IOC reprimands three boxers for Rio betting
LAUSANNE, Switzerland: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday it had handed “severe reprimands” to three boxers for betting on fights at the Rio Games, two of them Irish.
Michael Conlan, Steven Donnelly and Britain’s Anthony Fowler — cousin of the former Liverpool and England footballer Robbie Fowler — breached rules introduced for the Games in August.
Donnelly was found to have made two bets on himself to lose one of his bouts — which he later won so did not win any money.
“Participants at the Olympic Games are not permitted to bet on Olympic events and are obliged to report any approach or suspicion of manipulation,” the IOC said in a statement.
Bantamweight Conlan, 24, welterweight Donnelly, 28, and middleweight Fowler, 25, must now all prove they have successfully followed the IOC’s educational programme if they want to fight at Tokyo 2020.
The punishments were not harsher because “there was no intent to manipulate any event”, the IOC said.
The IOC also dished out a reprimand to the Olympic Council of Ireland and the British Olympic Association for not properly informing their athletes about the rules relating to gambling.
Conlan, an amateur world champion, was at the centre of a separate controversy in Rio after suffering a surprise unanimous points decision defeat to Russian Vladimir Nikitin, when most observers felt he won.A seething Conlan, strongly fancied for a medal, made an obscene gesture to judges in protest before storming off.
McIlroy, Day, Scott among Player of Year finalists
CHASKA, United States: Rory McIlroy, who captured the season-ending US PGA Tour Championship last weekend to win a $10 million playoff bonus, was among the six finalists named on Tuesday for PGA Player of the Year.
The finalist lineup includes the six leaders in the world rankings — Australia’s world number one Jason Day and sixth-ranked Adam Scott, British Open winner Henrik Stenson of Sweden, US Open champion Dustin Johnson and two-time major winner Jordan Spieth.
South Korean Kim Si-Woo was among three finalists named for the tour’s Rookie of the Year award, joined by Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and American Smylie Kaufman.Both awards are determined by a vote among players who competed in at least 15 events this past season, with balloting ending October 7 and results expected to be announced the following week.
Northern Ireland’s third-ranked McIlroy, a leader for holders Europe this week against the United States at the 41st Ryder Cup, won the Deutsche Bank Championship playoff event as well as the Irish Open last May on the European Tour.
Day won three times this year as well, taking the Arnold Palmer Invitational, World Golf Championships Match Play and The Players Championship.
Johnson won his first major at the US Open and also took the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the BMW Championship before settling for second behind McIlroy in the season points chase. He led the US PGA Tour money list and took the Byron Nelson Award with the low scoring average of 69.172 strokes.
Scott won the Honda Classic and WGC Cadillac Championship while Spieth took the Tournament of Champions and Dean and Deluca Invitational.
Stenson’s only win of the year came at the British Open for his first major title but it came with a record 72-hole low major score of 264. He also took a silver medal at the Rio Olympics behind England’s Justin Rose after a memorable last-day duel.
Kim, 21, won the Wyndham Championship and was one of only two rookies to reach the Tour Championship, the other being Grillo, 24, who won the Frys.com Open last season. Kaufman, 24, won the Shriners Hospitals Open.
Tokyo panel to propose venue changes as costs mount
TOKYO: Japanese authorities reviewing the cost of hosting the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will propose major changes for three planned venues - including moving rowing and canoeing some 400 km (240 miles) from the capital, media reported on Wednesday.
A Tokyo city government panel will release a report on its findings on Thursday after recently elected city governor Yuriko Koike ordered a review of ballooning costs, Kyodo News and other media said.
The proposed changes, which would require the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and each sport’s international federation, are the latest in a series of setbacks and broken promises for organisers who had won the bidding largely on Japan’s reputation for efficiency.
Tokyo’s bid proposal said the majority of venues would be within 8 km (5 miles) of the Olympic Village in central Tokyo.
Kyodo said the panel would recommend that the construction of three venues - for volleyball, swimming, and rowing and canoe sprint - be reconsidered and that other, existing locations should be able to host those events.
Public broadcaster NHK said the panel would propose moving the venue for rowing and canoeing to Tome City in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi, due to soaring costs and because not enough measures had been taken against wind and waves at the site in the original plan.
A Tokyo Metropolitan Government official declined to comment, saying while they were aware of the media reports they had yet to receive an official report from the panel.
Tokyo has already shifted the venues for several events out of the capital, including sailing and basketball.
Cycling will take place in Shizuoka prefecture, about 200 km (125 miles) west of Tokyo.Tokyo organisers have been grappling with a series of blunders.
Imad leaps 33 places to secure fourth position
KARACHI: Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Imad Wasim has rocketed into the top five of the ICC Player Rankings for T20I Bowlers after a stellar series against the West Indies, which Pakistan clinched 3-0 in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Imad was the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine wickets at an economy-rate of under 4.5 per over, which not only earned him the player of the series award but also provided him a jump of 33 places in the latest rankings, which were released on Wednesday.
Imad is now in fourth position, which makes him Pakistan’s highest-ranked bowler. He is only five points behind West Indies’ Samuel Badree, who has dropped two places to third.
Badree’s slip means South Africa’s Imran Tahir has become the No 1 bowler in T20Is. Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir is now in 36th position after rising 19 places due to his five wickets in the series.
In the batting charts, Shoaib Malik rose 10 places to the 35th position. Series top-scorer Babar Azam (101 runs) leaped 201 places to 66th, while Khalid Latif, who scored 95 runs, jumped 26 places to break inside the top 100 for the first time in 94th position.
Pakistan stayed in the seventh position with 111 points on the T20I Team Rankings. West Indies dropped one place to fourth. New Zealand are the number-one ranked T20I side, followed by India and South Africa.
ICC appoints Glenwright as Head of Global Development
DUBAI: The ICC announced on Wednesday the appointment of William Glenwright as Head of Global Development. Glenwright joins the ICC from his current role at World Rugby as GM Asia and Oceania and will take up his post towards the end of the year.
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “I am looking forward to welcoming William to the ICC in such an important role for us. William will utilise his vast experience in international sports management to focus on how we develop and grow the game and ensure we have more teams capable of challenging at the top level.”
SBP Women Cricket Championship climax today
KARACHI: The summit clash of the inaugural State Bank Women Cricket Championship will be held on Thursday (today) between State Bank and ZTBL here at SBP Sports Complex.