Wrestling Dropped From 2020 Olympic Games

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The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games. Golf and rugby will be joining the program at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The IOC program commission report analyzed more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity. With no official rankings or recommendations contained in the report, the final decision by the 15-member board was also subject to political, emotional and sentimental factors.
Previously considered under the closest scrutiny was modern pentathlon, which has been on the Olympic program since the 1912 Stockholm Games. It was created by French baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement.
Modern pentathlon combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting — the five skills required of a 19th century cavalry officer. The sport’s governing body, the UIPM, has been lobbying hard to protect its Olympic status, and the efforts apparently paid off.
UIPM President Klaus Schormann had considered traveling from Germany to Lausanne for the decision, but decided to stay away.
“The Olympic movement always needs history,” Schormann told the AP ahead of the IOC decision. “You cannot just say we look only at the future. You can have a future when you are stable on the basic part of history. We are continuing to develop, to renovate, to be innovative and creative. We are very proud of what we achieved so far and want to deliver this as well for the next generations in 2020.”

Federer Demands More Drug Testing

Roger Federer wants biological passports similar to those used in cycling to be introduced to detect doping in tennis.
The Wimbledon champion reiterated his recent claims that blood tests are less frequent than earlier in his career, BBC wrote.
“A blood passport will be necessary as some substances can’t be discovered right now,” said the 31-year-old.
“But there also should be more blood tests and out of competition controls in tennis.”
World number one Novak Djokovic recently complained that the number of tests he has undergone fell in 2012 from the previous year, while Andy Murray called for more money to be spent on testing procedures.
The International Tennis Federation carried out a total of 131 blood tests in and out competition in 2011 - the most recent year for which figures are available - alongside 2,019 urine tests.
Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, introduced biological passports in 2008 to check blood samples against a rider’s original blood profile to detect any subsequent doping.
“I didn’t get tested on blood after the Australian Open and I told the responsible people over there that it was a big surprise for me,” added Federer, who has won a record 17 Grand Slam titles.
“But there also will be more funding needed to make all the tests possible and the Grand Slam tournaments should help to finance that as it is in their best interest to keep the sport clean and credible.”

Ligety Claims 2nd Gold

Ted Ligety claimed his second gold of the world skiing championships Monday, lifting the US to the top of the medals table in Austria.
The 28-year-old from Salt Lake City produced a masterful performance over the two-legged super combined event for an aggregate time of two minutes 56.96 seconds, CNN wrote.
It left him 1.15 seconds faster than Croatian veteran Ivica Kostelic, with Romed Baumann, giving the hosts some rare cheer by taking the final podium spot.
Ligety trailed Baumann by 0.72 seconds after the earlier downhill leg, but showed his all-round skills on the floodlit Planai slope at Schladming in the slalom.
He edged inside the time set by Kostelic, then watched as a succession of challengers, including two-time defending champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, ski out in trying to match his time.
Ligety was already celebrating when Baumann gave Austria just its second bronze of the championships.
“I surely took all the risks this evening after my great downhill run, I knew I had chance for another podium finish today,” Ligety told the official championship website.
“These worlds have been pretty exciting for me so far.
“Now I’m looking forward for another great race in the coming giant slalom.”
Ligety has stepped into the breach after the super-G crash which left fellow American Lindsey Vonn with season-ending injuries.
Vonn was expected to lead the US medal charge in Austria, but Ligety took the men’s super-G title to compensate for her early exit--his first ever major victory in that discipline.
Svindal, the downhill winner, saw his chances go when he straddled a gate in the mid-section of a treacherous course, while Kostelic was disappointed he could not capitalize on a storming earlier run in the downhill.
“I didn’t ski well at all this evening so I am very happy by that silver medal,” he said.
“It’s a lucky medal. I think I didn’t deserve be on the podium after such as bad slalom run following that great downhill leg earlier today. “

Short-Handed Spurs Beat Bulls

Tim Duncan was dressed in street clothes, with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili joining him on the bench. San Antonio’s three biggest stars got up occasionally to cheer on their teammates, but that was the extent of their contribution on Monday.
On this night, the NBA-best Spurs did just fine without them, AP wrote.
Kawhi Leonard had a career-high 26 points and Danny Green scored 18, leading short-handed San Antonio to an impressive 103-89 victory against the Chicago Bulls.
‘’One would hope that you could play with anybody in your system, but it was a tough challenge for them tonight,’’ Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ‘’And I couldn’t be more proud of what they did.’’
Parker, Duncan and Ginobili were all out with injuries, and swingman Stephen Jackson also missed the game due to ‘’personal business,’’ according to the team. With Duncan on the sideline, the Spurs were outrebounded 49-26, including a whopping 17-2 deficit on the offensive glass.
And San Antonio still managed to win, due in large part to 19 Chicago turnovers that the Spurs turned into 29 points.
‘’The approach is still the same, you know, every game,’’ Green said. ‘’It starts with Pop. He does a great job of preparing us, tells us what we need to do. We listen to him.’’
Nate Robinson scored 20 points and Richard Hamilton had 16 for the Bulls, who were coming off a 3-3 road trip - their longest of the season. Carlos Boozer added 14 points and All-Star Joakim Noah pulled down 15 rebounds despite a nagging right foot injury.
‘’When you outrebound somebody like we did and to be in the position we were in, we beat ourselves,’’ Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, lamenting all the turnovers. ‘’They are terrific. They are going to make you pay for your mistakes.’’
San Antonio led by 14 at three different points in the third quarter, but Robinson led the Bulls right back. The streaky point guard converted a twisting reverse layup to trim the Spurs’ lead to 73-69 with 56 seconds left in the period.
Chicago pulled within one in the fourth before the Spurs began to pull away.

