Five wrestlers secure slots in Olympic elims
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine wrestling team is assured of five participants for each of the coming Olympic Games qualifying rounds this year.
The Philippine team members are SEA Games champions Margarito Angana Jr. and Jason Balabal, young wrestlers Alvin Lobreguito and Roxel Jandog, and playing coach Violeto Agustin.
Wrestling Association of the Philippines (WAP) president Albert Balde said they secured the slots in the 2012 Asian Senior Wrestling Championship held Feb. 14-20 in Gumi City, South Korea.
The continental-level championship was a prerequisite of the international federation of wrestling for the coming OG qualifying rounds in Astana, Kazakhstan (Mar. 28-Apr. 2), Taiyuan, China (Apr. 24-30), and Helsinki, Finland (May 4-6)....
In war-ravaged Afghanistan, combat sports reign
KABUL - The sounds produced by the three Afghan athletes going to the London summer Olympics are fierce: elongated wails ricochet off the chipped and dilapidated walls of the taekwondo centre, while leather smacks and slaps at the boxing gym.
In a country wrenched by decades of war, perhaps it is no surprise that all three, a taekwondo male duo including Beijing bronze medalist Rohullah Nikpai, and teenage female boxer Sadaf Rahimi, followed fighting sports.
They were born into conflict that still rages, and chronic insecurity and poverty mean they train in spartan spaces with little financial support, and currently freezing cold in the country's worst winter for 30 years....
Test events keep London organizers on their toes
LONDON—Test events for the London Olympics have led organisers to revise some of their plans, including moving mounds of earth to reconfigure the BMX track, after unexpected problems came to light.
Speaking ahead of a Diving World Cup event at the new Aquatics Centre, London 2012's director of sport Debbie Jevans told Reuters that the 30 test events so far had provided invaluable feedback for the Games starting on July 27.
"The reason that we run these events is to make sure that we get it right at Games time," she explained as athletes tested the springboards and platforms in the sweeping Zaha Hadid-designed building....
Dakar Rally winner takes aim at fifth Olympic Games
LONDON—Disappointment in the deserts of South America has turned to Olympic delight on the shooting range for Qatar's 2011 Dakar Rally winner and eagle-eyed marksman Nasser Al-Attiyah.
For had he not failed to defend his Dakar title last month, the 41-year-old rally driver would not now be contemplating his fifth successive Games.
That retirement—between Antofagasta and Iquique in Chile—from one of the most grueling and dangerous events in motorsport allowed him to dash home and compete in the Asian shooting championships where he equaled the clay pigeon world record with a maximum 150 points from 150.
In a telephone interview with Reuters from Sweden, where this month he made his world rally championship debut in snow and ice for champions Citroen, Al-Attiyah said he was a very lucky athlete....
Football venue for London 2012 Summer Olympics gets 'white elephant' tag
LONDON - London's Olympic Stadium is not fit for football and risks turning into a white elephant after this year's Games, the chairman of third-tier English club Leyton Orient warned on Thursday.
Barry Hearn, whose club is close to the 500 million pound ($784.67 million) stadium in a previously rundown part of east London, has long been against a bigger side like second tier West Ham United moving into the venue and his patch after 2012.
A football tenant for the stadium, which will retain its athletics track after the Games and will host the 2017 athletics world championships, seems the most likely....
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