A Board Member of New Zealand Greyhound Racing has been banned by the Racing Integrity Unit for 11 years after being convicted of doing a corrupt or improper act. David Scott pleaded guilty to the charges, having previously entered a not guilty plea, and resigned as a Board Member the governing authority. In a media statement the Greyhound Racing Board Chair said that the Board was ‘deeply disappointed that any member of our industry, let alone a Board member, has been involved in serious misconduct.’

A former professional tennis player has been fined AUD$1,000 (€682) after pleading guilty to match-fixing charges. Australian Nick Lindahl, the 2006 Australian Open Junior Boys’ Finalist, was charged in February alongside two other men with attempting to fix a September 2013 tennis match, as reported by The Sports Integrity Initiative. The case was heard at Burwood Court House, Sydney, where the maximum penalty for using or passing on ‘inside information’ for the purpose of betting, which Lindahl was accused of, is two years imprisonment.

The Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) has decided to maintain the provisional suspension of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, despite the recent clarification by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regarding meldonium’s inclusion on the Prohibited List. FINA said that Efimova would remain provisionally suspended until a hearing by the FINA Doping Panel. Efimova will therefore miss Russia’s Olympic trials, which started on 17 April. Efimova has previously been banned for 16 months following a doping offence in 2013.

The Chairman of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) Match-Fixing Enquiry Committee, Major (Rtd) Alfred P. Conteh, has reportedly told local news outlets that ’10 persons of interest’ are to be investigated over match-fixing allegations. In July 2014, 15 players and officials were suspended on match-fixing charges, which prompted a FIFA investigation and in March last year a FIFA delegation visited Sierra Leone to help the SLFA combat corruption and match-fixing. Since the suspensions the charges against five individuals have been dropped, reportedly due to the Committee having ‘critically looked into the allegations’, supported by evidence.

The former President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Sepp Blatter, has said that he would be willing to help the United States Department of Justice with their investigation into bribery and corruption at FIFA, and that he would be available to ‘defend FIFA’. In a panel discussion at Basel University, Blatter was accused by former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of knowing about corruption within FIFA, but that he chose to remain silent.

The suspended President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Michel Platini, is to have his appeal against a ban by FIFA heard on 29 April. According to AFP, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hear Platini’s appeal against FIFA’s six-year ban at the end of the month. Platini is reportedly hoping for the ban to be overturned before UEFA’s annual congress, which begins in Budapest, Hungary, on 3 May.