• Police in Cagliari, Italy, have arrested two people and placed five under investigation following the seizure of over 600 vials of anabolic steroids and other doping substances, reports the Italian press association (ANSA). The two arrested have reportedly been charged with trafficking and distributing performance enhancing substances.

• Three people unaffiliated to a sporting federation have been sanctioned with bans for anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs), Italy’s anti-doping agency (NADO Italia) announced. Giacomo Cocchiarella has been sanctioned with a four year ban, as has Monica Di Profio, who is understood to be a bodybuilder. Leonardo Cerritelli, also understood to be a bodybuilder, has been sanctioned with a two year ban.

• The Iranian handball federation (IRHF) has dismissed claims that betting related corruption played a part in the fixing of a match between Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan and Farazbam Dehdasht Khaiez during the last round of the Premier League’s Group B, reports the Tehran Times. Foolad Mobarakeh had already qualified for the next round and Farazbam needed a draw. The match ended 24-24 and accusations followed that players had moved out of the way of the ball and had intentionally thrown it out of play. Following a complaint from Zoghal Sang, which was also in the running to qualify for the next round, the IRHF suspended two players and allowed Zoghal Sang to also qualify for the next round.

• Russia is launching a new Geographic Information System (GIS) based digital system to monitor the involvement of its citizens in sport, its Ministry of Sport announced. The ‘Physical Culture and Sports’ project (GIS FKiS) will allow the State to receive data on participation in sport, as part of its aim to increase participation in sport to 70% of the population by 2030. The monitoring system will be developed alongside GosTech (ГосТех), designed to transfer all Russian State departments onto a single online IT platform. GosTech will allow Russian State departments to communicate with businesses and citizens directly, rather than through announcements made via their internet sites.

• The formula for the financing of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was discussed at the second meeting of the seventh session of the Conference of Parties to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport, which took place from 4-6 February in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting was hosted by Senegal’s Ministry of Sport and was attended in person by Russia’s Minister of Sport, Oleg Matytsin (Олега Матыцина). The meeting was preceded by a meeting of Sports Ministers from the Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS), at which Matytsin gave an address and offered a Russian vaccine against Covid-19 for use by African athletes.