Simmons reinstated

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):

Phil Simmons has been reinstated as head coach of the West Indies cricket team weeks after his suspension, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced yesterday.

In a statement, WICB said Simmons, a former West Indies all-rounder, has accepted a reprimand from the board and publicly apologised for making inappropriate comments regarding team selection.

His reinstatement follows a recent meeting with the WICB Human Resource Committee after a public outburst in which he questioned the make-up of the one-day international squad.

"The West Indies Cricket Board reinstated Phil Simmons today to his duties as head coach of the West Indies senior men's team," the statement from WICB read.

"Simmons was suspended after inappropriately commenting on and disclosing the specific voting of individual selectors of the WICB's Selection Panel when selecting the West Indies men's senior squad to tour Sri Lanka in October and November 2015."

The former Trinidad and Tobago cricketer was upset that all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, whose services are in high demand in Twenty20 leagues around the world, failed to make the West Indies one-day international squad.

The WICB also announced plans to launch an investigation into the allegations made by Simmons, and take "necessary and appropriate action".

IOC suspends Diack

LONDON (AP):

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended Lamine Diack as an honorary member yesterday and said it was ready to strip medals from any Russian athletes found guilty of doping and consider retesting samples from the Sochi Olympics.

The IOC convened an urgent meeting of its executive board by video conference to consider what action to take in response to the corruption and doping crisis engulfing track and field.

The board agreed on the provisional suspension of Diack, the former IAAF president who was placed under investigation by French authorities last week on charges of corruption and money-laundering related to the cover-up of Russian doping cases.

Diack served as a full IOC member for 15 years until 2014, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 80 and became an honorary member. The Senegalese official stepped down in August as president of the IAAF after 16 years in charge of track's governing body.

The IOC also acted on the damning report released Monday by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel that alleged a widespread, state-sponsored doping programme in Russia, implicating the government and intelligence services as well as athletes, coaches and team officials.

The WADA commission, headed by IOC member Dick Pound, recommended that Russia's track and field federation be suspended until it cleans up its act on doping. The IAAF is scheduled to decide Friday whether to suspend Russia, a move which could keep Russian athletes out of next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.