Two Algerian football players banned for four years for testing positive for cocaine "have had their bans applied worldwide." FIFA said that a third player, KHEIREDDINE MERZOUGUI, "who tested positive for an illegal stimulant, also had his four-year ban extended globally" (BBC, 3/21). ... USAIN BOLT said that the Rio Olympics "will be his final Summer Games." The 29-year-old, the only man to win the 100m and 200m in back-to-back Olympics, said, "It'll definitely be my last Olympics." Bolt: "It's going to be hard to go four more years for me, to keep the motivation that I want, especially if I accomplish what I want to in Rio" (ESPN, 3/22). ... Former Wales int’l CHED EVANS’ appeal “against his conviction for rape has started at the Court of Appeal.” Evans was jailed for five years in ’12 “after being found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman at a hotel "near Rhyl, Wales." A three-person panel of judges “is hearing the appeal” (BBC, 3/22). ... Australian heavyweight world champion boxer LUCAS BROWNE said that he "is seeking legal advice amid reports he failed a doping test around the time of his technical knockout win over RUSLAN CHAGAEV for the WBA's regular title in Grozny, Russia on March 5" (THE STANDARD, 3/22).
