EPL side Bournemouth defender TYRONE MINGS has been "handed a five-match ban following his stamp" on ManU forward ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC during the Premier League match at Old Trafford last weekend. Ibrahimovic "was suspended for three games" after he accepted an FA charge for violent conduct. Mings has been given a "longer suspension following an independent regulatory commission hearing at which the defender contested both the charge and the claim" (RTE, 3/8). ... FIFA announced two former Argentine footballers, DIEGO MARADONA and PABLO AIMAR, will participate in the draw for this year's U20 World Cup, to be held at the Suwon Atrium in South Korea on March 15 (FIFA). ... Three-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey JACK PURTELL died, aged 95. The Victoria Racing Club will acknowledge the passing of Purtell at its Group I meeting in Flemington this weekend "with the oncourse flags to be flown at half-mast and jockeys to wear black armbands in the third race." Purtell began his riding career in '36 and won around 1,700 races including Melbourne Cups aboard HIRAJI ('47), WODALLA ('53) and RISING FAST ('54) (AAP, 3/9). ... YUKINORI MIYABE, a Bronze Medalist in the speed skating men's 1,000m at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, died, aged 48. He passed away at a hospital in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward (KYODO, 3/8).
