substances following dawn raids on several houses in the Catalonian town of Sabadell which were occupied by his training group.

Boxing

Amir Khan has said he would be willing to “put friendship aside” and fight Conor McGregor in the UFC. The 29-year-old who lost to Saul Alvarez in May, said he had enough time left in his career to train in mixed martial arts.

McGregor was unbeaten in six years before losing to Nate Diaz at UFC 196. “McGregor is a massive name in MMA and I’ m a big name in boxing, so, globally, I think it would be a massive fight, ” said Khan.

Khan, a financial stakeholder in Indian MMA promotion Super Fight League, later told his Twitter followers that he had “never backed away from any fight”.

Retired boxer Floyd Mayweather was rumoured to be facing an MMA fighter, possibly McGregor, but Khan reckoned that was a “publicity stunt”. “don’t think Mayweather would want to fight under MMA rules,” said Khan.

However, he insisted he would be happy to switch sports, “I’ve been fighting all my life, so, for me, I don’t think it’ d be a problem for me to learn and switch over to the sport.”

Cricket

Pakistan Captain Misbah-ul-Haq became the oldest player to score a test century for 42 years when he reached three figures against England at Lord’ s and celebrated by performing an impressive series of press-ups.

The 42-year-old’s achievement was all the more impressive as this was also his first test at the home of cricket. Not since England’ s patsy Hendren made a century against Australia aged 45 at Manchester’ s old Trafford ground back in 1934 had an older player scored a test hundred.

Remarkably, this was also Misbah’s first test anywhere in England, with selection decisions having kept him out of previous tours. At the age of 42 years and 47 days, Misbah became the sixth-oldest man to make a century in tests.

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza is hopeful that England will not postpone or cancel their scheduled tour of Bangladesh later this year over security concerns. The 32-year-old fast bowler said that his job as skipper was to ensure that his players prepare well for the series while the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) handled the off-field situation with their counterparts in England.

Following the recent terror attack in an upscale restaurant in the capital city of Dhaka, England limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan had expressed his concerns over the security of his players should England go ahead with the tour as planned.

While no official word has been made by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) regarding the issue, Mortaza is hopeful that England doesn’t follow the example of their Ashes rivals Australia in calling off a tour to the Asian country.