MANOLO ORANTES in a statement "rejected the possibility" of becoming the next president of the Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET). The candidacy of the former player "had been hoped for by professional players," but he decided to rule himself out for "personal reasons" (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 6/15). ... NICK WEST, a London-based partner at DLA Piper, has been fined £15,000 ($21,264) for sending "despicable" emails to Premier League Exec Chair RICHARD SCUDAMORE. West hit the headlines in '14 when "a crude email exchange with Scudamore, which contained sexually explicit and sexist comments about a female colleague of Scudamore's who the pair had nicknamed 'Edna,' was made public by the Premier League supremo's former personal assistant RANI ABRAHAM." West avoided "heavier punishment, which could have seen West struck off from the solicitors' roll" (LEGAL BUSINESS, 6/15). ... The top three officials of the Goa Cricket Association "were on Wednesday arrested by the Economic Offences Cell of the Goa Police for alleged fraud" to the tune of approximately Rs 3 crore ($447,000).
A police spokesperson said that GCA President CHETAN DESSAI, Secretary VINOD PHADKE and Treasurer AKBAR MULLA "were arrested late on Wednesday and have been sent for medical examination." The spokesperson said, "The trio has been arrested on charges of cheating, impersonation, forging documents and criminal conspiracy" (IANS, 6/15). ... Russia’s anti-doping agency said on Wednesday that Olympic swimmer YANA MARTYNOVA has been “banned for four years for taking a banned substance.” Swimming’s world governing body FINA said that she was provisionally suspended in July ’15 “after testing positive for the anabolic agent ostarine” (AFP, 6/15)
NO EXCUSES: ANDY MURRAY "maintained his hardline stance" on MARIA SHARAPOVA’s conviction for taking a banned substance. He said, "My thoughts haven’t changed really from March [when he condemned the Russian for failing a drug test at the Australian Open]. I spoke quite a lot about it then. I do feel like if you’re cheating and are caught, and you are gaining advantage on your opponents, then you have to be punished for that." Murray said that he would not accept it as a defense for athletes to claim "they were ignorant of what drugs they were taking, banned or not." Murray: "I don’t really see that as being a valid excuse. If you’re taking any medication, it’s your responsibility as the athlete to check and make sure what you’re taking is legal" (London GUARDIAN, 6/14).
