Bolt fumes over drug test notice, Turan faces jail

Usain Bolt in action for Central Coast Mariners [Courtesy]

Australia asks to test athletics legend whose trial period with the A-League club ended at the weekend, judges want 12-year jail for Barca star Turan.

Sprint legend Usain Bolt says he’s stunned after being handed a drug testing notice despite retiring from athletics and having no professional contract as he bids to launch a football career in Australia.

The 100m world record-holder quit athletics last year and is yet to be offered a deal by Australia’s Central Coast Mariners, where he is currently on trial.

“So guys I’ve retired from track and field looking to become a footballer but look at this,” Bolt said Monday via an Instagram video as he zoomed in on the notice.

The demand for the out of competition test -- to collect urine and blood -- appears to have been issued by Football Federation Australia.

“How am I going to get a drug test today? I’m not even a professional footballer yet. Seriously,” said Bolt.

“So I asked the lady, ‘Why am I getting drug tested when I haven’t signed for a club yet?’ and she said they told her I’m an elite athlete so I have to get tested. Okay then.”

Despite his displeasure, it appears the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority guidelines mean he is eligible to be tested.

Their legislation defines an athlete as a “person who competes in sport” if “the sport has an anti-doping policy”.

The eight-time Olympic champion, who dominated sprinting after taking double individual gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, is now bidding to become a professional footballer.

He made his case on Friday by scoring two goals for the Mariners in a pre-season friendly.

The superstar, a massive Manchester United fan, has been handed a chance to train with the A-League side for an indefinite period in order to pursue his dream.

The eight-time Olympic champion, who dominated sprinting after taking double individual gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, is now bidding to become a professional footballer [Courtesy]

Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors on Monday charged Barcelona player Arda Turan over a brawl with a prominent singer, asking for the footballer to be sentenced to twelve-and-a-half years in jail.

The prosecutors charged Turan, who is currently on loan to Istanbul’s Basaksehir, with sexual harassment, unlicensed possession of weapons and causing intentional injury over the fight with singer Berkay Sahin, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Sahin, who goes on stage by his first name Berkay, was also charged, with prosecutors demanding up to two years in jail.

Turan, 31, had last week been summoned to an Istanbul police station to give a statement about the incident but was allowed to walk free.

The incident, which took place outside an Istanbul nightclub and reportedly left Sahin with a broken nose, has transfixed Turkey over the last days.

In a bizarre sequence of events, Turan then reportedly went to the hospital where the singer was being treated clutching a gun and begging to be shot and forgiven.

The attacking midfielder, who won 100 caps for the national side, has for years been Turkey’s best known footballer and is a strong supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He backed Erdogan strongly after the failed July 2016 coup, appearing at rallies outside his home, and the Turkish president even came as a witness to Turan’s marriage.