SPORTS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2014 With no kit, equipment India’s athletes face exit NEW DELHI: Two Indian athletes could be forced to tions. We do not get them in India, they have to come the national flag in Sochi.WGFI secretary Roshan Lal Olympic Association (IOA) insisted on holding elec- pull out of next month’s Sochi Olympics because from abroad. Unless the funds come, we can’t even Thakur told AFP that luger Shiva Keshavan, preparing tions two days after the Games open. promised state funds for kit and equipment have not place orders for clothing and equipment. for his fifth Winter Olympics, was safe since he has The IOA last month bowed to pressure from the been released, India’s Winter Games chief said yester- “Besides, our athletes need time to train with the raised money through sponsors for his equipment. International Olympic Committee to keep tainted offi- day. Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) presi- new equipment and there is hardly any time left. We But the fate of the two other qualifiers, alpine skier cials out of key posts-the reason India’s membership dent Surendra Singh Patwal said time was running were due to be in Sochi by February 4” for the Games Himanshu Thakur and cross-country skier Nadeem was frozen in December 2012. out for two of India’s three competitors who each starting on the 7th, he added. Iqbal, rested on getting the money in time. But IOA officials rejected a request from the sports need about $7,500 to take part in the Olympics. “We “We do not get sponsors. So unless the govern- “We have been told the matter is being processed,” ministry to hold fresh elections earlier, possibly at the are still awaiting funds from the government because ment gives us funds, we may have to withdraw at said Thakur. “I just hope they do it fast.” Sports ministry end of January, so that the athletes could compete we do not have money to buy expensive clothing and least two of the three qualifiers.” officials were not immediately available for comment. under the national flag. The IOC has allowed Indian equipment,” Patwal told AFP. Funding is the latest blow for the athletes who Last week, the athletes lost all hope of competing qualifiers to participate at Sochi as “independent ath- “Each equipment has to meet Olympic specifica- were earlier this month deprived of competing under under the flag in Sochi after the suspended Indian letes under the Olympic flag”. — AFP Fernandez and Kostner set to battle Russians BUDAPEST: Defending champions Javier Fernandez and Carolina Kostner will be looking to prevent a Russian title sweep as Europe’s top figure skaters fine-tune their per- formances before next month’s Winter Olympics. Not only will Russian skaters be looking to hit hard to book their berths to their home Games, but the Olympic hosts could very well complete a sweep of all four titles on offer in Budapest for the first time at the Europeans since before the Turin Olympics in 2006. Russia had a tradition of sweeping all the gold medals at pre-Olympic Europeans going back to before the 1998 Maria Hoefl-Riesch Nagano Games, but Kostner spoilt that record when she took gold in 2010 before the Vancouver Games. Kostner, the 2012 world champion, will be bidding for Germany want repeat of her sixth continental title as the 26-year-old Italian veteran returns from a back injury in the women’s event which Vancouver medal haul kicks off the five-days of competition today. She took silver at the worlds last year behind Olympic BERLIN: Germany want to repeat their success- rity despite recent suicide bombings in champion Kim Yu-Na but finished third in her only Grand es in Vancouver four years ago when their ath- Volgograd. The Games open on Feb. 7 in the Prix event this season, the Cup of China, behind Russians letes compete at the Sochi Winter Olympics next Black Sea resort on the western edge of the Anna Pogorilaya and Adelina Sotnikova. Kostner faces a month. The country finished in the top three in Caucasus mountains where insurgents want to stiff challenge from the Russians including last year’s silver the medals table in 2010 along with Canada and carve out an Islamic state. Russian forces have medallist Sotnikova, aged 17 and the national champion, the United States. “Our aim is again to win at gone on combat alert this week in Sochi and least 30 medals like Vancouver or even to exceed around 37,000 personnel are now in place to Grand Prix runner-up Julia Lipnitskaia and Pogorilaya, both that,” German Olympic sports confederation provide security at the Olympics. 