• The Ukrainian Youth and Sports Ministry has issued a decree banning national teams from taking part in sporting competitions organised in Russia. Igor Zhdanov, Ukraine’s Minister for Sport, also urged international sporting federations not to award Russia the rights to host sporting tournaments. “Aggressors and violators should be expelled from the arena of world sport”, he said in a statement. Ukraine failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, which takes place this summer.

• Luis Felipe Vieira, President of Benfica, has defended the Portuguese club against allegations of corruption, reports AFP. It is understood that the club’s Legal Director, Paulo Goncalves and four other people have been charged by prosecutors. In a statement, Vieira said that he would seek to take legal action over the allegations, which he claimed stemmed from a parody account connected to the club.

• The French boxing federation (FFB) has sanctioned Olympic heavyweight champion Tony Yoka with a one year ban for whereabouts failures, reports L’Equipe. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, athletes selected to be part of a Registered Testing Pool (RTP) are required to file their location for one hour each day three months in advance (although this can later be amended). If there are three instances where Doping Control Officer (DCO) cannot locate them at their stated location – or if they fail to correctly file whereabouts data – three times in one year, they face a ban.

• A 43 year old French amateur cyclist has been found guilty of attempted fraud and has been sentenced to 60 hours of community service, after a hidden motor was discovered in his bike, reports Cycling News. Cyril Fontayne was reportedly found guilty of technological fraud and was sanctioned by the French cycling federation (FFC) with a five year ban in December. The FFC confirmed that it was investigating the case in October last year.