Digest

BEIJING 2022

Olympic park proves big hit during holiday

The newly opened Beijing Winter Olympic Park proved to be a popular destination for tourists during the National Day Holiday.

One of the highlights of the park, which is located close to the Beijing 2022 organizing committee's headquarters, is a 42-kilometer riverside marathon course.

The marathon route traverses the natural landscape of the Yongding River and the Western Hills, as well as incorporating elements of Shougang Industrial Park and venues for the Winter Olympics.

There are also 2-km, 10-km and half-marathon routes to meet the diverse needs of residents.

On the first day of the holiday, Li Dong, the leader of a running club in Beijing, came to the Winter Olympic Park early with fellow runners to test out the new marathon track.

"This course is wide and flat, and the difficulty level is moderate," said Li, after completing more than 10 kilometers.

"There is plenty of nice scenery along the route, and you can also see urban landscapes like Shougang Big Air and the new Shougang Bridge. I don't feel tired after running this track."

The park covers a total area of about 1,142 hectares, including 326 hectares of water surface and 506 hectares of green space.

RUNNING

Details confirmed for Beijing Marathon

This year's Beijing Marathon will be staged on Oct 31 with a 7:30 am start, the race's organizing committee confirmed on Saturday.

Open to a field of around 30,000 runners, the marathon will start at Tian'anmen Square and end at the Olympic Forest Park in the north of the capital. The closing time is 13:45 pm.

This year's race is open only to permanent residents of Beijing who are over 20 years old (born before Dec 31, 2001).

Runners need to provide evidence of having completed a marathon within six hours, or three hours for the half-marathon, between Jan 1, 2019 and Sept 23 this year.

Runners must stay in Beijing for 21 days before the race and declare their health status online every day during that period. They are also required to display a green health code on their phone, a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours of the start date and a vaccination certificate.

Elite domestic athletes, who will be under closed-loop management, will be invited to compete. Last year's race was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SOCCER

Ibrahimovic ruled out of Sweden qualifiers

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has withdrawn from Sweden's squad for its upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Greece, with the national team saying on Saturday the striker hasn't fully recovered from a knee injury.

Ibrahimovic, who turned 40 on Sunday, was called up by Sweden last week, with coach Janne Andersson saying he was hopeful the veteran could play.

However, Andersson said Saturday that the AC Milan striker "is not so far ahead in his rehabilitation that he can be part of" the squad.

"Sad for us but also sad for Zlatan as well," Andersson added.

Ibrahimovic missed this summer's European Championship with a knee injury and has played just once this season for Milan, scoring in a 2-0 Serie A win over Lazio on Sept 12.

Sweden currently sits second in Group B of European qualifying, four points behind Spain with two games in hand.

Klopp: Anti-vax stance akin to drink-driving

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said people should get vaccinated against the coronavirus for the same reason they should not drink and drive.

Reports last week suggested only seven of the 20 English Premier League clubs have over 50 percent of their squads fully vaccinated.

Klopp claims that has not been an issue at Liverpool. "I can say we have 99 percent vaccinated," he said.

"I didn't have to convince the players, it was more a natural decision from the team. I can't remember talking to a player and explaining to him why he should because I am not a doctor."

And he offered a withering analogy for those holding out against getting vaccinated.

"It's a little bit like drink-driving. We probably all had a situation where we had a beer or two and thought 'I could still drive', but under the law we are not allowed to drive," said the German.

"The law is not there to protect me when I've had two beers and want to drive, it is there to protect all the other people because I am drunk and want to drive a car."

Xinhua - Agencies