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DOHA, Qatar -- South African 400-meter gold medalist Wayde van Niekerk and womens tennis champion Monica Puig received global awards on Tuesday for their performances at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.Van Niekerk won for best male athlete of the games and Puig for best female athlete in the Association of National Olympic Committees awards.Van Niekerk, running in lane 8, won the 400 in a world-record time of 43.03 seconds, breaking Michael Johnsons 17-year-old mark of 43.18. Puig beat Angelique Kerber in the womens tennis final to win Puerto Ricos first ever Olympic gold medal.The two picked up their awards at a ceremony on Tuesday night in connection with the ANOC general assembly in Doha.The mens team award went to Fijis gold-medal winning rugby sevens team, with the female prize going to Britains winning field hockey team.Brazils Rafaela Silva, who grew up in a Rio slum and won a gold medal in judo at the games, took the award for most inspirational performance.The British Olympic Association was honored as the most successful national Olympic committee after finishing second in the medals table behind the United States with 67 medals, its most ever on foreign soil. Britain, which won 65 medals at the 2012 London Olympics, became the first country to win more medals at an Olympics immediately after hosting the event.`Breakthrough awards were given to countries which won their first ever Olympic medal or first ever gold medal in Rio -- Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Fiji, Jordan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Tajikistan and Vietnam. Asics Shoes Clearance Sale . -- Devin Hester is done returning kicks in Chicago. Buy Asics Shoes Cheap .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. http://www.cheapasics.net/ . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Cheap Asics Shoes Online .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Asics Shoes Discount Online . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose.FIFA has dismissed appeals from Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini against their bans from all football activity. However, the pair have had their bans reduced from eight years to six years by the FIFA appeal committee. The news comes after Platini and Blatters hearings were held in Zurich earlier this month. The two men were banned in December over a disloyal payment of £1.3m between them in 2011, made without a written FIFA contract, when both claimed they had a verbal agreement for FIFA to pay Platini an additional salary for his work as Blatters presidential adviser from 1999-2002. Blatter has had his FIFA ban reduced from eight years to six Blatter was nervous and expecting bad news ahead of the outcome of the FIFA hearings but, while their appeals were rejected, the committee decided that their work in football should deserve appropriate recognition, and denied an attempt by FIFA ethics prosecutors to have the pair banned for life.FIFA also fined Platini 80,000 Swiss Francs (£58,300) and Blatter 50,000 Swiss Francs (£36,400). Blatter intends to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and Platini is expected to follow suit. Platini arrives at FIFA HQ in Zurich for his hearing The 79-year-old said in a statement through his spokesman: I am very disappointed by the appeal committee of FIFA and I will take it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.It means the pair are banned from any football-related activity (administrative, sports or other) at national and international level for a period of six years from October 8, 2015, which means Platini would be eligible to return in time for the Qatar 2022 World Cup he championed. Banned UEFA president Michel Platini was upbeat after his hearing and had hoped he would be back in office for Euro 2016 A statement from FIFA said: The FIFA Appeal Committee, chaired by Larry Mussenden (Bermuda), has partially confirmed the decisions taken by the adjudicatory chaamber of the independent Ethics Committee on 17 and 18 December, 2015, regarding Joseph S Blatter and Michel Platini respectively, whose bans have been reduced from eight to six years.ddddddddddddMr Platinis and Mr Blatters appeals are dismissed in respect of infringements of art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 15 (Loyalty), art. 19 (Conflict of interests) and art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) of the FIFA Code of Ethics, as established by the adjudicatory chamber. News of Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini being banned from all football-related activity for eight years by FIFAs ethics committee The Appeal Committee concurred with the findings of the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee in the sense that the evidence available in the present case is not sufficient to establish a breach of article 21 of the FIFA Code of Ethics (Bribery and corruption).Consequently, the appeal lodged by the investigatory chamber for a life ban from all football-related activity was also dismissed.While agreeing with the principles and arguments presented by the adjudicatory chamber in its calculation of the sanction, the Appeal Committee determined that some strong mitigating factors for Mr Platini and Mr Blatter were not taken into account when establishing the sanction. Blatter announcing Russia had won the bid to stage the 2018 World Cup In this sense, amongst others, the Appeal Committee considered that Mr Platinis and Mr Blatters activities and the services they had rendered to FIFA, UEFA and football in general over the years should deserve appropriate recognition as a mitigating factor.Thus, after carefully analysing and taking into consideration the exceptional mitigating circumstances of the cases, it was determined that a one-year reduction of the five-year ban for a breach of art. 20 of the FCE was proper, and similarly a one-year reduction of the three-year ban for the other breaches was also proper. Also See: Infantino: I will fix FIFA SFA backing for Infantino Champagne only credible option World Cup invite for Blatter, Platini ' ' '