GENEVA: Some Russian athletes can soon return to international sports, although their status for next year’s Paris Olympics is still up in the air.
The International Olympic Committee recommended Tuesday that individual athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to return to competition under a neutral status as long as they have no military links. But the IOC, facing increased pressure to ban Russia and Belarus from the Paris Olympics because of the war in Ukraine, held off on deciding whether they can compete at next year’s Summer Games.
That decision will be taken “at the appropriate time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. When it comes to other events, including Olympic qualifiers, it will be up to each individual sport’s governing body to make the final decision on whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can take part.
While the IOC said Russia and Belarus should remain barred from team sports such as soccer and basketball, it still defied repeated calls by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to exclude all Russian athletes while his country is being occupied and attacked. But athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus who have actively supported the war in Ukraine, or are “contracted to the military or national security agencies”, should not be cleared to compete as neutral individuals, Bach said.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said more than 20 of the country’s medalists at the Tokyo Olympics staged in 2021 held military ranks. Of the 71 medals won in Japan, 45 were by athletes affiliated with the Central Sports Club of the Army.
In team sports, Russia and Belarus “cannot be considered” for a return, Bach said at a news conference after what he said was a unanimous agreement among the 15-member executive board.
Team events in other sports, such as relays or mixed doubles or team all-around in gymnastics, should also be off limits, the IOC said in a document explaining its guidance.
“There is definitely discrimination in this,” veteran Russian gymnastics coach Valentina Rodionenko said in comments reported by RIA Novosti, adding that with “conditions like these, they understand very well that Russia itself will not agree to them.”
In the guidance document, the IOC said it would like Russians and Belarusians to be known as Individual Neutral Athletes with the French acronym AIN.
They should wear uniforms that are either entirely white or a single color, and can’t have a team logo. Athletes should be barred from displaying their national flags on social media or making statements “that may be prejudicial to the interests of the competition, its integrity or the participant’s neutrality,” the 5-page document stated.
The IOC’s recommendations “do not concern” the Paris Games that opens in 16 months’ time.
“The IOC will take this decision at the appropriate time at its full discretion,” said Bach, adding that “we are not kicking it down the road” when asked if the IOC was effectively buying time for the war to end.
The individual Olympic sports must now decide the entry and eligibility conditions for their events, which include ongoing qualifiers for the Paris Olympics and beyond to the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games.
Some Olympic sports, such as track and field and gymnastics, have established independent integrity units that earned wide respect. The position of some sports bodies which have strong sporting, commercial and political ties to Russia is less clear.
The suggested conditions are stricter than when Russia was under sanctions for doping cases at each Winter and Summer Games since 2018. In those events, uniforms in national colors could be worn and music by Tchaikovsky was played when Russian athletes won gold medals.
The IOC also said that event organizers should not fly Russian or Belarusian flags and should try to prevent spectators bringing national flags into venues. Four fans with Russian flags, including one with an image of President Vladimir Putin, were evicted after they flew them at the Australian Open tennis event in January.
The IOC advice presented Tuesday marks a profound shift in sport’s position on Russia and Belarus following a near-total exclusion by most governing bodies.
Within days of the war starting in February last year, the IOC urged sports bodies to isolate Russia and Belarus. It cited an “extremely grave violation” of the Olympic Truce in place for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, plus the integrity and security of sports events, including the unfairness that Russians could train in peace while Ukrainians athletes’ lives were disrupted.
In January, the IOC formally announced it would seek a “pathway for athletes’ participation in competition under strict conditions”, with a view to letting Russians and Belarusians try to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Bach has repeatedly pointed to advice from independent UN-recognized human rights experts that excluding athletes based only on their passports would be discrimination.
On Tuesday, Bach said one factor that changed IOC thinking is some sports having already reintegrated neutral Russians and Belarusians, such as tennis and cycling. Soccer’s exclusion of Russian teams by FIFA and UEFA was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
Zelensky has consistently called for all Russian athletes and teams to be excluded. His call is backed by some governments and Olympic bodies in Europe and elsewhere.
“A slap in the face of Ukrainian athletes,” the sports minister of Bach’s native Germany, Nancy Faeser, said Tuesday in reaction to the IOC announcement. “Those who let the warmonger Russia use international competitions for its propaganda are damaging the Olympic idea of peace and international understanding.”
Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pazdnyakov told the Tass agency the guidelines would block athletes from competing: “The decision is a farce, the basic principles of the Olympic Charter are being breached.”
Ukrainian athletes, including past and current Olympic medalists, have also publicly disagreed with the IOC’s stated “unifying mission” to bring the world together peacefully in sport.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said there should be no Russian delegation at her city’s Olympics if the war in Ukraine continues.
