41.   Tomba, who is undecided about his future in the sport, also fired a broadside at the Italian federation president, Carlo Valentini.

42.   Italian federation president Antonio Matarrese conceded ground to the players on Wednesday to give a ray of hope of averting the planned Italian League strike set for Sunday.

43.   The association alleges the Italian federation has made no payments towards players pensions, despite agreeing to do so.

44.   The former French international has continued to help compatriot Coste at training sessions after initially recommending him to the Italian federation.

45.   The IAAF further told the Italian federation they had received a complaint from Cuban officials over the non-ratification of his world record leap.

46.   The Italian federation denies there is a racism problem in the game.

47.   The Italian federation has taken the proposed action badly.

48.   The Italian national federation cleared her, arguing she took the drug unwittingly in a Chinese herbal medicine for losing weight.