Most Brazilians expect Oly to hurt Brazil: poll

India name replacement for ‘sabotaged’ Yadav

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 27, (Agencies): Most Brazilians are pessimistic about impact on their country of the Olympic Games, scheduled to begin Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro, according to a study by polling group Ibope published in the Estado de S.Paulo daily newspaper.

According to the survey, 60 percent of Brazilians believe the games, expected to cost about 40 billion reais ($12.2 billion), will bring more harm than good to Brazil, while 32 percent believe the games will bring more benefits to the country than losses, the paper reported. Concern about the games has grown in Brazil as the country falls deeper into its worst recession in decades, Olympic preparations have been delayed or scaled back, and evidence of widespread corruption in construction contracts for Olympic infrastructure has been uncovered by police and the courts.

A similar study ahead of the soccer World Cup, held in Brazil in 2014, found that 43 percent of Brazilians were optimistic before the event, compared with 40 percent who were pessimistic.

The poll surveyed 2,002 people in all of Brazil between July 14 and 18.

Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s allegations of ‘sabotage’ after failing a dope test gained grounds but his Olympic hopes receded further with the country protectively naming a replacement for him at next month’s Rio Games.

The United Wrestling Federation (UWF) has confirmed in a statement that Parveen Rana will compete in men’s 74kg freestyle at Rio, replacing Yadav whose samples from an out-of-competition test returned positive for a banned steroid.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for an Olympic truce and urging all warring parties to lay down their weapons and put aside difference during the upcoming summer games in Rio de Janeiro.

The UN chief said in a video posted on Twitter Tuesday that the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations work closely together “for global harmony and peace.”

“I congratulate all the athletes and all the supporters and fans who will be filling the sporting arenas of Rio in the weeks ahead,” Ban said. “The Olympics and Paralympics celebrate the best of humanity.”

The 193-member UN General Assembly has passed resolutions since 1993 calling for an Olympic truce, but countries continue fighting wars whether the Olympics are on or not.

Australia’s Olympic delegation, which refused to move into its Rio apartments due to a spate of problems, took a dig at the city’s mayor on Tuesday by arriving at the complex with a kangaroo in tow.

After the delegation complained of blocked toilets and leaky pipes over the weekend, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, who has repeatedly found himself on the defensive over Olympic conditions, quipped that he should perhaps put “a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home.”

The issues delayed the country’s athletes from taking up lodging in the brand-new Olympic Village complex at its official opening Sunday.

Britain’s Tom Daley says divers who neglect the mental side of the sport can forget about winning a medal at next month’s Rio de Janeiro Games.

Daley, who won a 10-metre platform bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, will be competing in the individual event and the synchronised 10-metre platform with new partner Dan Goodfellow in Brazil.

“You can only do so much in the gym or pool. Seventy percent of it is physical but the final 30 percent is down to the mental capacity to actually control what you can do in competition,” the 22-yearold told British media.

Spanish Olympic team chief Cayetano Cornet is hopeful that “critical” conditions at the Olympic village in Rio will drastically improve in time for the arrival of the bulk of his country’s delegation on Friday.

Cornet, who has been at the village with other Spanish athletes since it was officially opened on Sunday, has expressed concerns about the safety of the 31-building complex after encountering plumbing, electrical and cleaning problems.

Cornet, Spain’s chef de mission, told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope on Wednesday: “The Olympic village is beautiful but the interior of the buildings present deficiencies that have led to a critical situation.

Australia’s olympic athletes arrive to the Tom Jobim International Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 26. Two days after describing the housing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics as ‘dangerous’, Australian athletes and staff started moving into the massive athletes’ village compound on Tuesday. Australia team spokesman Mike Tancred said up to 60 delegation members — evenly split between athletes and staff — were checking in. (AP)

“It’s normal that new buildings have problems. However, the problem is that the number of deficiencies are many.”

Several countries have expressed concern about accommodation in the village, but with 10 days to go before the start of the Games, Spanish athletes have been unable to move into their allocated building yet.

Dutch time-trial gold medal favourite Tom Dumoulin was given the all-clear to go to the Rio Olympics, just four days after fracturing his wrist in a crash at the Tour de France.

Dumoulin’s Giant-Alpecin team said the Dutchman’s injury was healing well following further check-ups and that no surgery would be necessary.

The 25-year-old crashed out of Friday’s 19th stage of the Tour in pain as he hit the deck after losing control of his bike in the peloton. “Tom has a distal radius fracture, which is a clean fracture, not in the joint and without any dislocation,” said Giant team physician Anko Boelens.

Better late than never for the Australian women’s eights rowing team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, even if they’ll have to borrow a boat and oars.

The Australian women’s crew had disbanded after failing to qualify when a third placing at a regatta in Switzerland in late May left the team as first reserves for Rio.

But they reassembled in Melbourne last weekend after the possibility of an Olympic call-up because of Russian athletes facing expulsion over doping.

Jiri Vesely became the latest Czech tennis player to pull out of next month’s Rio Olympics. The world number 49 said he has been suffering from chest pain and could not travel to Brazil for the Games which get underway on August 5.

“The doctor prescribed antibiotics for me for ten days, so it would be meaningless to go,” Vesely told the CTK press agency. The 23-year-old joins Czech men’s number one Tomas Berdych and women’s number two Karolina Pliskova, after they both pulled out because of concerns over the threat of the Zika virus.

Lukas Rosol, the world number 83, will be the sole competitor from the Czech Republic in the men’s singles in Brazil.

Egypt’s world javelin silver medallist Ihab Abdelrahman has been barred from the Rio Games by his national Olympic Committee on Tuesday after testing positive for banned substances.

Abdelrahman, who won silver in last year’s world championships in Beijing, had been asked to travel to Barcelona, where his tests were analysed, for a second one to confirm the results.

The 27-year-old refused, demanding a new test take place after the Rio Games which get underway on Aug 5.