Digest

WINTER OLYMPICS

Three debutants in British skeleton team

Olympic medalist Laura Deas will lead a British skeleton team that features three Olympic debutants at Beijing 2022.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) on Wednesday named Deas, Brogan Crowley, Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt as its four-person skeleton team to compete at the National Sliding Center in Yanqing. Deas, 33, is the most experienced member of the team. She won a bronze medal at the Pyeongchang Games four years ago when teammate Lizzy Yarnold retained her title.

"Being selected for a second Olympic Games feels like a huge honor and it's something I've worked incredibly hard to achieve," said Deas.

Deas and the 27-year-old Crowley will take part in the women's event while Weston and Wyatt will compete in the men's competition.

"I still can't believe it's real! Being selected to not only go to the Olympics but be aiming for medals is a dream I have had since I can remember," said the 24-year-old Weston, who won a World Cup gold medal in Innsbruck, Austria, last November and was previously a silver medalist at the same venue in December 2020.

"I can't wait to head back out to the best track I've raced on this season and enjoy every moment," added Weston.

Saudi Arabia 'excited' as history beckons

Abdulaziz Albaqous, director of corporate communications at the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, on Tuesday expressed his country's excitement at taking part in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Saudi Arabian skiers Salman Al Howaish and Fayik Abdi have qualified for next month's Games.

The two Alpine skiers will become the first-ever athletes from Saudi Arabia, as well as the wider Gulf region, to compete at the Winter Olympics.

"We are happy that the Games are happening in Beijing and hopefully this city will mark some remarkable moments and memories for us that will stay in our sports memories forever," Albaqous told Xinhua.

He stressed the Saudi Kingdom's full trust in the capability of the Chinese Olympic family of organizing such a large-scale event.

"We do remember the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games; it was one of the best Olympic Games that were organized," he added.

TABLE TENNIS

Top-ranked Fan, Chen advance in Macao

The World Table Tennis (WTT)Champions Macao 2021 China Stars tournament kicked off on Wednesday, with world No 1s Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng easing through to the quarterfinals.

Fan beat local paddler Cheong Chi Cheng 11-9, 11-9, 11-6, while teammates Lin Shidong, Wang Chuqin and Lin Gaoyuan also advanced to the last eight of the men's draw.

Chen was one of the winners in the women's category, along with Wang Xiaotong, Liu Weishan and Zhang Rui.

There were also victories in the mixed doubles for Chinese pairs Fan Zhendong and Kuai Man, Xiang Peng and Zhang Rui, Xue Fei and Wang Xiaotong, and Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.

SOCCER

Messi to miss qualifiers amid COVID recovery

Lionel Messi will miss Argentina's 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia as he continues to recover from a bout of COVID-19, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) said on Wednesday.

The news came a day after the Argentina captain returned to training for his club, Paris Saint-Germain, following four weeks of inactivity.

The AFA published a 27-man list for the qualifiers, to be played in Calama, northern Chile, on Jan 27 and the central Argentine city of Cordoba five days later. The entity did not mention Messi in a brief statement that accompanied the list.

Messi, 34, has not played since PSG drew 1-1 at Lorient in France's Ligue 1 on Dec 22. Last week, the forward said he had taken longer than expected to shake the virus.

Argentina is second in the 10-team South American qualifying group and is already guaranteed a place at soccer's showpiece tournament in Qatar, to be played from Nov 21 to Dec 18.

Robinho's nine-year rape sentence upheld

Former Brazil forward Robinho had a nine-year sentence for the rape of a young woman upheld by Italy's top court on Wednesday.

Brazil does not extradite its own citizens when they are sentenced in other countries, although Robinho risks being arrested if he travels abroad to a country that has an agreement with Italy－nearly 70 nations, including the United States, Argentina and anywhere in the European Union－and Italy issues an international arrest warrant.

Robinho was handed the jail sentence in 2017 for his part in the group sexual assault that took place four years previously, during the period he was playing for AC Milan. Another member of the group, Ricardo Falco, was also sentenced to nine years in jail but the other four men were not found by Italian police.

Italian media reports said the victim was celebrating her 23rd birthday in Milan on the night.

Xinhua - Agencies