CAS Hears Cases Against Russian Athletes -- Monday Memo

(ATR)The fate of six Russian athletes facing doping bans rests withthe Court of Arbitration for Sport this week.

The International Athletics Federation submitted six appeals to CAS last week, challenging selective doping bans handed out by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).The court will convene in Lausanne, Dec. 2-3.

CAS will hear cases against RUSADA, the All-Russia Athletics Federation and the six Russian athletes implicated in the bans: Sergei Bakulin, Valery Borchin, Vladimir Kanaykin, Olga Kaniskina, Sergei Kirdyapkin and Yulia Zaripova.

A German TV documentary series, aired last year, exposed claims of widespread coping cover-ups in Russian athletics.These claims sparked a joint investigation by IAAF and the World Anti Doping Agency into RUSADA and the ARAF.

The results of that investigation were published in an explosive report issued by the WADA Independent Commission earlier this month.

Olympic boxing test event

Some 78 athletes willcompete in the boxing test event for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Dec. 4-6, at the RioCentro Convention Center.The 2015 Aquece Rio International will host teams from 40 countries.

The International Boxing Federation recently changed its headgear requirements for male boxers.

This week's test event will be the first international tournament in Brazil following this major change.

Nomineesannouncedfor FIFA Ballon d'Or 2015

On Nov. 30, Kate Abdo of Sky Sports News and two football heavyweights will announce nominees for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala.

German professional footballer Nadine Kessler and Dutch professional footballer Edgar Davids will join Abdo in the broadcast available at FIFA.com,www.francefootball.fr, and FIFA's YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/fifatv).

Nominees for the following categories will be announced:

FIFA Ballon d'Or

FIFA Women's World Player of the Year

FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football

FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football

FIFA Puskás Award

Hockey World League final

Competition in the 2015 Hockey World League is underway in Raipur, India.

The International Hockey Federation is staging matches at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel International Hockey Stadium.

Teams fromArgentina,Australia,Belgium,Canada,Germany,Great Britain, and theNetherlands will participate in the finals, which end on Dec. 6.

Sports City Poll

In partnership with TSE Consulting,Around the Ringshas opened the third annual Sports City Poll.

The poll will include 50 cities and pose the following question: "Which cities do you perceive to have the strongest association with sport?" Participants can select up to 10 cities in response to the poll question.

The Sports City Poll will close on Dec. 13 and the results will be announced on Dec. 16.

Written byNicole Bennett

For general comments or questions,click here.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics isAroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.