Bach was once close to Putin ahead of the steroid-tainted 2014 Sochi Winter Games in the first year of his IOC leadership, and reminded reporters Tuesday that last year he withdrew an Olympic honor from the Russian president.
Asked if he had communicated recently with Putin, Bach replied: “A clear ‘no.’”
IOC details advice to let Russia, Belarus athletes return
https://arab.news/mj84m
IOC details advice to let Russia, Belarus athletes return
- That decision will be taken “at the appropriate time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said
- The Russian Defense Ministry has said more than 20 of the country’s medalists at the Tokyo Olympics staged in 2021 held military ranks
Cricket battles to address its sustainability issues
COP29, the 29th UN annual conference on climate change, opened in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 11, providing another opportunity for international collaboration.
Last year’s event confirmed that international action to address climate change was way off track against target, and a focus of COP29 is how finance can be made available to developing countries to enable climate action. Achieving agreement is fraught with difficulty.
Given that there is such a gap between promises and action at national level, it should be little surprise that initiatives at a micro level have been piecemeal. In December 2018, the sports sector and the UN launched the Sports for Climate Action Framework. Its objective is to draw together sports organizations, teams, athletes and fans to raise awareness and develop actions to meet the UN goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
The original signatories to the 2018 initiative numbered 17. Today, there are around 200. The list contains only six cricketing bodies — the England and Wales Cricket Board, Marylebone Cricket Club, Melbourne Cricket Club, Gloucestershire Cricket, Surrey Cricket and the Desert Vipers. The latter is one of six franchises in the UAE’s ILT 20 League and has sustainability at the core of its operations.
What also stands out from the current list is the presence of the national, international and world governing bodies of most other sports. Neither cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, nor 11 of its 12 full-member boards are signatories.
The sports sector generates emissions in various ways, including travel, energy and water use, catering, equipment production, pitch preparation, venue construction and in-stadium activity. Cricket is no exception. Hence the lack of commitment by most of its leading bodies to the Sports for Climate Action Framework is disappointing. It appears to reflect a lack of concern about cricket’s contribution to climate issues. There are few obvious external signs amongst the game’s custodians that a coordinated effort is being orchestrated and encouraged.
In fact, there are strong counterviews. Evidence of these erupted in early 2023 following the announcement that Alinta Energy’s sponsorship of Australian cricket, worth $40m over four years, would end in June 2023. Australia’s men’s captain, Pat Cummins, was accused of influencing the decision because of his climate activism.
Cummins is the public face of Cricket for Climate, an organization working to help local clubs install solar panels. He has insisted his personal stance played no part in either Alinta’s or Cricket Australia’s decision. This did not stop vitriolic personal attacks against him, and he was called a “climate catastrophist clown” and accused of “incoherent far-left activism” on Sky News. The channel went further by suggesting: “Sporting bodies need to understand that it’s one thing to alienate sponsors, but they are also alienating fans.”
This is heady stuff. Cummins has dealt with the criticism with dignity, doubling down on his activism. He and his peers have reminded people of the extreme climate conditions which players endured during the ODI World Cup in India in November 2023. These included exceedingly high temperatures, off-the-scale air quality readings and heightened fatigue levels, each of which had adverse impacts.
In some quarters, the riposte is that the players are handsomely rewarded and should keep quiet about societal issues. This puts me in mind of Milton Friedman, the free-market economist, whose stance was that the business of business is business, allowing no room for social responsibility. Cricket is a creator of emissions and waste for which, arguably, it should take responsibility. It is also one of the most vulnerable sports to extreme climate variations. Setting aside apocalyptic visions of stadiums on fire, floods devasting stadiums beyond recovery and unbearable air quality causing death, there is evidence of adverse effects on the game.
One example is the flooding of grounds by rivers bursting their banks in successive years. Worcester is one example, with relocation under consideration. This is ironic, given estimates that an international cricket arena requires around 60,000 liters of water per day.
Cricket seems to react to disasters rather than having plans to prepare for them. It does not appear to be taking steps to anticipate or accept changing trends in weather patterns or putting strategies in place to cope with them. The ECB, to its credit, launched an Environmental Sustainability Plan in November 2023. This has three priority areas — tackling climate change, managing resources and waste, and protecting the natural environment. Some county cricket clubs have sustainability strategies in place.
Within the ECB’s overall plan is an aim to build a more circular economy to replace buy-use-dispose-buy. This applies to equipment and it is in this context that the Desert Vipers’ initiative is so relevant. Their playing kit for the 2025 ILT20 league is produced by a local UAE company, Palmfit, obviating the need for long distance transport and creating local employment opportunities.
The kit uses recycled materials, reducing the need for new ones and lowering carbon footprint by approximately 50 percent. Water-based inks are used, eliminating some harsh chemicals. The kits are printed-on-demand, so made only when needed.
