The International Olympic Committee said yesterday it will study “legal options” before deciding whether to ban Russia from the Rio Games over its state-run doping programme.

Napoli have cooled talks of Gonzalo Higuain’s reported move to Juventus after admitting no club wants to pay the 94.7mn euros ($105mn) buyout clause in the Argentine star’s contract.

The Al Sadd football first team continued its training in Kaprun on Monday with morning and evening sessions.

Manchester United are set to make an official bid for Paul Pogba today with club officials meeting the Juventus directors Giuseppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici as well as the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, to discuss the deal.

Australian top seed Samantha Stosur, defending Washington Open champion Sloane Stephens and German teen star Alexander Zverev are setting aside Zika virus fears to compete at the Rio Olympics.

Oksana Chusovitina is training for a record-breaking seventh Olympic Games that will see the Uzbek star become the oldest woman gymnast to compete at the age of 41.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has called on FIFA to investigate Russia’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko, a member of the football world body’s executive, over drug failures in football.

Overdrive Racing has called in its heavyweight drivers in a bid to give Toyota a first ever victory in Baja Spain Aragon, round five of this year’s FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

With just 16 days to go for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) has announced that three of Qatar’s leading companies have signed up as National Partners.

South African Steve Elworthy will head up the organisation of the 2019 Cricket World Cup being hosted in England and Wales after the former international cricketer was appointed managing director yesterday.

India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane believes the team’s batsmen need to be patient and should take responsibility to score big runs on slow tracks when they come up against hosts West Indies in the first Test cricket match starting here from tomorrow.

England coach Trevor Bayliss has said it’s possible the team could field two specialist spinners at home after Yorkshire leg-break bowler Adil Rashid was called into the squad for the second Test against Pakistan.