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Home , Ali Mall, Muhammad Ali Center, Thrilla in Manila

TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2016 SPORTS

Six Russian weightlifters, judo champion banned for doping MOSCOW: Six Russian weightlifters, mitted last year. The agency did not track and field team to compete at the “no” during a question-and-answer ses- athletes aged 10 and over in more than including former world and European publish details of the offenses. Olympics. The team was suspended in sion on Twitter when asked if the min- 3,000 state sports academies. “Our job of junior champions, have been banned Russia’s weightlifting team is already November after a World Anti-Doping istry’s recent conciliatory tone toward eradicating doping from sport will be for doping violations, the country’s under pressure after four of its top ath- Agency commission’s report alleged WADA was matched by acceptance of considerably helped by teaching chil- national anti-doping agency said yes- letes, including world record holder drug use was systematic and sponsored the accusation that it had a role in dop- dren from an early age that this is not terday. The agency said 2014 world jun- Alexei Lovchev, were banned for dop- by the Russian state. ing. “The state has taken a lead in doing acceptable in our society,” the acting ior champion Larisa Kobeleva received ing at November’s world champi- Also yesterday, the Russian Sports everything to demonstrate we are head of the Russian anti-doping agency, a four-year ban, while 2014 European onships. Lovchev has appealed. The Ministry pledged to add anti-doping reforming and have nothing to hide,” Anna Antseliovich, said in the ministry junior champion Nadezhda agency also announced a four-year ban education to the curriculum in all she tweeted. statement. Antseliovich’s agency is cur- Ovchinnikova was suspended for two for Russian judo champion Pyotr schools. However, it maintained that The ministry said there will be com- rently suspended from collecting sam- years. The four other weightlifters Khachirov. The latest bans come less doping had not been state sponsored. pulsory lessons for “millions of children” ples after the WADA commission’s report received sanctions of between four and than two weeks before a key vote by Nataliya Zhelanova, anti-doping adviser in schools across Russia and more spe- accused its employees of helping to cov- eight years for doping offenses com- the IAAF on whether to allow Russia’s to Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, wrote cialized education addressed at young er up doping.— AP

Ali’s body returns back to his hometown Louisville

LOUISVILLE: The family of legend from life support on Friday, Gunnell said. on Sunday accompanied “Our hearts are literally hurting. But we are his body back to his hometown Louisville, happy daddy is free now,” one of Ali’s nine ahead of a public funeral procession and children, daughter Hana, wrote on Twitter. service expected to draw huge crowds in “We all tried to stay strong and whispered honor of “The Greatest.” Former president in his ear, ‘You can go now. We will be okay,’” Bill Clinton and comedian Billy Crystal are she wrote. among those due to speak Friday at a Political leaders, sports figures, celebri- memorial in a sports arena in the ties and fans around the world paused to city where Ali-a three-time world heavy- remember “The Greatest,” whose remark- weight champion-grew up and threw his able career spanned three decades. first punches. “Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period,” The charismatic Ali, a dazzling fighter US President Barack Obama said. “His fight and outspoken civil rights activist who outside the ring would cost him his title became one of the 20th century’s most and his public standing. It would earn him towering figures, died on Friday at age 74 enemies on the left and the right, make after health problems complicated by a him reviled and nearly send him to jail. But long battle with Parkinson’s disease. “Ali is Ali stood his ground.” Tributes for Ali-who now home,” Louisville Mayor converted to Islam in the 1960s-even came tweeted. A private plane carrying the cas- from Iran, where Foreign Minister ket and Ali’s relatives arrived in Louisville, Mohammad Javad Zarif called him the largest city in Kentucky, from Arizona, “#TheGreatest in the ring and in where he died. for justice, dignity and peace.” The casket was loaded into a hearse and taken to a local funeral home, where STELLAR CAREER dozens of fans were waiting to show their Ali’s career