Ex-British cycling doctor found guilty of doping charge

• Ex-Team Sky and British cycling boss guilty of doping offence

• IOC won't recognize Lukashenko's son as Olympic boss

• Olympic athletes to be given coronavirus jabs from China

March 12

GB Cycling doctor guilty of doping offence

Former Team Sky and Great Britain doctor Richard Freeman has been found guilty of ordering banned testosterone in 2011 "knowing or believing" it was to help dope an unnamed rider at a tribunal in the UK.

The tribunal found he had ordered Testogel with the knowledge "it was to be administered to an athlete to improve their athletic performance".

He had previously admitted 18 of 22 charges but denied the central charge regarding his intentions with the order. Both Team Sky and Team GB have been major forces in cycling in recent years.

Olympic athletes will get jab from China

Athletes who require COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo and Winter Olympics in Beijing will be given a jab purchased by the IOC from China. 

Newly re-elected IOC president, Thomas Bach, announced the deal on Thursday and said that his organization would foot the bill, and that distribution would take place through existing international agencies. 

The deal could potentially help the IOC avoid the thorny issue of whether young, healthy athletes should skip the vaccination queue.

March 9

IOC won't recognize Lukashenko's son as Olympic boss

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has refused to recognize Viktor Lukashenko as head of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee (NOC), after he was handpicked to replace his father, the country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, during an election last month.

The two Lukashenkos and a NOC board member, Dmitry Baskov, were suspended from all Olympic activity by the IOC in December, because they had "not appropriately protected the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination." Alexander Lukashenko had led the NOC since 1997.

Despite their suspensions, Viktor Lukashenko and Baskov, who is also in charge of the Belarusian ice hockey federation and has been accused of involvement in the death of an opposition activist, stood for re-election. Viktor Lukashenko became president, while Baskov remained on the board.

Noting "with great disappointment" that the NOC had "failed to fully address" its concerns, the IOC said that the suspensions would be extended until further notice. If unresolved, the situation could result in Belarusian athletes not being allowed to compete under their own flag at the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

March 5

Handball law modified again

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has modified its rules to state that accidental handball before a teammate scores is no longer punished, reversing a recent change, that has resulted in a number of controversial moments.

"As the interpretation of handball incidents has not always been consistent due to incorrect applications of the Law, the members confirmed that not every touch of a player's hand/arm with the ball is an offence," a statement released by the organization on Friday said.

"Accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence."

IFAB added that referees "should continue to use their judgment" on the position of a player's hands and arms when they are hit by the ball.

The changes come in to effect from July 1 but can also be introduced earlier.

Portugal added to F1 calendar

Portugal will fill a slot left vacant by Vietnam and be the third race of the Formula One season on May 2, the sport confirmed on Friday.

The first Portuguese Grand Prix for 25 years was held last year and the same circuit, in the Algarve, will be used again this time round. 

"We want to thank the promoter and the Portuguese Government for their hard work and dedication in getting us to this point," said Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali in a statement.

"We are confident and excited about our 2021 season, having shown last year that we could deliver 17 races safely and bring our millions of fans thrilling racing at a difficult time.
 

March 4

Bayern with one foot in Champions League quarterfinal

Bayern Munich took a huge step towards the quarterfinal of the Women's Champions League with a 6-1 first leg victory away at Kazakhstani side BIIK Kazygurt on Thursday morning.

Lineth Beerensteyn, Lea Schüller, Linda Dallmann (twice), Hanna Glas and Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir on her debut were all on target for Bayern, who racked up their 19th consecutive win in all competitions.

The return leg in Munich next week is now little more than a formality.

March 3

Wolfsburg on brink of Champions League last eight

The German women's football champions VfL Wolfsburg are once again on the brink of a place in the Champions League quarter-finals, winning their round of 16 first leg against Norwegian club Lillestrom SK 2-0 on Wednesday.

Both goals came from Germany veteran Alexandra Popp, in the 2nd and 59th minute. Shortly before the end, Wolfsburg were lucky that the Norwegian outsiders missed a great chance on the counterattack

Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, the second match in second match will take place in Gyor, Hungary, on March 10.

Tokyo Olympics makes late bid for gender equality

Tokyo Olympics CEO Toshiro Muto has announced that the 12 women will be added to the Games' executive board, which will increase in size from 33 to 45 as a result.

