Sport

Russia, Belarus athletes may face Paris 2024 Olympic ban: IOC

Published

2 years ago

July 12, 2022

Athletes from Russia and Belarus may not be allowed to compete at the Paris 2024 Games over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Craig Reedie said.

The IOC issued guidance to sports governing bodies in February to remove the two countries' athletes from competition, Reuters reported. Belarus has been used as a staging ground for Russia's invasion, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

"A decision is going to have to be taken on what happens to each of these two countries, and my guess is that the general feeling would be that they should not qualify," former IOC vice-president Reedie told British media.

"Most people are struggling with how we could achieve some degree of representation, but at the moment, there is no clear way to do it. Therefore, you maintain the status quo."

Athletes will miss qualification events for Paris as a result of the measures, and IOC President Thomas Bach said in May that Russia's participation was unclear.

It has, however, not sanctioned or banned Russian members who sit on the IOC from taking part in Olympic meetings and has also not sanctioned the Russian Olympic Committee, Reuters reported.

Of the sports on the Olympic program, only cycling, tennis and judo have allowed Russians and Belarusians to continue to compete but Reedie said he doubted even athletes from those sports would be permitted to participate in qualifying events.

Reedie, former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said it would be unrealistic to allow athletes to enter qualifying competitions once they have begun.

"It's quite difficult halfway through to say, 'All of you who have now qualified we've changed the rules'," Reedie said.

"So there's a real issue for the federations, who have a clear instruction which they've agreed to that they won't invite Russians and Belarusians to take part in events.

"On the face of it, it's unlikely that anybody would qualify other than those three sports which don't do it that way. And will they be able to qualify (from those three sports)? I'm not sure."

A Russian doping scandal, involving revelations of a state-backed system across many sports, following the Sochi 2014 Olympics led to Russian athletes competing as neutrals at the Games as part of IOC sanctions.

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Afghanistan clinches ODI series victory against Zimbabwe

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2024

Ariana News

Afghanistan's national cricket team triumphed over Zimbabwe by 8 wickets in the third and final One-Day International (ODI) to claim the series victory.

In a dominant bowling display, Afghanistan dismissed Zimbabwe for just 127 runs in 30.1 overs. The Afghan batsmen then chased down the target comfortably in 26.5 overs, losing only 2 wickets along the way.

The standout performer of the match was Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, who took a remarkable 5 wickets, while Rashid Khan supported with 3 wickets. Azmatullah Omarzai and Farid Ahmad each claimed 1 wicket.

The first match of the series was abandoned due to rain, but Afghanistan bounced back strongly in the second match, securing a commanding 232-run victory.

This series win follows Afghanistan's earlier success in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, further cementing their dominance in international cricket.

Sport

Bangla Tigers lift Lanka T10 Super League title

Player of the match and player of the series was Titan’s skipper Dasun Shanaka.

Published

3 days ago

December 19, 2024

Ariana News

Hambantota Bangla Tigers beat favorites Jaffna Titans by 26 runs in Thursday’s Lanka T10 Super League final at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.

The Tigers produced a fine all-round performance to beat the Titans, who had won all their matches in the lead up to the final.

Player of the match and player of the series was Titan’s skipper Dasun Shanaka.

Hambantota Bangla Tigers, put into bat first, posted 133 for seven from their allotted 10 overs through some useful contributions from their top order batsmen.

The openers Mohammad Shahzad and Kusal Perera added 35 runs from 2.4 overs before they suffered a middle order collapse and reached 59 for three at the halfway stage of the innings.

However, skipper Dasun Shanaka and Shevon Daniel revived the innings with a fourth-wicket partnership of 44 runs in three overs.

Shanaka made 21 with two sixes and two boundaries while Daniel struck 26 with one six and three boundaries before Kennar Lewis and Dhananjaya Lakshan added the finishing touches.

Chasing 133 runs for victory, Jaffna Titans lost wickets at regular intervals and they eventually finished at 107 for six despite a fighting unbeaten half century from middle order batsman Tom Abell.
Richard Gleeson wrecked the Hambantota Bangla Tigers’ innings with excellent figures of three wickets for 21 while Shanaka captured two wickets for four runs.