North Korea crisis so far no threat to ’18 Oly: IOC

Bach defends handling of corruption case

LIMA, Sept 12, (Agencies): The escalating North Korean crisis had so far raised “no hint” of a security threat for next year’s Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.

Hours after the United Nations Security Council unanimously stepped up sanctions against North Korea over the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test conducted on Sept 3, IOC President Thomas Bach said the Games next year were under no threat so far.

Earlier this month North Korea launched its biggest nuclear bomb test, prompting global condemnation as US President Donald Trump said “appeasement” would not work.

North Korea has warned the United States that it would pay a “due price” for spearheading efforts on UN sanctions, which now include a ban on the country’s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil.

Bach said he was hoping for a diplomatic solution before the Games start next February and said the door was open for the participation of North Korean athletes and the IOC was ready to support them in their effort to qualify.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in July the North will be given until the last minute to decide whether it will take part in the Olympics. None of its athletes have yet met the qualification standards.

The Pyeongchang Games, the first Winter Olympics in Asia to be staged outside Japan, will run from Feb 9-25.

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach defended his organisation’s handling of corruption allegations on Monday, insisting the movement could never make itself immune from scandal.

The IOC, which is gathering in Lima to award the 2024 and 2028 Olympics to Paris and Los Angeles on Wednesday, has been rocked by allegations of graft in the race for the 2016 Olympics.

Top Brazilian official Carlos Nuzman was arrested by police last week, accused of involvement in a scam to funnel cash to IOC members taking part in a 2009 vote in Copenhagen to decide the 2016 Games, eventually won by Rio.

It followed earlier revelations in France about a similar plot involving the 2013 vote in Buenos Aires which awarded the 2020 games to Tokyo.

In the Brazilian case, a whistleblower told the New York Times he had warned the IOC about Nuzman’s activities repeatedly in the years leading to his arrest.

However, Bach stressed on Monday that the IOC had acted promptly to deal with allegations as they emerged.

Bach said lawyers for the IOC’s Ethics Commission had contacted Brazilian authorities hoping to obtain further details about the Nuzman case.

In response to letters sent to the IOC

Bach

regarding Nuzman by former Brazilian sports official Eric Maleson, Bach insisted they had been dealt with properly.

Bach meanwhile was elusive when he was asked to give his assessment of how the IOC’s image had been tarnished by the various corruption allegations. Bach meanwhile said the IOC had agreed to set up a $1 million fund to provide relief to member nations, mostly in the Caribbean, hit by Hurricane Irma.

Olympic boxing’s governing body, AIBA, has banned African confederation head Kelani Bayor for three years for allegedly provoking the crowd at the continental championships in Brazzaville last June.

Bayor is an AIBA vice-president and executive committee member as well as chairman of Togo’s national Olympic committee.

It found Bayor had “committed serious and unacceptable violations of the AIBA Disciplinary Code” at the tournament in Congo Republic.

AIBA said the ban was from all boxing activities and responsibilities and could not be appealed.

The Congolese Boxing Federation, Fecoboxe, was barred from organising

There is no longer any chance of a late deal with the National Hockey League (NHL) to send players to the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) said on Tuesday.

The NHL had said in April it was not planning to participate at the Games next February as talks for a solution to the problem of halting its league mid-season had not been successful with the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The NHL had been a willing participant in the Olympics since the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan but their decision now will affect every major ice hockey nation as the world’s best players compete in that league. staff.

Long before the match started at 7:00PM (1400GMT), around 9,000 police officers and paramilitary forces were deployed to the area, cordoning off the team’s hotels and stadium.

But the large security presence did little to temper the enthusiasm of fans in the cricket-mad country.

“I came here early to watch the teams come but that was not possible due to security so I only watched them in the ground and it made my day,” said spectator Azfar Ali.

Pakistan, sent into bat by World XI skipper Faf du Plessis, notched 197-5 with Babar Azam hitting a rapid 52-ball 86. His career best Twenty20 score had ten boundaries and two sixes.

Azam added 122 for the second wicket with Ahmed Shehzad (39) as Pakistan built on the loss of opener Fakhar Zaman for eight.

Shoaib Malik smashed a 20-ball 38 with two sixes and four boundaries to give the final touches to the innings.

The World XI started off well with Tamim Iqbal hitting 18 with three boundaries and Hashim Amla smashing three boundaries and a six in his 17-ball 26 but left-arm pacer Rumman Raees dismissed both in the same over to put the brakes on their innings.

Skipper Faf du Plessis hit four Pakistani batsman Ahmed Shahzad (right), eyes the ball before playing a shot as World XI wicketkeeper Tim Paine looks on during the first Twenty20 international match between the World XI and Pakistan at the Gaddafi

Cricket Stadium in Lahore on Sept 12. (AFP) boundaries and a six while Darren Sammy smashed three sixes — both scoring 29 — but were unable to see their team through.

For Pakistan, paceman Sohail Khan and leg-spinner Shadab Khan finished with two wickets apiece.

The second game is on Wednesday and the third on Friday — both in Lahore.

Pakistan hopes the series will help end their international isolation, with Sri Lanka due to play a Twenty20 in October followed by three Twenty20 internationals against the West Indies in November.

Six Pakistani players — Azam, Ashraf, Zaman, Shadab, Raees and Hasan Ali — played their first international match on the home soil.