Former chief of Hungary’s swim federation held in 1998 slaying

Ukraine backs down on boycott

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 18, (Agencies): Police arrested the former head of Hungary’s swimming federation after questioning him Tuesday in connection with the 1998 slaying of a business rival.

Authorities identified the man only as T. Gyarfas, saying he is suspected of ordering the killing of media mogul Janos Fenyo, who was fatally shot while his car was stopped at a Budapest traffic light.

Hungarian media said the suspect is 69-year-old Tamas Gyarfas, who led the Hungarian Swimming Federation in 1993-2006 while also holding top positions in European and international swimming organizations and Hungary’s Olympic committee. He also was a key media figure after Hungary’s return to democracy in 1990.

Fenyo, who worked for years as a press photographer, launched a successful chain of video rental stores shortly after returning in 1987 from a stay in the United States. Later, he began building a media company that grew to include popular magazines and newspapers as well as a cable TV channel.

He had a well-known rivalry with Gyarfas, who was the producer and occasional interviewer of “Napkelte” (Sunrise), state television’s widely watched morning program.

In the late afternoon of Feb 11, 1998, Fenyo was shot numerous times with a Croatian-made submachine gun, which later was recovered by police. The assassination shocked the country and speculation about its motive immediately centered on Fenyo’s legal and allegedly illegal

Gyarfas

business dealings. A Slovak man, Jozef Rohac, was sentenced to life in prison last year for Fenyo’s murder, but the person who hired the gunman had not previously been identified.

Police said that last month they met with a prison inmate identified only as T. Portik, who is currently serving a 13-year term for ordering an underworld killing, to question him about suspected involvement in Fenyo’s slaying.

Ukraine has backed down on a sports boycott of neighboring Russia, a month after banning its athletes from competing there.

The Ukrainian government announced the boycott last month, citing Russian involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and its record of doping in sports.

However, with the national wrestling team due to compete at the upcoming European championships in Russia, the boycott measure has been changed.

An updated version of the government decree, published last week, says only that the government does not recommend and will not fund the participation of Ukrainians in Russian competitions.

Britain’s hopes of fielding a team when skateboarding makes its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been thrown into doubt due to a funding crisis.

Governing body Skateboard England lost its Sport England backing earlier this month and chief executive James Hope-Gill fears that plans for the next Olympics could suffer as a result, according to a report in The Times newspaper.

Five sports, including baseball, skateboarding and surfing, will feature in Tokyo as part of the IOC’s revamp of the Games programme to attract a younger audience.