Whether the Indian franchises will follow suit is unknown, but there have been some initiatives in the Indian Premier League. In 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore wore jerseys made from recycled stadium waste in a match against Rajasthan Royals. However, even with schemes by other franchises, there is little evidence of a coordinated effort across the league.
Cricket is not only a potential victim of a mercurial climate; it is a contributor to environmental degradation. Despite being resource-heavy, it lags behind other sports in calculating its environmental impact, whilst development of sustainability plans is slow compared with other sports.
The reasons for this are not entirely clear but international leadership seems lacking. A balance needs to be achieved between the requirements of development, growth and environmental preservation.
Cricket’s leaders should not expect direction from COP29. They should generate it.
‘Nothing is impossible’ — jiu-jitsu athlete fights back from coma to compete in Abu Dhabi World Masters
- The 41-year-old’s journey in the sport almost came to an end 4 years ago
ABU DHABI: Swiss jiu-jitsu athlete Gionathan Campana took to the mats at the 16th Abu Dhabi World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship on Wednesday, marking an extraordinary comeback from a life-threatening injury that left him in a coma.
Representing Jiu-Jitsu School Ticino, Campana competed in the Men’s GI/Black/Master 3/85 kg division in the competition, which is currently taking place at Mubadala Arena.
The 41-year-old’s passion for jiu-jitsu started over a decade ago.
“I’ve been practicing martial arts for several years, and around 12 years ago, I started with jiu-jitsu,” he said. “I immediately fell in love with it and continued training, even when I couldn’t find a teacher nearby.”
With no coach available, he trained on his own and eventually earned his brown belt two years ago, followed by his black belt this year.
Four years ago, however, an accident almost ended his sporting career.
“It was a bad injury that put me in a coma,” said Campana.
“When I woke up, I decided that I had to get back in shape and that I wanted to do something great for myself … so I decided to resume my jiu-jitsu training. Above all, I wanted to teach my daughter that nothing is impossible.”
Campana has since returned to competition with a new determination.
“So I am here to participate in my first-ever Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship,” he said. “Here’s to many more years of participation, hopefully.”
After ODI series win, Rizwan to lead Pakistan in first T20I against Australia today
- Pakistan to play three-match series against Australia on Nov. 14, 16 and 18 in Brisbane, Sydney and Hobart
- Rizwan’s side defeated Australia 2-1 in three-match series last week to win first series in Australia since 2002
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan will lead his side for the first time against Australia in a T20I format at Brisbane today, Thursday, after steering the green shirts to their first ever ODI series victory against the 2023 world champions since 2022.
Rizwan will become the 12th person to assume Pakistan’s T20 captaincy when he takes the field in Brisbane for the first T20I. Pakistan’s cricket team, encouraged by stellar performances from fast bowlers Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, beat Australia 2-1 in the three-match series that concluded last week.
After Thursday’s match, Pakistan will play against Australia in Sydney and Hobart on Nov. 16 and 18 respectively. Pakistani cricketers Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Sufiyan Moqim and Usman Khan joined the T20I squad in Brisbane on Nov. 11 after undergoing a five-day training camp in the southern port city of Karachi.
“We are confident after beating Australia in the ODI series but international cricket is always challenging so we aim to do things as better as we can going into this T20I series against Australia,” Rizwan said a day before the match.
“We have determined the roles of various players in the team and look forward to executing our best plans not just in this series but also in the upcoming white-ball fixtures against Zimbabwe and South Africa.”
The Pakistan captain said he wanted to keep all the players involved in the series motivated.
“Of course, the conditions have helped the bowlers on this tour so far but we also want to prove our mettle as a batting unit and I look forward to an exciting contest in the three matches,” he said.
Pakistan last faced Australia in a T20 contest in March 2022 when the two teams played a one-off T20I in Lahore, which Australia won. In Pakistan’s last T20I series in Australia in November 2019, the hosts won 2-0 after the opening match ended in a no result.
Josh Inglis will lead Australia in the T20I series while Tim David and Nathan Ellis have joined Australia’s T20I squad. Josh Philippe, meanwhile, has replaced the injured Cooper Connolly.
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (captain – wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha (vice-captain), Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Usman Khan
It’s a quiet Mike Tyson as 58-year-old nears fight with Jake Paul, 31 years his junior
- The issue of Tyson’s health didn’t come up in a small concert venue about 20 miles from AT&T Stadium
- Tyson had terse answers for all the questions Wednesday night, two nights before the fight against Paul
- The fight is the first combat sports event to be streamed on Netflix
IRVING: Mike Tyson wasn’t in the mood for talking in the final news conference before the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion faces YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
Tyson had terse answers for all the questions Wednesday night, two nights before the fight against Paul, who is 31 years younger, at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
The issue of Tyson’s health didn’t come up in a small concert venue about 20 miles from AT&T Stadium. A bout originally scheduled for July 20 was postponed to Friday night after Tyson had to be treated for a stomach ulcer when he fell ill on a flight.
