• Weightlifter Marcus Topf has been sanctioned with a two year ban after returning an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for higenamine, the Australian anti-doping organisation (ÖADR) announced. His ban will run from the day of his in-competition sample on 5 May to 4 May 2020. Click here to download a media statement.

• Masters swimmer Marco Bolzan has been sanctioned with a six month ban, Italy’s national anti-doping organisation, NADO Italia, announced. Bolzan was provisionally suspended in June, after returning an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for tuaminoheptane. Distance runner Giovanna Mulloni has also been sanctioned with a one year ban; bodybuilder Laura Valletta has been sanctioned with a four year ban; and rugby union player Salvatore Letizia, who plays for Serie C club Nissa Rugby, has been sanctioned with a four month ban after testing positive for cannabis in April.

• Spain’s Agency for Health Protection in Sport (AEPSAD) is investigating Valencia’s Russian midfielder Denis Cheryshev over comments made by his father which suggested he had received injections of growth hormone in the run up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, reports The Daily Telegraph. Dmitri Cheryshev told Russian magazine Sport Weekend that his son had received injections of ‘growth hormones, growth factors’ in a July 2017 interview. As reported by The Sports Integrity Initiative, Cheryshev was not tested by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) during 2017.

• A Malaysian weightlifter has returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for a prohibited substance at a screening in conjunction with the 19th Malaysia Games (Summa), reports Bernama news agency. It is understood that the athlete concerned – who has not been named – has been prohibited from taking part in the 19th Sukma, which will take place in Perak from 12-22 September.

• The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced that Mongolian Orkhon Purevdorj, who took wrestling gold at the 2018 Jakarta Palembang Asian Games, has been disqualified for an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) involving stanozolol.

• An 11th person has been arrested as part of Operation Inca, an investigation into race-fixing in the harness racing industry, New Zealand Police announced on Sunday. A number of properties have been raided due to a long-running investigation by the National Organised Crime Group, following information supplied by New Zealand’s Racing Integrity Unit (RIU).

• The Fiji Football Association (FFA) is investigating allegations that Tavua fixed its Inkk Mobile Battle of the Giants (BOG) tournament match against Labasa earlier this month, reports the Fiji Times. It is understood that the allegations were made by another club, Lautoka, after Tavua lost 5-0, needing Lautoka needing four goals in order to qualify for the semi-finals of the BOG tournament. Following its 5-0 victory over Tavua, Labasa qualified for the semi-finals over Lautoka on goal difference.

• Portuguese football club Benfica has issued a series of statements refuting charges of corruption levied by the Public Prosecutor (DIAP) for the District of Lisbon. ‘In the indictment, there is no fact, not even evidence, that allows the attribution to Benfica SAD of the crimes described’, read a statement from the club’s President, Luís Filipe Vieira. An earlier statement on case No. 6421 of the 9th Section of the DIAP of Lisbon labelled the charges against the club as ‘absurd and unjustified’. It is understood that the Portuguese football federation (FPF) has launched its own investigation.

• The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) has issued British rider Jessica Sternberg with a 17 month ban, after her horse, Shiners Chic, tested positive for stanozolol. The FEI also announced that Dolly Palo Blanco has returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for Diisopropylamine. The horse and the person responsible, Alvaro Enrique Tejada Arriola, have been provisionally suspended.

• The Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee has extended the provisional suspension applicable to Kwesi Nyantakyi, President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), for 45 days. Nyantakyi was filmed accepting money in a documentary which alleged that match-fixing was taking place in Ghana. He resigned as President of the GFA on 8 June, and issued a detailed statement arguing that he was set up by the documentary makers.