Olympics
Nigerian table tennis players to know Olympic opponents today
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As the official draw for the table tennis competitions of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games takes place this Wednesday Nigeria’s trio of Olajide Omotayo, Offiong Edem, and Fatimo Bello will know their first-round opponents when the event kicks off on July 27 at South Paris Arena.
A total of 172 players, (86 in men’s and 86 in women’s category), will compete across five medal events (two per gender and a mixed) at the Paris Olympic Games, while Omotayo who will be making his second appearance at the games will start his campaign from the Preliminary Rounds of the Men’s Singles.
Like Omotayo, Edem who is making her fifth Olympic Games appearance as well as debutant Bello will also start their participation in the Preliminary Rounds of the Men’s Singles.
As one of the top 16 seeds, Quadri Aruna will commence his fifth Olympic Games campaign from Round of 64 which will commence on July 28.
Aruna, whose best outing at the Olympic Games was at Rio 2016 in Brazil where he defied odds to reach the quarterfinal of the Men’s Singles as the first African to attain the height.
However, Egypt’s Omar Assar equalled Aruna’s quarterfinal feat at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 when the 2023 African Games champion worked his way into the last eight of the Men’s Singles in Japan.
Apart from Aruna and Assar who are among the top 16 seeds, other Africans like Egypt’s trio of Dina Meshref, Hana Goda, and Mohamed El-Beiali as well as Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw, Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou, Algeria’s duo of Mehdi Bouloussa and Lyna Loghraibi including history-making 21-year-old Fabio Rakotoarimanana of Madagascar will all begin their quest from the Preliminary Rounds of the Men’s and Women’s Singles on July 27.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old Chinese legend Ma Long, who is considered the undisputed king of table tennis, prepares for what could be his final Olympic hurrah in Paris.
With five Olympic gold medals, the most of any player, Ma Long’s legacy is already cemented.
His journey to the top began in 2012 when he secured his first Olympic gold as part of China’s dominant Men’s Team. Four years later, in Rio 2016, Ma Long’s legend truly ignited. He displayed a mastery of the racket, showcasing both offensive prowess and tactical brilliance as he clinched his first Men’s Singles gold medal. This victory cemented his place as a top contender and a force to be reckoned with on the world stage.
Tokyo 2020 wasn’t just another year for Ma Long. He defied expectations and accomplished the unthinkable – defending his Men’s Singles title. This historic feat had never been achieved before, solidifying him as an Olympic legend. Ma Long also secured a team gold, adding another chapter to his already impressive Olympic resumé. His haul of five Olympic gold medals, combined with three singles world titles and the record for the longest reign at number one in the world rankings, leaves no doubt that Ma Long is the undisputed greatest table tennis player in history. Now, in Paris, Ma Long sets his sights on potentially adding another team gold to his collection.
Olympics
Paris to name sports venue after dead Ugandan Olympian Cheptegei
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The French capital will pay tribute to Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set on fire by her boyfriend, by naming a sports facility in her honour, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday.
The marathon runner, who competed in the Paris Games last month died on Thursday, four days after she was doused in petrol and ignited by her boyfriend in Kenya, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country.
The 33-year-old, who finished 44th in her Olympic Games debut, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in Sunday’s attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported.
“She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it was in all likelihood her beauty, strength and freedom which were intolerable for the person who committed this murder,” Hidalgo told reporters.
“Paris will not forget her. We’ll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Cheptegei is the third prominent sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described Cheptegei’s death as a loss “to the entire region”.
“This is a critical moment— not just to mourn the loss of a remarkable Olympian, but to commit ourselves to creating a society that respects and protects the dignity of every individual,” Uganda’s Athletes commission Chair Ganzi Semu Mugula said on Friday.
-Reuters
Olympics
Row over plan to keep Olympic rings on Eiffel Tower
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Engineer’s descendants say French capital landmark ‘not intended as advertising platform’
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the move, but others – including heritage campaigners – said it was a bad idea and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the move, but others – including heritage campaigners – said it was a bad idea and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
The five rings – 29m (95ft) wide, 15m high and weighing 30 tonnes – were installed on the Eiffel Tower before the Paris Olympics opened on 26 July, and were expected to be taken down after the Paralympics’ closing ceremony on 8 September.
But Ms Hidalgo said she wanted to keep the interlaced rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red, symbolising the five continents.
She added that the current rings – each one measuring 9m in diameter – were too heavy and would be replaced by a lighter version at some point.
The Socialist mayor also claimed that “the French have fallen in love with Paris again” during the Games, and she wanted “this festive spirit to remain”.
Some Parisians as well as visitors to the French capital supported the mayor.
“The Eiffel Tower is very beautiful, the rings add colour. It’s very nice to see it like this,” a young woman, who identified herself as Solène, told the France Bleu website.
But Manon, a local resident, said this was “a really bad idea”.
“It’s a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics but now it’s over, we can move on, maybe we should remove them and return the Eiffel Tower to how it was before,” he told France Bleu.
Social media user Christophe Robin said Ms Hidalgo should have consulted Parisians before going ahead with her plan.
In a post on X, he reminded that the Eiffel Tower featured a Citroën advert in 1925-36.
The Eiffel Tower was built in1889 for the World’s Fair. The wrought-iron lattice tower was initially heavily criticised by Parisian artists and intellectuals – but is now seen by many as the symbol of the “City of Light”.
Ms Hidalgo, who has been running Paris since 2014, is known for her bold – and sometimes controversial – reforms.
Under her tenure, many city streets, including the banks of the river Seine, have been pedestrianised.
Last year, she won convincingly a city referendum to ban rental electric scooters. However, fewer than 8% of those eligible turned out to vote.
But both drivers’ groups and opposition figures attacked the scheme, saying the SUV classification was misleading as many family-size cars would be affected.
France’s Environment Minister Christophe Béchu said at the time that the surcharge amounted to “punitive environmentalism”.
And just before the Paris Olympics, Ms Hidalgo and other officials went into the Seine to prove the river was safe to swim.
-BBC
Olympics
AIU files appeal with CAS against America’s Olympic sprinter, Knighton
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The Athletics Integrity Unit said on Wednesday it has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the case that cleared American sprinter Erriyon Knighton of a doping offence, thus allowing him to compete at the Paris Olympics.
Knighton, 20, tested positive for a banned substance in March but avoided a ban as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said an independent arbitrator ruled it was likely caused by contaminated meat and that he was not at fault and had not acted with negligence.
The finding cleared the 200 metres world silver medallist to run at the U.S. Olympic trials in June and he went on to compete in Paris where he finished fourth in the men’s 200m final.
The AIU, an independent body created in 2017 by World Athletics to manage integrity issues for the sport of athletics, said it has challenged the first instance decision that Knighton had established no fault or negligence.
“This appeal is against the decision of an arbitration tribunal in the United States that the athlete established no fault or negligence after USADA brought charges against the athlete for the presence of epitrenbolone and use of trenbolone,” the AIU said on X.
USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart said in a statement on Wednesday he understood the AIU’s reasons for appealing the case, which he called an example of the system at work, before pointing a finger at the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“The real issue in this case is WADA’s bad rule. Trenbolone, the substance in Knighton’s case, is a known livestock enhancer and known to be found in the meat supply,” Tygart said.
“We have advocated for the rules around contamination to formally change for years, and WADA has refused to act swiftly.”
U.S. and global anti-doping authorities have been at loggerheads since the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were allowed to compete.
-Reuters
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