Russia has escaped punishment for failing to meet a December 31 deadline for providing access to the Moscow laboratory at the heart of its state-run doping programme, the World Anti-Doping Agency has confirmed.

16 National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs), including Sport Ireland, have called on the World Anti-Doping Organisation (WADA) to take a firm stance against Russia after it missed the deadline to hand over data from its anti-doping laboratory in Moscow.

A global event on Russian soil, and the home team can’t stop winning. Sports fans have seen this story before, and it had a bitter ending.

The IRFU will continue to assess the recruitment of players with doping convictions on a case-by-case basis in the wake of the controversy sparked by Munster’s signing of Gerbrandt Grobler last summer.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has signed a one-year agreement to provide advice and training to its Kenyan counterpart, the British agency has confirmed.

Twelve weeks from today soccer’s World Cup begins in Russia. To suggest the event is not under a cloud of suspicion is an understatement.

Swiss manufacturer Berlinger is halting production of its widely-used doping control kits and withdrawing from the industry after the integrity of its sample bottles was called into question.

West Ham have been fined £30,000 by the Football Association after admitting to a whereabouts breach of anti-doping regulations.

A UK doctor prescribed banned performance-enhancing drugs and claimed to have given similar treatments to other elite sports athletes, medical watchdogs heard today.

Alexander Krushelnitsky has been stripped of the mixed doubles curling bronze medal won at the Winter Olympics after admitting to using meldonium, the Court of Arbitration for Sport's anti-doping division has announced.

Alexander Krushelnitsky's hearing following a positive test for meldonium will be held in Pyeongchang on Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport's anti-doping division has announced.

A further 15 Russian athletes have appealed against their exclusion from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The IOC reiterated that the successful appeals do not mean the 28 Russians will be able to compete at this month's Games.

The head of Irish anti-doping has warned GAA players that ignorance is no longer an acceptable excuse when it comes to athletes who test positive due to the use of supplements.

Michelle de Bruin would get considerably less  than a four-year ban today, writes Jack Anderson.

FIFA has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency for priority status when it starts the forensic analysis of stored samples from Russian athletes not involved in the Winter Olympics in January.

The prevalence of doping in sport has been once again to the fore in recent weeks, writes Jack Anderson.

Justin Gatlin has said he was "shocked and surprised" when he learned that his coach Dennis Mitchell allegedly offered to supply performance-enhancing drugs.

The Kremlin needs to analyse the International Olympic Committee’s ruling banning Russia and its sports officials from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games before making any decisions regarding the country’s participation, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin has said.

There will be no Russian anthems, flags or uniforms at February's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the country was banned for state-sponsored doping.

Olympic chiefs look likely to ban Russia from February's Winter Games in Pyeongchang over systematic doping when they meet today.

Roselyne Bachelot, the former Minister for Health and Sport, alleged that when Nadal was sidelined by a knee injury for seven months in 2012 it was actually because he had tested positive for a banned substance.

Russia's anti-doping body remains non-compliant with the international code, putting more pressure on the International Olympic Committee to ban the country from next year's Winter Games in PyeongChang.

President Vladimir Putin has suggested that a flurry of Russian sports doping allegations could be an American attempt to interfere in next year’s Russian presidential election.

The World Olympians Association (WOA) has distanced itself from comments made by its chief executive Mike Miller on Tuesday when he suggested athletes could be fitted with microchips to tackle doping.

Sanchez has been withdrawn from the Vuelta a Espana and suspended by BMC Racing.

Former world number five Sara Errani has been banned for two months after failing an anti-doping test, the International Tennis Federation has announced.

A documentary about Russia’s state-sponsored doping programme is likely to reopen the debate about the country’s right to compete internationally and explain why it is so reluctant to say sorry.

The revelations around the Brendan O’Sullivan ‘anti-doping’ affair have led to much comment and debate far beyond the GAA field, writes Sean Kelly. 

Four more Russian athletes have been found guilty of doping at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

A “most unusual” case in which a greyhound was doped “by an unidentified person” has been referred to gardaí by the Irish Greyhound Board.

A report from the IPC taskforce working with the Russian Paralympic Committee said that there had been "little material progress to date".

Athletics' world governing body the IAAF has laid out new guidelines for Russian athletes who wish to take part in international competition this year.

The Latvian Skeleton Federation announced last week that it would boycott the event if it was held in Russia.

The McLaren report stated that Russian athletes said had "corrupted the London Olympic Games in 2012 on an unprecedented scale".

Retesting of anti-doping samples from the Beijing Games has exposed more drug cheats.

Sixteen more positive doping cases from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing have been confirmed, with all but one coming from Russia or a former Soviet republic.

Doha's demotion comes after "non-conformities" were found by WADA's expert group.

The IOC has been gradually working its way through a backlog of cases.

There was also an impressively long awkward silence.