London 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Asli Cakir Alptekin of Turkey "has agreed to give up" her 1,500m title and "serve an eight-year ban for blood doping." The Court of Arbitration for Sport said that it has "approved a settlement agreed to by Alptekin and the IAAF." CAS said that the IAAF charge that Alptekin manipulated her blood between July 29, 2010 and Oct. 17, 2012 "is upheld by default" (AP, 8/17). ... Plans by Cricket South Africa to include more black players, "who were denied places in the national side in the apartheid era," received a "huge boost" on Monday when CSA signed an agreement with the country's Education & Sport Ministries. The agreement will give "practical impetus" to CSA's development and transformation programs by linking schools cricket with CSA's regional performance centers and hubs. CSA President Chris Nenzani said, "We warmly welcome the support of these two government departments. Overcoming more than a century of neglect of the majority of our school children is something that is beyond the resources of any individual sporting code" (PTI, 8/17). ... No "other new teams" will join Haas F1 on the '16 F1 grid. At the end of May, F1's governing body "surprised the media by announcing it is searching for a 12th team." Speculation "immediately turned to Nicolas Todt's GP2 outfit ART," perhaps as a McLaren-Honda "B" team. An FIA spokesperson said of the two applications the body received, "We put these through our comprehensive diligence processes. Unfortunately none of the applicants were able to meet the criteria for new teams despite being granted every opportunity of doing so, and we now consider this round of applications to be closed" (AUTOWEEK, 8/15).
