OLYMPICS:

 

Russia's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a four-year ban from all major sporting events, will be decided later today (Thursday).

 

Russia has been under suspension from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015, though the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reinstated the country in 2018 - before WADA's executive committee declared Russia's Anti-Doping Agency non-compliant and imposed a blanket ban on all major sporting events for the European nation.

 

If the ban is upheld by CAS, there would be no Russian team at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022 and the FIFA Men's World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

 

 

CYCLING:

 

The International Cycling Union (UCI) have handed a four-year ban to Colombian you rider Fabian Puerta, after he tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

 

The 29 year-old who won the keirin world title in March 2018, tested positive for boldenone in an out-of-competition test in June that same year and was suspended two months later.

 

Puerta can still appeal against the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

 

Meanwhile, four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome will make his debut for new team Israel Start-Up Nation at the Vuelta San Juan in Argentina in January 2021.

 

 

FORMULA ONE:

 

Sao Paulo's Interlagos Circuit has signed a five-year deal to host the Brazilian Grand Prix until the year 2025.

 

The official name of the race will be the *San Paulo Grand Prix* - which reflects the City's investment in the event, and the latest development signals the end of plans backed by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to move the Grand Prix to a new Circuit in Rio de Janeiro.

 

The Interlagos Circuit first hosted the  Brazilian Grand Prix in 1972, then the event was moved to Jacarepagua in Rio from 1981-1989, before being brought back to Interlagos on a shorter version of the track since the year 1990.