stretched from 1960 to 1981 support, local CBS affiliate WLKY reported. and he retired with a record of 56-5, includ- SAN FRANCISCO: This Sept 27, 1975 file photo shows Belinda Ali, wife of heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, talking with news people after Also on Sunday, interfaith services were ing such historic bouts as the “Rumble in arriving in San Francisco from Manila. Muhammad Ali was in the in 1975, preparing for the iconic Rumble in the Jungle with Joe held at Louisville’s Islamic Center in Ali’s the Jungle” against in Frazier and was seen about town with Veronica Porsche, a woman he introduced as his wife. The only problem was, Ali had a wife back home in honor. Fischer told AFP that the city-whose 1974 in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Chicago, and she wasn’t happy when she heard the news.—AP residents have left flowers, balloons and Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). “He hit tributes at Ali’s childhood home-was ready me with a quick one-two, knocked me for a massive celebration to honor its most down to the canvas and my whole life famous son. “The Champ was a supernatu- changed,” Foreman told CNN of the epic How Ali ‘Thrilla’ left its ral figure who crossed all kinds of bound- “Rumble.” “I was devastated,” he said. “Little aries, from athletics to arts, to humanitarian did I know I would make the best friend I activities, from black to white, from ever had in my life.” Other defining Christians to Islam, and he belongs to the moments of Ali’s career included two mark on the Philippines world,” he said. “There will be people com- of Sonny Liston and his rivalry ing from all over.” with . MANILA: A bustling shopping mall forms an especially the ‘Thrilla’, which briefly put an because the table was shaking from the The mayor said plans for Ali’s last unlikely monument to the “”, but impoverished, Southeast Asian dictatorship in exchanges inside of the ring. “It was that brutal. farewell had been in the works for “quite CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR Muhammad Ali’s most brutal fight made its the centre of the world’s view. They were at each other from round one.” some time,” and that the city-host of horse Ali-born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr on biggest impression on the minds of those who racing’s elite , which draws January 17, 1942 - dazzled fans with slick witnessed it and still speak of it with awe. The ‘BLOOD SPATTERED FAR AND WIDE’ DECLINE AND FALL crowds of nearly 200,000 — was set to moves in the ring and his wit and engag- late Ali’s third and final meeting with Joe Frazier, Frazier had won their first fight in 1971 Although Ali won, the punishing bout was to “handle big crowds.” After a small family ing persona outside it. He famously said in 1975, only went to Manila because Philippines before Ali avenged the loss three years later. By prove a turning point for the ageing champion, funeral on Thursday, Ali’s coffin will be he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a dictator was hoping to gain the time they met in Manila, the ill-feeling then 33, as he moved into a phase of steady transported Friday through the streets of bee.” He took the name of Muhammad Ali popularity and prestige, three years after declar- between them was raw, stoked by some incen- decline until his eventual retirement in 1981. Louisville, before a private burial and the after converting to Islam in 1964, soon ing . diary comments from the ‘Louisville Lip’. “It will “God blessed me that day. He’s blessed me many public memorial service at the KFC Yum! after he had stunned the sport by claim- But after Ali’s glamorous hob-nobbing with be a killa and a chilla and a thrilla when I get times, and that fight in Manila was one of them,” Center. The procession has been organ- ing the world title with a monumental Marcos and his beauty-queen wife, Imelda, the the gorilla in Manila,” taunted Ali, giving the Ali said. “It was like I took myself as far as I could ized to “allow anyone that is there from upset of Liston. fight at a stifling Araneta Coliseum was a fear- fight its iconic nickname. go, and God took me the rest of the way.” The the world to say goodbye,” family Ali’s refusal to serve in the some collision of the two heavyweights-and The fight was held on October 1, 1975 at fight was a triumph for President Marcos, who spokesman Bob Gunnell told reporters. saw him prosecuted for draft evasion, and sometimes described as the best boxing match nearly midday in the tropical country, and with a was able to claim a