IN BRIEF (Page 23)

Bobsled

Australia's Pittman making bid for Sochi

Former hurdles world champion Jana Pittman plans to swap the track for a half-pipe and break into Australia's bobsled team for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Pittman, who won the world 400m hurdles titles in 2003 and 2007, despite being plagued by injuries throughout her career, will bid for the brakeman's role behind two-time Olympian Astrid Radjenovic in the two-woman team for Sochi.

Olympics

India elections go on despite suspension

India's Olympic Association shrugged off its suspension from the IOC by pressing ahead on Wednesday with a vote to install the organizer of the scandal-plagued 2010 Commonwealth Games as its new head. A day after the IOC ordered the scrapping of Wednesday's internal elections in India, the national association insisted it had no option but to hold the polls in which the outcome is a formality.

Soccer

Colombia goalkeeper Calero dies at 41

Former Colombia and Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero died at the age of 41 in Mexico on Tuesday, one week after being taken to hospital with cerebral thrombosis. "Pachuca is deeply saddened to report that Miguel Angel Rodriguez Calero, a symbol of the club, died on Tuesday," Mexico's oldest team said. Calero won 51 caps for his country, making his debut against Nigeria in 1995 and playing his last game against Haiti in 2009.

Ex-World Cup ref returns home

Former World Cup referee Byron Moreno, jailed for two years in the United States for smuggling heroin, has been repatriated to his native Ecuador after purging his sentence, officials said on Tuesday. The 43-year-old Moreno was expelled from the US along with 54 other Ecuadorians, Ecuador's Immigration Ministry said.

NFL

Griffin banned four games for doping

Washington Redskins cornerback Cedric Griffin will miss the rest of the regular season after receiving a four-game ban for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances. Griffin's ban begins immediately and he will be eligible to return to Washington's active roster on Dec 31, a day after his team's regular-season finale against the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL said on Tuesday.

Table Tennis

Event invites expats to join the fun

The 2012 International Friends Table Tennis Competition will be held on Dec 15 at the Chinese national table tennis training base (the Western International Training Center of the Chinese Table Tennis Association) in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The event is sponsored by the Chengdu municipal bureau of sports and the city's foreign affairs office and organized by the Western International Training Center of Chinese Table Tennis Associations.

Miscellaneous

Feeding frenzy for athletes

More than 300 chefs, who specialize in catering to Chinese athletes, will demonstrate their skills at an event organized by the China National Sports Training Center and the Hubei Sports Bureau at the Hubei Olympic Sports Center in Wuhan from Friday to Sunday. A seminar will also be held and is expected to draw participants from most of the country's training bases.

Reuters-AFP-China Daily

(China Daily 12/06/2012 page23)