Doping: Disgraced Belarus shot putter Nadezhda Ostapchuk was yesterday handed a one-year ban after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid that cost her Olympic gold. The sentence was lenient because Ostapchuk was completetly in the dark that she had doped. Alexander Vanhadlo, the head of Belarus’s anti-doping agency, said that Ostapchuk’s coach, Alexander Yefimov, was the only person responsible for the violation of the doping code and was banned for four years.

Rugby Union: Nathan Sharpe will become the injury-hit Wallabies’ fourth captain this year while Kurtley Beale has been dropped for their Rugby Championship clash with Argentina on Saturday. Australia came from behind in Perth at the weekend to beat the Springboks 26-19 but it came at a cost with skipper Will Genia badly injuring his knee, which will keep him out for a prolonged period. With first-choice captain James Horwill also sidelined, along with his successor David Pocock, Sharpe takes control for the showdown with the Pumas on the Gold Coast, the first Test to be played at the popular tourist destination.

Tennis: Russian Davis Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev yesterday announced changes in his squad to play in the Davis Cup World Group play-offs with hosts Brazil this weekend. Tarpishchev said that Teimuraz Gabashvili, who is currently 158th in the ATP rankings, and Stanislav Vovk, 482nd, will replace Evgeny Donskoy and Andrey Kuznetsov in the squad, which will play at the clay courts of Harmonia Tenis Clube in Sao Jose do Rio Preto. Moscow-born American Alex Bogomolov, who was given the green light to play for Russia in Davis Cup matches, will spearhead the team in the match with Brazil.

Golf: Golf’s man-of-the-moment Rory McIlroy will tee-up alongside three-times winner Adam Scott at November’s $6 million Singapore Open, organisers said yesterday. The Northern Irish world no.1 played the Barclays-sponsored event once before in 2008, a year after turning professional, finishing fourth on that occasion. Twice a major winner, McIlroy cemented his position as the world’s top golfer by winning the BMW Championship on Sunday for his third victory in four outings on the US PGA Tour.

Athletics: UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee is expected to resign from his position after the Team GB track and field squad failed to meet the Dutchman’s London Olympics medal target. The announce-ment would bring to an end what has been widely regarded as a hugely successful Olympic and Paralympic era for Great Britain. Although Van Commenee’s contract is thought to expire at the end of December, he had been quoted as saying before the Games that he would stand down if the team could not achieve his target of eight medals in London. GB won six track and field medals at the Games, including four golds.

Boxing: The management of German boxer Manuel Charr has lodged a protest against his fourth-round technical knock-out defeat to world WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in Moscow on Saturday. The 27-year-old was stopped after a cut opened over his right eye, but Charr’s management are protesting to the WBC on a technicality because the ring doctor treated the German in Klitschko’s red corner, not Charr’s blue corner. The protest has only a slim chance of being successful as Thomas Puetz, president of Germany’s Pro-fessional Boxers Federation, has already said there was no rule violation after the fight.

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