Thu, Jun 20, 2024 page7

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  • Agencies
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  OLYMPICS

  China names swim squad

  China would send 11 swimmers implicated in a major doping scandal to next month’s Paris Olympics, after the country on Tuesday named its squad for the Games. Twenty-three Chinese swimmers tested positive for the prescription heart drug trimetazidine — which can enhance performance — ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Games, it emerged in April. They were not sanctioned after the World Anti-Doping Agency accepted the argument of Chinese authorities that the positive tests were caused by contaminated food. This month the New York Times reported that three among the 23 swimmers, including two going to Paris, had also tested positive for a different banned substance, clenbuterol, in separate cases in 2016 and 2017. US swimmer Lilly King on Friday last week called the most recent revelations “disappointing and frustrating.” “You know, when we put everything on the line ... everything that we do to compete with a level playing field, it’s extremely frustrating to not have faith that others are doing the same thing,” she said.

  GOLF

  PGA gives Woods exemption

  Tiger Woods would be able to gain entry to all PGA Tour signature events after the circuit’s policy board on Tuesday voted to grant him a special exemption due to “exceptional lifetime achievement.” The move would give Woods access to the Tour’s eight signature tournaments, all of which award large prize money and extra points in the FedEx Cup standings despite possessing smaller fields than standard events.

  ATHLETICS

  Johnson starts new league

  US athletics great Michael Johnson on Tuesday announced the launch of a new track league that would include the “best of the best” competing in four elite meetings every year from 2025. Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medalist turned commentator for the BBC, said Grand Slam Track would debut in April 2025 with two three-day meetings in the US and two international stops, with prize money of about US$3 million on offer at each meeting. One US venue would be Los Angeles, host city of the 2028 Olympics, Johnson said. “People love racing. People want to see the best of the best, and at the core of Grand Slam Track is the best of the best athletes, only the fastest, competing head to head against one another four times a year,” he said. The meets would feature track races only, no field events, divided into categories of short sprints, long sprints, high hurdles, low hurdles, middle distance and long distance, with men’s and women’s races in each category.

  SOCCER

  Asian league offers US$12m

  The winners of the new Asian Champions League Elite would pocket a minimum of US$12 million, the Asian Football Confederation said yesterday in a major boost to club soccer in the region. The competition, which starts with a preliminary round in August, is at the heart of a major revamp of club soccer across the continent and involves 27 clubs from 12 nations including Japan, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia. The first prize is a threefold increase from the sum won by Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates last month in the final edition of the Asian Champions League under its previous format.
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