• The International Cycling Union (UCI) has suspended Continental Team Pishgaman Cycling for a period of 30 days from 6th March to 6th April 2017. The UCI said that the suspension was due to a violation of Article 7.12.1 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR), which allows the UCI to suspend a team if two or more members of a cycling team receive notice of an adverse analytical finding (AAF) in a 12-month period. The UCI’s provisional suspensions lists Rahim Emami as reporting an AAF for an anabolic androgenic steroid on 18 October 2016; and Naser Rezavi was sanctioned with a four-year ban after testing positive for the same substance on 11 December 2015.

• A study published in the European Neuropsyhcopharmology Journal has found that modafinil and methylphenidate enhanced chess performance in chess, compared to a placebo. However the authors of the study warned that ‘under time constraints, more reflective decision making may not improve’ and that under those conditions, the substances could even have ‘detrimental effects on complex task performance’.

• The Chairman of the Board of Germany’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), Andrea Gotzmann, has been appointed to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Working Group on WADA Governance Matters. The membership of WADA’s Working Groups, formed at its Foundation Board meeting at Glasgow in November last year, is listed here.

• The All-Russian Bandy Federation has disqualified two coaches and sanctioned a number of players, after all 20 goals in a match (video here) which ended 11-9 were ‘own goals’. The Federation initially decided to suspend the coaches of both Baikal-Energiya and Vodnik for two and a half years, as well as fine both clubs Rub300,000 (€4,850). It later issued sanctions to a number of players and club officials, as well as a formal waning to both clubs. It is understood that Vodnik began scoring own goals in order to meet an easier team in the next round of the competition, and that Baikal-Energiya joined in for fun. The match will be replayed today.