World Sports Information Thursday

Veteran Olympians still at the top
Agence France-Presse . Paris
Time and tide wait for no man, or do they? Beijing-bound athletes Jeannie Longo, Haile Satayin, Hiroshi Hoketsu, Dara Torres, James Tomkins and Susan Nattrass have shown getting older does not rule out Olympic participation at the highest level.
French cyclist Longo, Ethiopian-born Israeli Satayin, who runs in the marathon, Japanese equestrian ace Hoketsu, American swimmer Torres, Australian rower Tomkins and Canadian shooter Nattrass will be among the more senior athletes at the August 8-24 Games in Beijing.
Longo clinched a place to compete in her seventh Olympics at the age of 49.
The five-time world champion staked her claim with an outstanding win in both the road race and time-trial at the French National Championships in June.
The 1996 Olympic road race champion has competed in every Games since women’s cycling was first introduced. She will compete in both the road race and time-trail races in Beijing.
Her dedication and commitment is legendary and no doubt she owes her longevity to both of those qualities.
Satayin, who emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel, finished in 20th spot in the men’s marathon at the Athens Olympics and in Beijing he will be among the oldest competitors aged 49, though his passport says he’s older.
The patience required for top long distance running was shown by Satayin in Athens when, as world class athletes started slowing or dropping out, he was moving up the field.
Satayin’s loping stride looks languid but, like a cheetah, he makes fast running look deceptively easy. His running partner Dror Haziza says of his style: ‘He (Satayin) just flows. It just comes naturally.’
Dubbing himself the ‘hope of old men,’ Japanese equestrian ace Hiroshi Hoketsu is ready to show he has improved with age when he trots out to his second Olympics in 44 years.
At the age of 67 years and four months in August, he will be the oldest Japanese ever to compete in the Olympics and undoubtedly one of the most senior athletes at the Beijing Games.
Hoketsu, who placed 40th in show jumping at the Tokyo Olympics, said: ‘I believe I can finish in a more respectable position.’
Since earning an Olympic berth in dressage in February, Germany-based Hoketsu has been hounded by Japanese media in a frenzy which has somewhat embarrassed the retired corporate chief.
American swimmer Dara Torres has reached her fifth Olympic team 24 years after winning gold in Los Angeles.
Torres, 41, and the mother of a two-year-old daughter, has completed another comeback in the wake of the one she pulled off in 2000, when she came out of retirement after seven years away from the sport and won two relay golds and three individual bronze medals in Sydney.
Veteran Australia rower Tomkins at the age of 42 is going for his fourth gold medal.
Having earned gold in 1992 and 1996 in the coxless fours, and with Drew Ginn in the coxless pairs in 2004, Tomkins is in Beijing trying his hand at the eights which would round off a remarkable career which has also seen him collect seven world titles and overcome a heart defect that was only recently detected.
The 58-year-old trap shooter Nattrass is simply an icon in Canadian Olympic circles and will be competing in her sixth Olympics in Beijing.
She broke new ground at the 1976 Montreal Olympics when she became the first woman to compete in trap shooting.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Russia bullish on medals outlook
Agence France-Presse . Moscow
Confidence is running high among Russia’s Olympic athletes that they can win more medals this summer in Beijing than they did four years ago in Athens, the country’s top Olympic official has said.
‘It would be very hard to surpass in the medals table the very strong teams of the United States and China,’ Russian Olympic Committee chief Leonid Tyagachev said in a recent interview.
‘However, our athletes have worked hard to prepare for the Games in the best possible way and, I believe, will perform very well at Beijing and improve the result they achieved four years ago at Athens,’ he said.
In Athens, Russia finished third in the medals table after the United States and China, coming home with 92 medals (27 gold, 27 silver and 38 bronze).
The ROC boss said he was looking forward to Russian successes notably in various ball games, where Russian teams and individual athletes have already racked up impressive achievements this season.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams won the European championships this year and are among red hot favourites for the Olympic tournaments.
In volleyball, both country’s squads are also strongly favoured and are capable of going all the way to the top spots of the Games’ podiums, Olympic officials and sports commentators said.
The Russian women’s handball team, who are the reigning world champions, are expected to win their tournament, while the men’s squad coaching staff were also targeting Olympic medals.
In women’s tennis, Russia is confident of success as the country’s players have dominated the top echelons of the WTA rankings in recent years. Russian stars Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina will all be gold medal prospects in China and no one doubts they are capable of winning the event.
‘The Olympics are the most important event for me this year,’ said Dementieva, who earned an Olympic silver medal at Sydney eight years ago.
‘It will be very hard to win there as everybody wants to win the Olympics. But I will do everything I can to perform at my best at the Games.’
The ROC chiefs were also hoping for a medals boost from the athletics squad and in particular the women’s team.
Yekaterina Volkova in 3000m steeplechase, Olga Kaniskina in 20km walk, Yelena Isinbayeva in the pole vault and Tatiana Lebedeva in long jump had already assured themselves of places in the Olympic selection after winning golds at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan.
Meanwhie, in the men’s section of the squad only Yury Borzakovsky, who won 800m Olympic gold in Athens, could be considered to be among the favourites.
There were outside hopes, however, for Yaroslav Rybakov in the high jump, Sergei Makarov in the javelin and pole vaulter Yevgeny Lukianenko, who cleared 6.01m earlier this month.
Russia also hopes to dominate the Olympic tournament in wrestling as all of the country’s teams (freestyle, greco-roman and women’s) are currently in top form. For instance, the national greco-roman wrestlers swept all the golds at the Grand Prix at Madrid, Spain, earlier this month winning in all of the seven weight categories.
