Digest

OLYMPICS

Games 'will promote solidarity, cooperation'

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will promote solidarity and cooperation and should not be politicized, a leading Cambodian scholar has said.

Any attempt to politicize the Games and sports "can damage the Olympic spirit as well as the purity of the Olympic Movement," Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said Wednesday.

Phea made the remarks during an international conference on China's role in the 21st century and its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Noting that Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both Summer and Winter Olympics, Phea said China is striving to stage "streamlined, safe and splendid "Games with comprehensive measures in place to guard against COVID-19.

Phea's comments were echoed by Cambodian government chief spokesman Phay Siphan, who told Xinhua that "countries should not politicize the Olympics because it is against the Olympic spirit".

The United States is among a handful of countries to opt for a diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022.

Japanese star Hanyu poised for comeback

Two-time Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu will compete in his first event in eight months when he takes to the ice at Japan's national championships on Friday.

The 27-year-old's appearance had been in doubt after he pulled out of a practice session and canceled a news conference Wednesday afternoon at Saitama's Super Arena.

Hanyu has been drawn in Group 4 and is scheduled to perform in Friday's short program as the 28th of 32 skaters in the men's event.

Hanyu, who finished third at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, last competed at the World Team Championships in Osaka, Japan in April.

He pulled out of the NHK Trophy in Tokyo last month after injuring his right ankle ligaments in a fall during practice.

Tokyo 2020 'cost $1.8b less than anticipated'

The Tokyo Olympics cost $1.8 billion less than expected, local organizers said Wednesday, 4 1/2 months after the Games ended.

Organizers said the estimated official costs were $13.6 billion. Officials said part of the reduction was because there were no spectators－forced by the pandemic－and therefore vastly reduced labor costs. They also said other outlays were lower than expected.

Official estimates over the last year said the costs would be $15.4 billion. However, government audits over several years suggested the real costs were much higher－perhaps twice the official estimates.

Olympic costs are notoriously difficult to track, and there is always debate about what constitutes those costs. A study by the University of Oxford concluded that Tokyo was the most expensive Olympics on record.

SOCCER

Barca agrees fee for City forward Torres

Barcelona has agreed a fee worth an initial 55 million euros ($62 million) for highly rated Manchester City forward Ferran Torres, according to reports in Spain and England on Wednesday.

The Spanish international, 22, joined City from Valencia for a fee of around $27 million in August 2020.

Torres has scored 16 goals in 43 appearances for the English champion as City won the Premier League, League Cup and reached the final of the Champions League during his only full season in Manchester.

But his second season at City has been disrupted by a fractured foot that has kept him out since October.

Barca is looking to bolster its forward line after City's all-time record scorer Sergio Aguero was forced to retire earlier this month due to a heart condition, just months into his spell with the Catalan giant.

La Liga implements daily antigen testing

Players from Spain's top two divisions will undergo daily antigen tests for COVID-19, according to new health protocols established by the Spanish league on Wednesday.

La Liga said that 95 percent of players have received two doses of vaccines, but "with the appearance of new variants like Omicron, it is necessary to not drop our guard".

The league, which runs the top two divisions, is tightening controls to face a new wave of infections driven by the more contagious Omicron variant. So far, only one game－this week's Lugo vs. Almeria match in the second division－has been postponed after Lugo detected an outbreak that infected 23 people.

But La Liga leader Real Madrid has been hard hit as well, with eight reported infections among its first-team squad, including star midfielder Luka Modric.

COVID-fearing player 'reluctant to leave car'

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard said fear of COVID-19 is so heightened that one of his players was reluctant to get out of his car.

An outbreak at Villa saw its Premier League match against Burnley last Saturday postponed at short notice, with Gerrard warning Wednesday that it will be a "nightmare" if the Birmingham club has to tackle two matches in two days with just 14 players available.

"We had a situation at the weekend where one of the players was reluctant to get out of his car because he had some symptoms and he's got a young family, and you can totally understand his view in his situation," Gerrard said.

"This is a guy who's got a young family, it is Christmas time, and that's the situation everyone is in."

Xinhua - Agencies