Tyson said in a documentary promoting the fight that he lost 26 pounds while recovering, but Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder with Paul of Most Valuable Promotions, said Tyson had been cleared medically for weeks.
Bidarian also said Tyson was going through the same regular medical checkups of any sanctioned pro fight in Texas.
Several states wouldn’t sanction the bout. Texas agreed to a fight that was eight rounds instead of 10 or 12, with two-minute rounds instead of three, and heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches.
“I’ve said everything I had to say,” Tyson said in one of several attempts to get him to say more. “I’m just looking forward to fighting.”
“It’s cute,” Paul said of the terse Tyson. “I fear no man, so I want him to be that old savage Mike.”
Paul couldn’t even get Tyson to respond by wearing what the 27-year-old said was a “diamond-spiked ear cover.” It was Paul’s jab at Tyson over the Hall of Famer infamously biting the ear of Evander Holyfield in a 1997 fight.
Tyson did get briefly riled up when somebody asked twice what he would do if he lost. His last sanctioned bout was in 2005. Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition four years ago.
“I am not going to lose,” Tyson said, his voice rising the second time it was asked. “Did you hear what I said?”
Tyson was 50-6 with 44 knockouts before retiring 19 years ago. Paul is 10-1 with seven knockouts in less than five years as a pro, facing mostly mixed martial artists and journeymen boxers.
The fight is the first combat sports event to be streamed on Netflix. It will be available at no additional cost to the more than 280 million Netflix subscribers globally.
Paul is a minus-200 betting favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That means the payout for a Paul victory would be about half the amount of any bet.
The co-main event is a rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano for the undisputed super welterweight title.
Taylor won a split decision that many questioned in a slugfest at sold-out Madison Square Garden in 2022 in the first women’s fight to headline at the famous venue.
Taylor and Serrano sat behind Tyson and Paul on the stage, with the 10 fighters from the undercards on either side of Tyson and Paul.
It’s a quiet Mike Tyson as 58-year-old nears fight with Jake Paul, 31 years his junior
- Tyson had terse answers for all the questions Wednesday night, two nights before the fight against Paul, who is 31 years younger, at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys
IRVING, Texas: Mike Tyson wasn’t in the mood for talking in the final news conference before the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion faces YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
Tyson had terse answers for all the questions Wednesday night, two nights before the fight against Paul, who is 31 years younger, at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
The issue of Tyson’s health didn’t come up in a small concert venue about 20 miles from AT&T Stadium. A bout originally scheduled for July 20 was postponed to Friday night after Tyson had to be treated for a stomach ulcer when he fell ill on a flight.
Tyson said in a documentary promoting the fight that he lost 26 pounds while recovering, but Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder with Paul of Most Valuable Promotions, said Tyson had been cleared medically for weeks.
Bidarian also said Tyson was going through the same regular medical checkups of any sanctioned pro fight in Texas.
Several states wouldn’t sanction the bout. Texas agreed to a fight that was eight rounds instead of 10 or 12, with two-minute rounds instead of three, and heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches.
“I’ve said everything I had to say,” Tyson said in one of several attempts to get him to say more. “I’m just looking forward to fighting.”
“It’s cute,” Paul said of the terse Tyson. “I fear no man, so I want him to be that old savage Mike.”
Paul couldn’t even get Tyson to respond by wearing what the 27-year-old said was a “diamond-spiked ear cover.” It was Paul’s jab at Tyson over the Hall of Famer infamously biting the ear of Evander Holyfield in a 1997 fight.
Tyson did get briefly riled up when somebody asked twice what he would do if he lost. His last sanctioned bout was in 2005. Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition four years ago.
“I am not going to lose,” Tyson said, his voice rising the second time it was asked. “Did you hear what I said?”
Tyson was 50-6 with 44 knockouts before retiring 19 years ago. Paul is 10-1 with seven knockouts in less than five years as a pro, facing mostly mixed martial artists and journeymen boxers.
The fight is the first combat sports event to be streamed on Netflix. It will be available at no additional cost to the more than 280 million Netflix subscribers globally.
Paul is a minus-200 betting favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That means the payout for a Paul victory would be about half the amount of any bet.
The co-main event is a rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano for the undisputed super welterweight title.
Taylor won a split decision that many questioned in a slugfest at sold-out Madison Square Garden in 2022 in the first women’s fight to headline at the famous venue.
Taylor and Serrano sat behind Tyson and Paul on the stage, with the 10 fighters from the undercards on either side of Tyson and Paul.
