Scott takes a stand /Bronze medallist snubs drug cheat Sun at ceremony
Scotland’s Duncan Scott was given an official FINA warning for refusing to acknowledge gold medallist Sun Yang – who has served a drugs ban – after taking World Championship bronze in the 200m freestyle.
Scott, who dead-heated in third with Russia’s Martin Malyutin, observed the national anthem then stepped off the podium and refused to engage with China’s Sun, who was also warned by swimming’s ruling body after apparently saying to Scott: “You’re a loser – I’m a winner.”
On Monday, Australian Mack Horton also refused to share the podium with Sun after taking silver in the 400m freestyle.
As well as the previous ban, Sun is facing a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing over a decision to clear him of a further doping offence and many of his rivals believe he should not be competing.
Two Scots – Sandy Scott and Euan Walker – have taken a big step towards playing in this year’s Walker Cup after surviving captain Craig Watson’s first cull for the match at Royal Liverpool.
Watson had named an initial 26-strong squad for the biennial clash, but that has now been cut to just 16 as the battle for just 10 spots reaches the nitty-gritty stage for an event on 7-8 September.
Nairn man Scott and Walker from Kilmarnock (Barassie) both have a good chance of making the final selection after producing some strong performances since they were among six Scots included in that initial squad.
In his penultimate year at Texas Tech University, Scott landed a breakthrough success on the US college circuit in the El Macero Classic in Texas before helping an international team win the Arnold Palmer Cup in Arkansas.
As for Walker, he was already in the mix after winning the African Amateur Championship at Leopard Creek and strengthened his claim considerably by finishing runner-up in both the Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship in successive weeks last month.
James Sugrue, Walker’s conqueror at Portmarnock, spearheads the revised squad, which also includes Alex Fitzpartrick, younger brother of European Tour winner Matt. As a reward for their efforts since being left out of the original group, English trio Matty Lamb, david langley and joshua Mcmahon have all been added to the list.
“We have monitored results of the players originally selected since we last got together as a squad, while also keeping an eye on the performances of other players not included,” said Watson, who was due to be at the helm for the 2017 match in Los Angeles before stepping aside due to a family reason.
“We have brought in three new players who have had encouraging results in recent events and we look forward to working with them and the other players when we meet up at Royal Liverpool this week.”