Nikara to Race Prodrive Mini in Portugal

Jarkko Nikara will be back in the World Rally Championship when he competes with a Prodrive-built Mini John Cooper Works WRC in Rally Portugal.
The Finn took part in Rally Sweden last weekend, but endured a difficult event and crashed out early on after hitting problems before qualifying, AutoSport reported.
He rejoined the rally under Rally 2 rules, but finished down in 25th position, nearly one hour behind winner Sebastien Ogier.
Nikara had finished a promising fifth on his top-class WRC debut in Spain last year.
Prodrive announced on Monday that the 26-year-old will also be competing in Portugal in April.
“I have definitely improved as the event has gone on and I am pleased with my speed,” the Finn said.
“I have learnt the car more and more as I only had 70km of testing before the event.
“The other guys here have had a lot more time in their cars and they know these stages much better than me, so I am pleased with my performance.
“I am now looking forward to Portugal. I drove there in 2009 in group N and it is an event I like.”

Rio Hopes for Ronaldo Flop

Rio Ferdinand hopes the emotion of facing Manchester United for the first time since leaving will be too much for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has not played against United since leaving in 2009 for a world record £80million - but he will face his former team-mates on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Since leaving United Ronaldo has emerged as one of the greatest players on the planet, but Ferdinand hopes he will not be replicating that form against them.
“It’s obviously going to be an emotional night for Ronaldo and a great night for him too,” said Ferdinand. “But hopefully it gets too emotional for him.
“We’ve had a few texts, but when you get into a situation like this when you’re coming up against a friend, all the texts and the conversations go to one side and you don’t really speak until you actually get the game over and done with.
“He has a great rapport with the fans and there is a mutual respect between them both, which is great.
“The fans appreciated him when he was here and since he’s been gone they sing his name. He came here a young boy and left a world-class player. He showed a lot of respect when he left and still does.
“We’re going to have to use all of our experience, courage and ability to make sure that we stop not only Ronaldo, but the other players they have, because Real are a great team.
“They have so many other weapons. We could shut Ronaldo down for 90 minutes, but they still have players to hurt us, so we have to be compact and work hard.”
United full-back Patrice Evra echoed Ferdinand’s sentiments, saying: “It will be emotional for Ronaldo because he loves Manchester United. I hope the emotion gets to him. That will be perfect for us.
“He will be a tough opponent but we have to make sure we are friends off the pitch and enemies on it. But we don’t have to wind him up before this game because when he is angry he is at his best. We can kill him with love.”
Rafael is likely to be one of the players charged with the task of halting Ronaldo and he is fully aware of what his former team-mate can do. The Brazilian said, “I know what Ronaldo can do because I played and trained with him a lot.
“He’s not the type of opponent where you would say, ‘He’s good, but I don’t know what he can do’. I know what he can do. If you concentrate, that’s the key, reading the game.

De la Rosa Willing To Extend GPDA Role

Pedro de la Rosa is willing to stay on as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) for 2013 now that he has switched to a development role with Ferrari.
The Spaniard took over the senior position at the GPDA at the start of 2012, after Rubens Barrichello had to hand over responsibilities when he moved to IndyCar, AutoSport wrote.
But with de la Rosa having found it difficult to devote enough time to both racing for HRT and fulfilling responsibilities for the GPDA, it was not clear if he would continue in 2013.
However, with HRT having folded and de la Rosa moving to a new job at Ferrari, the Spaniard believes he will be better able to commit to the GPDA role - which is why he is happy to continue if his fellow drivers want him to.
AUTOSPORT understands that F1’s drivers have agreed to meet at the Australian Grand Prix for a vote on who will become their figureheads for 2013.
At the moment, de la Rosa is chairman while Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa have been directors since the start of 2011.
Speaking about the situation, de la Rosa told AUTOSPORT: “If the other drivers want me to continue as chairman, then I am happy to do it.”

Racist Slogans

Inter Milan have been fined 15,000 euros ($20,100) after fans chanted racist slogans about their former striker Mario Balotelli during a Serie A match on Sunday.