The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority said on Monday that it "would not appeal the not guilty findings" against 34 past and present Australian Football League side Essendon players but has "urged the world anti-doping body to take the matter direct to the Court of Arbitration for Sport." ASADA has said that it "will not appeal the case of the players, nor the not guilty findings made against Stephen Dank -- who was found guilty on 10 charges -- because any appeal would remain within the AFL framework" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 4/20). ... National Rugby League side Titans Chair Rebecca Frizelle has called for the NRL to"overhaul the registration process that has turned Daly Cherry-Evans' proposed move to the Gold Coast into a contract circus." Frizelle lashed the "controversial Round 13 rule which has left the door ajar for Cherry-Evans to renege" on his A$4M ($3.1M) agreement with the Titans. Under NRL rules, his Gold Coast contract "cannot be registered until the end of Round 13 -- giving Manly another 48 days to convince Cherry-Evans to remain at Brookvale" (COURIER MAIL, 4/21). ... Cyclist Jakob Fuglsang said that Astana riders are ready to take the Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) to court if the Kazakh squad is "stripped of its WorldTour status by the Licence Commission." The UCI recommended that Astana’s license "should be taken away after an audit conducted by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne threw up questions about the team's management and practices." Fuglsang: "I have not done anything wrong, so if UCI take my job away from me, so I think it ends up in a lawsuit" (CYCLING WEEKLY, 4/20).