public relations victory. He More details about the ceremonies were led to him being effectively banned for ever seen. “It was like death. Closest thing to 25,000-plus crowd and TV lights, the venue’s air was eventually topped in the ‘People Power’ to be revealed at a press conference in boxing for three years of his prime. The US dyin’ that I know of,” said Ali, who was handed conditioning was overwhelmed. “It was really protests of 1986. “It helped project the Louisville yesterday. Supreme Court overturned his conviction victory when Frazier, blinded by swelling debilitating. Really humid,” said Lito Tacujan, Philippines internationally at a time when we for draft dodging in 1971. Ali held firm to around his eyes, failed to emerge for the 15th sports editor of Philippine Star newspaper, were being criticized by the western press ‘YOU CAN GO NOW’ his beliefs and eventually earned accolades and final round. Forty-one years later, the recalling the sweltering conditions. Frazier because of martial rule,” said sportscaster Ronnie The official cause of Ali’s death was sep- as a civil rights activist. He received the Araneta Coliseum is still doing brisk business, advanced remorselessly, laying into Ali who Nathanielsz, who acted as Ali’s government liai- tic shock due to unspecified natural causes. highest US civilian honor, the Presidential hosting mixed martial arts bouts and concerts mainly tried to keep his distance but absorbed son. “It projected a positive image for the Gunnell said Ali had sought medical atten- Medal of Freedom, in 2005 and was chosen by the likes of Kenny Rogers and Engelbert blow after blow before emerging periodically Philippines and it was one of the biggest gains tion for a cough, but his condition rapidly to light the Olympic torch in 1996, his Humperdinck. with flurries of combinations. “I don’t like him of the Marcos regime at the time,” he added. deteriorated. He was admitted to a hospital hands trembling due to Parkinson’s-a The stadium’s canny owner, Jorge Araneta, but I got to say, in the ring he was a man,” Frazier Joey Romasanta, vice-president of the in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale, where poignant moment for the sports world. Ali cashed in further when he asked Ali at the post- later said of Ali. “In Manila, I hit him punches, Philippine Olympic Committee, said that despite he had lived for several years with his wife will be buried at in fight dinner if he could name a new shopping those punches, they’d have knocked a building the abuses of martial law, “momentarily, we were Lonnie. Ali’s family ultimately removed him Louisville.—AFP mall after him. Ali was so flattered he agreed down.” In testament to the violence inside the grateful to President Marcos for bringing (the without asking for payment. The result was the ring, ’s clothes were spattered fight) over.” “The ‘Thrilla in Manila’ united them ‘’, the Philippines’ first major shopping with blood, according to one account, and jour- (Filipinos) and momentarily made them forget centre which was built close to the fight venue- nalists were unable to take notes because their their problems,” he said. Tacujan also recalls that turning a patch of suburban Manila into a far- table shook so much from the blows. “It was lit- during the match, acclaimed boxing journalist flung shrine to ‘The Greatest’, who died on erally very bloody,” Marcos was quoted as telling Ed Schuyler told him: “You should be proud this Friday after a long battle with Parkinson’s dis- a confidante, Sol Vanzi. “Their punches were so fight happened here. Twenty-five years from ease. Later generations of Filipino boxers, powerful that blood splattered far and wide, now, they’ll be talking about this fight in Manila.” including eight-division world champion staining spectators’ clothes, including mine.” “It’s been 40 years, and they are still talking Manny Pacquiao, grew up venerating Ali and Tacujan told AFP: “We couldn’t write any notes about this fight,” said Tacujan.—AFP Sports court faces landmark ruling from German judges

