Volleyball: Russian player Alexander Markin was cleared to compete at the Rio Olympics if selected after the International Volleyball Federation rescinded a ban imposed over a positive doping test for meldonium. Meldonium was added to the WADA list of banned substances on January 1. However, on April 13 WADA said it was unable to establish how quickly meldonium cleared the human body. Hence, WADA deemed that the “the presence of less than one microgram of meldonium” in samples provided by athletes before March 1 was acceptable.

Equestrian: Australian show jumper Scott Keach will not be alone in competing in his second Olympics in Rio later this year but it is unlikely anyone else in the Athletes’ Village will have waited so long for another taste of the Games. Keach was named in Australia’s team for the Aug. 5-21 Olympics alongside Edwina Tops-Alexander this week, his only previous Olympic experience having come at the 1988 Games.

Tennis: Women’s world number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Madrid Open because of flu, the organisers said yesterday. “Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from Madrid because I’ve been battling the flu and I’m not at 100 per cent. I look forward to returning soon,” Williams said in a statement. Agnieszka Radwanska is now the top seed at the tournament starting today.

Basket, NBA: It took nearly 60 years, but Atlanta Hawks finally found a way to beat Boston Celtics in the play-offs. Atlanta had not won a post-season series against Boston since 1958, the year they won their lone NBA title. The Hawks had also lost 10 straight play-off games in Boston dating back to 1988 entering Thursday, including Games 3 and 4 last weekend. In Game 6, the Hawks used the lessons from those losses to come away with a 104-92 victory, eliminating the Celtics on their home court. Atlanta face Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round.