Seiko Hashimoto, the new president of the organising committee, was instrumenatl in the changes. She took charge in February after former president Yoshiro Mori was forced to resign after making derogatory comments about women. 

“Regarding the promotion of gender equality, we believe that it is necessary to work with a sense of speed and produce solid results in order to restore the trust in the organising committee,” Hashimoto said at the start of the meeting where the decision was rubberstamped.

The postponed Games are now set to begin on July 23, with the Paralympics following on August 24.

March 2

Grammozis replaces Christian Gross at Schalke

Schalke have appointed Dimitrios Grammozis as their new coach, the struggling Bundesliga club confirmed on Tuesday evening. 

Grammozis replaces the fired Christian Gross, becomes Schalke's fifth coach this season, following David Wagner, Manuel Baum, Huub Stevens and Gross. 

Grammozis, 42, has been given a contract until June 2022 and his first game is a crunch clash with relegation rivals Mainz. 

"I am very eager for this task," Grammozis said. "I will use the short time to the first league game to try to get as comprehensive a
picture as possible — and of course we want to start with a victory against Mainz."

Last-placed Schalke are nine points from safety with 11 matches left in the season.

Fredi Bobic to depart Frankfurt at season's end

Eintracht Frankfurt's head of sport, Fredi Bobic, is set to leave the club at the end of the season according to comments he made to German broadcaster ARD on Tuesday.

"I don't need to fool around. I have already stated the wish to leave the club in summer 2020 a year ago, before the coronavirus," he said.

Because of the global pandemic Bobic remained in place but Frankfurt did not confirm the former Germany striker would leave his position. Philip Holzer, advisory board chairman, said talks had taken place but were not "not settled and will next resume after the next advisory board meeting in mid-March."

Bobic's current contract runs to 2023 but for weeks there has been speculation that Bobic is Hertha Berlin's preferred candidate to succeed sacked sporting director Michael Preetz. Should Bobic leave, Frankfurt would be facing a major shakeup in its management team as it has already been announced that sporting director Bruno Hübner will be leaving the club in the summer. 

Kramer unveiled as new Bielefeld coach

The day after sacking Uwe Neuhaus, the man who got Arminia Bielefeld promoted last season, the club have moved to sign on Frank Kramer as his replacement.

Kramer, 48, has recently coached a number of Germany's youth teams and had short stints as head coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf (2015) and Greuther Fürth (2013-15). 

"Frank is a multi-faceted coach with a wealth of experience in the professional and youth sectors. We are convinced that with his professional and analytical qualities, he is the type of coach that fits the Arminia path and that we need for the next development steps," said sporting director Samir Arabi.

Bielefeld currently sit in 16th, the relegation playoff spot, and host Union Berlin on Sunday.

March 1

Arminia Bielefeld sack coach Uwe Neuhaus 

Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld have sacked head coach Uwe Neuhaus. Media reports said the decision had been taken at a joint meeting of the club's management and supervisory board on Monday. 

The move comes two days after the newly promoted club's 3-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, the latest setback in a run of five games in which Bielefeld had secured but a single point.  

Neuhaus led the club to promotion last season but Bielefeld's sporting director Samir Arabi said the decision was made to boost their survival chances.

"We feel the team has the quality to achieve our goal but given the current situation we decided we had to act now," Arabi said.

On Tuesday the club named 48-year-old Frank Kramer as Neuhaus' successor.
 

Formula 1 rejects Bahrain vaccine proposal

An offer from Bahrain to vaccinate all Formula 1 personnel in preseason has been turned down by the organization.

The Gulf State made the offer as part of its vaccination rollout but, with the majority of F1 teams based in the UK, the sport said it would prefer to wait for vaccinations from that country.

Stefano Domenicali, F1 president, said this earlier month: "The priority is the most vulnerable. We don't want to jump the line of vaccination."

Preseason testing starts in Bahrain later this month ahead of the opening race weekend on March 28.

Golfers offer support for Woods after crash

Tiger Woods received support from his fellow professsionals after his serious car crash last week.

Players wore red shirts and black pants in the final round of the World Golf Championships, and other events, over the weekend, the outfit Woods always wore during his final rounds.

"It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts," Woods tweeted on Sunday. "To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time."