LAUSANNE: The authority of the highest court The key would be any recommendations for Belarus beat the IOC and World Anti-Doping in global sports will be at stake today when a change that German judges might make to the Agency in cases linked to doping. Supporters of potentially landmark verdict is announced in court based in the Olympic home city of CAS say it has changed since 2009, when cur- Germany. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is Lausanne since its creation in 1984. “They rent President Thomas Bach headed the LOUISVILLE: In this Nov. 19, 2005, file photo, Muhammad Ali, left, hugs former US not even a formal party in the quest by five- would not be binding on us but they would be appeals division overseeing the appointment President Bill Clinton as he walks onstage at the grand opening gala celebration for time Olympic speedskating champion Claudia taken into consideration by the ICAS,” the of judges. Bach was not involved in the case of the in Louisville, Ky. Clinton will deliver the eulogy at Pechstein to get 4.4 million euros ($5 million) in court’s secretary general, Matthieu Reeb, told his German compatriot Pechstein. Muhammad Ali’s funeral on Friday, June 10, 2016, in Louisville. — AP compensation from the International Skating the AP in an interview. The 20-member ICAS, The ICAS now includes more former Olympic Union, which banned her in 2009 for blood the International Council of Arbitration for athletes, and two of its members, Dick Pound doping. She denied doping and claimed her Sport, took over running the court in 1994 from and Moya Dodd, are among the most outspo- irregular blood values were due to an inherited the IOC. That move was provoked by a ken and pro-reform officials at the IOC and condition. Still, the ruling by German federal Switzerland supreme court ruling that the CAS FIFA, respectively. However, athletes have no judges could affect the position of CAS as was not truly independent. formal input in the process of approving judges world sport’s recognized authority to judge Today, the ICAS appoints lawyers to a closed Swiss lawyer Stephan Netzle has been on both appeals, arbitration cases and contract dis- list of around 400 approved arbitrators. It also sides of the CAS chamber. As a judge, he was putes. “If we win it is clear that athletes will no picks the chair of a three-member judging pan- on the 2009 panel that ruled against Pechstein, longer be forced to submit to the CAS, as long el after both parties select a judge from the list. who denied doping and claimed irregular as CAS is based as it is,” a lawyer for Pechstein, That is weighted in the establishment’s favor, blood values were due to an inherited condi- Thomas Summerer, told The . say Pechstein and FIFPro, the international tion. As a defense lawyer, he helped Mohamed The core of Pechstein’s case is that CAS is group of soccer players’ unions which has paid bin Hammam of Qatar overturn a life ban by biased in favor of the sports establishment - the toward her legal bills. “Pechstein is breaking FIFA for alleged bribery. International Olympic Committee and govern- new ground,” FIFPro said in a statement. “Few Netzle believes CAS would be fairer if the ing bodies - and against athletes and individu- cases challenging the authority of CAS, which currently closed list of arbitrators was opened als who are obliged to respect the court’s must be reformed, have advanced this far. It up. “You would take out a lot of criticism, or authority. Pechstein, now 44 and still compet- highlights the need for fair, independent, swift grounds for criticism, if you just say: ‘Choose ing, could only challenge her doping ban at and accessible arbitration.” whoever you want,’” Netzle told the AP, sug- CAS. She also lost a subsequent appeal at Underdogs have beaten the system to win gesting 90 percent of the same lawyers would Switzerland’s Supreme Court, which can over- notable cases at CAS. Sprinter Dutee Chand of be picked. Reeb believes that would harm the turn CAS verdicts if legal process was abused. India overturned IAAF rules on hyperandro- consistency of case law at CAS, which he said Even if she wins today, CAS would not be shut genism - the presence of high levels of testos- “answers a need in international sport.” “I don’t KENTUCKY: US mourns death of boxing legend Muhammad Ali Bob Gunnell, a down. She will win if federal judges dismiss the terone in female athletes - last year; Gibraltar’s feel like it is a big attack to sink the CAS forever,” spokesperson of the Ali family, pauses while speaking about funeral and memorial skating body’s appeal against a German region- soccer federation defied UEFA and FIFA in sepa- the Swiss official said of the Pechstein case. “It is arrangements for boxing legend Muhammad Ali at the Mohammad Ali Center June al court ruling that let her pursue a civil dam- rate cases to gain membership; Olympic ham- one athlete fighting against one decision she 6, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky.—AFP ages suit outside of sports’ jurisdiction. mer throw medalist Vadim Devyatovskiy of feels is unfair.”— AP