The country’s boxers, who dominate European amateur boxing, are also expected to add weight to Russia’s medal table along with synchronised swimmers, artistic gymnasts and shooters, who are traditionally strong and performed well at the Athens Olympics.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODIs in for shakeup
Press Trust of India . New Delhi
Afraid that one-day cricket might have ceded at least part of its charm to the game’s slam-bang Twenty20 avatar, the International Cricket Council is all set to tinker with the 50-over format.
ICC General Manager of Cricket Dave Richardson says he is not sure if the crowd, which lapped up Twenty20, has the same appetite for ODIs and he reckons the 50-over game may have to pave way for 40-over matches or even two innings of 20 overs each.
‘The goal is to preserve all three formats. We have to preserve Test cricket as the pinnacle of the game. But are people willing to watch a 50-over game when T20 promises more action in less time? That is the challenge,’ Richardson told ‘The Week’ in an interview.
‘So we are looking at two fresh options. We still feel broadcasters need content for seven hours...We need to get balance right and tinker with the 50-over format,’ he said.
Richardson said the 50-over game has evolved over the years and there are new proposals on the table to experiment with the format.
‘The general feeling amongst cricketers is that the 50-over edition is not sacrosanct like Test cricket. It started off with 60 overs and then dropped to 55 and 50. Some countries are experimenting with 40 and 45 overs. The new proposals are firmly on the agenda. We will not promise anything, but it will be looked at quite seriously,’ he said.
Richardson, the former South African wicketkeeper, was of the belief that there are simply just too many one-day tournaments, which defy logic.
‘I suppose you could say there were too many meaningless ODIs. They were generating revenue, but were of no consequence. Apart from World Cup it did not make a difference. The rankings upped a little bit, but not enough. There is a proposal to create some context for those ODI series,’ he said.
On Twenty20, Richardson said greed should not be allowed to kill the golden goose.
‘The ICC believes that T20 is the saviour of domestic games and will leave it at the domestic level. The policy is that T20 should bloom in the domestic league and be played at a limited scale internationally. We do not want to kill the golden goose,’ he said.
Richardson revealed ICC, in its recent Executive Board meeting, discussed future landscape of cricket where the rising popularity of Twenty20 and private ownership of teams were debated.
‘Domestic leagues playing Twenty20 cricket for the first time have become revenue generators and have invited worldwide interest. I mean IPL in particular. For the first time ever we have people wanting to watch, sponsor, broadcast and advertise a domestic league! That changed the current cricket landscape,’ he said.
Asked if franchisee-owned model posed any threat to the cricket boards, Richardson said, ‘No. The boards are still in control...to preserve international cricket there is no need to ban domestic leagues. We just want to ensure that the ICC’s international events and bilateral tours are well promoted and worth watching.’


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SA ready to host Chams
Trophy if needed
Cricinfo
The South African board says it’s ready to host the Champions Trophy in case the tournament is shifted out of Pakistan due to security reasons, while clarifying that the ICC hasn’t put them on standby.
‘If requested by the ICC, and we agree on the terms and conditions of hosting the tournament, we will,’ Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa, told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘ICC host agreements are very onerous, so you don’t want to accept certain terms if you don’t have time to do everything they ask for. We have to sit down with them and go through everything, and negotiate new terms.’
Majola was optimistic that South Africa could deal with a short time frame to prepare to host the tournament, which is slated to begin on September 11. ‘We have only one or two months to prepare, but we have the ability to do it,’ he said. ‘I can’t say we are applying for it, we’re not. We would just be helping the ICC in the event of not being able to host it [in Pakistan]. We will wait for the ICC to approach us.’
Sri Lanka are also ready to be an alternate host. ‘The venues are ready because we are going to stage the Indian tour as well here, it is just a matter of putting things together,’ Duleep Mendis, the chief executive of Cricket Sri Lanka, said. ‘ICC will give sufficient time, if by some chance things are not going to happen in Pakistan.’
The ICC is waiting for an independent security report expected next week before taking any action on the matter, while the Australian, New Zealand and England boards will be briefed by Reg Dickason, a consultant with Cricket Australia, after he completes his inspections of the three venues - Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Meanwhile, CA chairman Creagh O’Connor, who has returned to Adelaide after travelling to Karachi as a chief guest during the recently concluded Asia Cup, said he would not ‘force a player to go anywhere if he has a legitimate reason not to do so’.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malinga in SL Champs Trophy squad
Cricinfo
Lasith Malinga, the fast bowler, and the all-rounder Farveez Maharoof have been included in Sri Lanka’s provisional squad of 30 for the Champions trophy in Pakistan in September.
Both players missed out on the recently-concluded Asia Cup due to injuries. Malinga, who also missed the Indian Premier League, is recovering from an injured knee and Maharoof from a side strain.
Malinda Warnapura, the opening batsman, also finds a place in the squad with three other regular Test specialists - batsmen Thilan Samaraweera and Michael Vandort and wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Kumar Sangakkara who is also named in the squad is the regular wicket-keeper in the one-day team. The squad has players who’ve featured in the national team in the last year, including the left-arm seamers Sujeewa de Silva Chanaka Welegedara and Gayan Wijekoon, who’re yet to play one-day internationals.
Probables: Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Thilan Thushara, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Kulasekera, Ajantha Mendis, Jehan Mubarak, Mahela Udawatte, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Upul Tharanga, Thilina Kandamby, Thilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Farveez Maharoof, Malinga Bandara, Gayan Wijekoon, Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Malinga, Chanaka Welagedera, Ishara Amerasinghe, Sujeewa de Silva, Rangana Herath.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------