15, and 2012 world silver medallist Alena Leonova, 23. general secretary Michael Vesper told reporters The Germans, expected to send a team of After skipping the nationals because of her back injury yesterday. “We want to be on the podium in the 160-plus athletes to the first Winter Games to be the Italian has rejigged her programmes and will be skat- final medals count. held in Russia, are a traditional powerhouse with ing to Schubert’s Ave Maria for Wednesday’s short pro- “It will certainly be no easy task but we will a wide range of medal contenders in almost gramme with her free skate on Friday to Ravel’s Bolero. fight for it. It is an ambitious target but our fed- every sport. Luger Felix Loch, Alpine skier Maria “Due to the time off with my injury I just couldn’t get erations are well positioned and our athletes ful- Hoefl-Riesch and figure skaters Aljona Scheherazade to feel right. Together with Lori Nichol ly motivated.” Vesper said he was confident Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy are among their (choreographer), I decided that I love the tempo, the pac- Russian authorities would offer maximum secu- big-name athletes. — Reuters ing and the energy of Bolero,” she explained. “The short is new. The idea of the ying and yang of the pure angelic and ethereal Ave Maria and the sensual yet bold Bolero just Carolina Kostner inspires me every day.” Russian champion Maxim Kovtun will be bidding to seal his Sochi berth with just one place available on the men’s team. The 18-year-old stunned 2006 Olympic champion Yevgeny Plushenko to win the national title last month. Ricker hoping Plushenko is not competing in Budapest with Russia’s fig- ure skating federation chiefs making their final selection experience pays off Felix Loch after the Europeans. Fernandez was a surprise winner of the men’s title last year in Zagreb becoming the first Spanish figure skater to LONDON: If it were not for the fact that she getting another one and says the pressure of Loch to lead German medal charge medal at an ISU championship and he went on to take will be defending her Olympic snowboard defending is equal to that she experienced cross title in Sochi, Canada’s Maelle Ricker as a home favourite last time. BERLIN: bronze at the worlds. But the Spaniard has struggled this Defending Olympic champion Felix Games, setting the pace and Loch coming in would probably be riding with the crowds at “Yes, I felt the pressure in Vancouver, but I Loch could not have hoped for a better Sochi fifth. “I was satisfied with that run and the holi- season and Kovtum was the only European man to qualify for the Grand Prix final. His season’s best of 240.34 points is the Mount Baker Banked Slalom this think it helped me, especially when I had a 2014 Olympic preparation than leading the day break is more than welcome now before February. The mass participation event south moment in my first qualifying run when I fell. also nearly 10 points better than Fernandez. world standings and claiming the German title Sochi,” the affable German told reporters. of Vancouver features hundreds of boarders “That home support helped me through. days before the end of last year. It is this relaxed approach combined with But Fernandez insists he is not under pressure with the of all ages, styles and standards and it is Now it’s more about the pressure from with- With Germany eager to be among the top the 24-year-old Loch’s extraordinary mental men’s event starting on Thursday with the short pro- where Ricker arguably feels most at home. in. The word defend is coming up a lot and nations on the medals table, the ever-smiling toughness that have made him a household gramme and the free skating final scheduled for Saturday. “The Olympics is the pinnacle, the X it’s a different sort of pressure and it scares Loch is aware of the pressure resting on him, name in his sport and helped him win more “For now I’m calm,” said the 22-year-old. “I’m training Games is great and there is the marquee of me a little more.” Ricker’s season so far has given his country’s dominance in the sport. gold medals than any other color in all compe- hard with the intention of peaking at Sochi. In skating the World championships, but for me Mount not gone entirely to plan and she is yet to German athletes have won four of the last titions. The Thuringia-born Loch, who now lives there are many ups and downs of your fitness and you Baker is up there,” the 35-year-old told add to the 16 victories she has had in the six individual luge gold medals, interrupted in the heart of the Alps at Bavaria’s Koenigssee, want to get there 100percent.