Digest

WINTER OLYMPICS

2022 Village outlines operation schedule

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Village will provide round-the-clock services for athletes, coaches and officials during the Games, operating for a total of 53 days across competition zones in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office said on Wednesday that the Village will start trial operations on Jan 23, officially opening on Jan 27 and closing on Feb 23; trial operations for the Paralympics will begin on Feb 23, with the Village opening again on Feb 25 and closing on March 16.

The construction of the Olympic and Paralympic Village in the Beijing competition zone started on Sept 27, 2018 and was completed on June 26 this year.

Situated at the southern end of the National Olympic Sports Center, the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Village consists of 20 buildings covering an area of about 330,000 square meters. It can accommodate 2,338 residents during the Olympics, and 1,040 during the Paralympics, and will also offer catering and medical services.

Organizers send best wishes to injured luger

Beijing 2022 organizers have sent their best regards to Polish luger Mateusz Sochowicz who was injured last week at the National Sliding Center in Yanqing.

Sochowicz fractured his leg on Monday during a training week organized by the International Luge Federation (FIL).

He was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery that night.

"The surgery went well and Mr. Mateusz Sochowicz is recovering," said the official website of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. "We are sending our best wishes for him to get well soon."

Following the incident, the FIL and the venue operational team carried out a thorough inspection of the track and adapted the training sessions, which resumed later that day.

Athletes are currently warming up for the first leg of the Luge World Cup which will take place in Yanqing from Nov 21-22.

SHOOTING

Li beats Olympic champ for maiden world title

Eighteen years after picking up shooting, Li Yuehong can finally call himself a world champion.

The 32-year-old defeated Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Jean Quiquampoix of France to win the men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol title at the ISSF President's Cup (previously known as the World Cup Finals), which concluded on Tuesday in Wroclaw, Poland.

Scoring 592 points to lead the field in qualification, Li made 36 hits in the final, edging Quiquampoix by two hits for the gold medal.

The two-time Olympic bronze medalist also collected the event's Golden Target award.

Li's young teammate Sheng Lihao won gold in the 10m air rifle mixed team event along with Laura-Georgeta Ilie of Romania.

In the individual event, the 17-year-old won silver behind Patrik Jany of Slovakia. Two-time World Cup Finals winner Yang Haoran bowed out of the semifinals in both the individual and team events.

Tokyo 2020 10m air pistol mixed team champion Jiang Ranxin bagged a bronze in the individual event, while Olympic bronze medalist Xiao Jiaruixuan won the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team silver with Peeter Olesk of Estonia.

TENNIS

Murray enthused by 'best win of season'

Andy Murray defeated top-seeded Jannik Sinner 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open.

It was Murray's second victory over a top-10 opponent in the past two weeks after the three-time Grand Slam champion, who has had two hip surgeries, beat Hubert Hurkacz in Vienna.

Murray broke 20-year-old Italian Sinner, who is ranked 10th, twice in the second set on his way to victory. In the opener, the Scot took his first set point after saving the only break point.

"It's probably my best win this season," said the 34-year-old Murray, a former world No 1.

The Briton has reached just his second ATP Tour quarterfinals in the last two years.

"Obviously, if I want to move back up the rankings and have good runs in tournaments again, I need to win these matches," said Murray, who is ranked 143rd. "I want to have a deep run here."

MOTOR SPORTS

Full house for Brazilian race despite pandemic

Organizers at Interlagos are aiming for a triumphant return to the Formula 1 circuit this weekend, with all 170,000 tickets sold for the three days of action.

F1 cut Brazil from its 2020 calendar because of restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Race organizers and local authorities on Wednesday said the 2021 edition will be the biggest total attendance for an event in Brazil since the virus hit the nation.

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix, renamed for this year after a company tried to take the race back to Rio de Janeiro, was allowed to open for full capacity only weeks ago when the state government eased restrictions for November.

Ticket sales began in June, with every batch sold within minutes. Prices ranged between 650 Brazilian reals ($100) and 12,800 Brazilian reals ($2,300).

Brazil has reported more than 610,000 deaths from the coronavirus, but the rate has sharply reduced all over the country. More than 57 percent of its people aged 12 and over are now fully vaccinated. Those figures are at around 70 percent in Sao Paulo.

Xinhua - Agencies