Wednesday 11th May, 2011 ATHENS, Greece (AP) to dangerous criminals. — Greek sprinters Costas “It is simply unbelievable Kenteris and Katerina to refuse any mitigating cir- Thanou were sentenced to a cumstances to Olympic Bens, CIS Kandy qualify suspended 31-month jail champions. That is granted term on Tuesday, meaning to drug dealers and felons,” they will not likely serve he said. time in prison despite being “And now we have this found guilty of faking a decision for two athletes as motorcycle accident on the if they have not offered any- for Under-17 cager final eve of the 2004 Olympics. thing to the country. It is dis- The Sydney Olympic graceful and I am ashamed BY REX CLEMENTINE medallists, who were not for my country.” Nirmal with 16 points were the top scorers for It was a remarkable achievement by CIS, present in court, immediate- The trial by a panel of St. Benedict’s while Brendon Keyser with 31 Kandy, where basketball was only introduced ly appealed the sentences. three judges began on Jan. t. Benedict’s College, Kotahena and points and Pruthvi Fernando with 12 points top recently. Last year they played in the ‘B’ Kenteris and Thanou 12 following at least eight Colombo International School’s Kandy scored for Joes. Division competition and emerged champions. SBranch qualified for the finals of the The second semi-final of the evening was a Lahiru Karaliyadda was the top scorer for under-17 All Island ‘A’ Division Basketball home and home affair as CIS Kandy Branch met CIS, Kandy making 36 points while Saleem Greek sprinters Tournament to be played at Kotahena today. CIS, Colombo and the former recorded a Khan chipped in with six points. For CIS, St. Benedict’s recorded a convincing win thrilling seven point win after trailing for most Colombo Onello Gilbert and Nithesh over St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road by 13 part of the game. Ranasinghe were the top scorers with 12 and appeal sentence points in the first semi-final after leading 32-23 In a slow paced game, CIS Colombo commit- ten points respectively. at half-time. The final score was 66-53. ted few crucial errors in the closing stages and Ranil Suranga, Shihen Dilshan and Fredrick Morais with 20 points and Poorna the Kandy boys were quick to punish the errors. Nishantha Pradeep refereed. for perjury claimed they were involved postponements over several in the motorcycle accident years. Thanou testified on British legislator after missing a doping test March 28, protesting her on the eve of the 2004 innocence and insisting that Athens Games — causing a the accident had occurred, says 2 FIFA members major scandal for the host while Kenteris never nation. appeared. were bribed “The court finds that this Tzekos was present LONDON (AP) — A British leg- accident never occurred,” Tuesday and left before the islator says two FIFA executive presiding judge Dimitris sentences were announced committee members were paid to Lefkos said Tuesday, while without making any state- vote for Qatar to host the 2022 reading out the verdict. ment. World Cup. The runners’ coach, “We believe justice was Member of Parliament Damian Christos Tzekos, was sen- not served or delivered,” Collins, speaking to a parliamen- tenced to 33 months in jail. Maria Kevga, lead lawyer for tary inquiry into football, says that And seven state hospital doc- Tzekos and Thanou, said. unpublished evidence from a news- tors who treated the athletes “Today, unfortunately, jus- paper investigation into FIFA and two witnesses to the tice showed itself to be blind claims that Issa Hayatou and alleged crash were handed to the truth ... During this Jacques Anouma were paid $1.5 sentences of between six entire procedure, there were million. and 15 months. no evidence heard that Collins says that “The Sunday Tzekos was also found proved that the athletes of Times’ submission, and this is to guilty on charges of distrib- Mr. Tzekos faked an acci- be published by us later, claims uting banned substances. All dent.” that $1.5 million was paid to FIFA the sentences were suspend- Greek legal experts said executive committee members Issa ed. it was highly unlikely that Hayatou and Jacques Anouma, “This ruling is a legal any of the defendants could who went on to vote for Qatar.” stain on the (justice) system go to prison, because they Collins says the Culture, Media which I am certain will be all have no prior convictions and Sport Committee will publish wiped clean at the appeal,” and are not considered a the evidence. Kenteris’ lawyer Michalis danger to the public. If an Dimitrakopoulos said. appeals court upholds the Sri Lanka cricket team, sans a few leading players who are now in India playing in the ongoing IPL, left for England yes- Earlier, in a courtroom convictions, they are likely outburst, the lawyer said his to pay a fine instead of Federer taking note terday for a nearly two-month long international tour. Here is the young member of the Sri Lankan contingent, Dinesh client had been denied spending time in jail, the Chandimal, the promising wicketkeeper batsman, with his family members, at the Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters in leniency routinely awarded experts said. of Djokovic’s rise Colombo before the team’s departure. (Pic by Jude Denzil Pathiraja) ROME (AP) — Novak Djokovic’s unbeaten start to the season is sig- nalling a potential power shift in tennis, and Roger Federer is taking note. Djokovic passed Federer for the FIFA President No. 2 ranking in March and is threaten- Max Mosley loses privacy bid ing Rafael Nadal for No. 1 at this week’s Italian Open after beating the LONDON (AP) — Ex-car rac- European court, which can inter- buzz word in Britain — a string of Blatter to ask Spaniard in straight sets in Sunday’s ing boss who sued a tabloid over a vene in British court rulings, male celebrities and sports fig- Madrid Open final. That improved his story about his sadomasochistic claiming that his privacy rights ures have been granted recent record to 32-0 this year. orgy with a handful of domina- protected under the European injunctions to hide details of for evidence “It’s definitely an interesting time trixes lost his privacy case in the Convention on Human Rights their extramarital affairs only to right now that Novak hasn’t lost all European Court of Human Rights should force news organisations to find that the orders were rendered ZURICH (AP) — FIFA they are all devils,” adding season long. It makes it a new, differ- on Tuesday — a ruling applauded notify subjects before publishing useless with US-registered social President Sepp Blatter says he “can only answer for ent situation, but for me it doesn’t by free speech advocates. lurid details of their private lives. media sites, which are largely change a whole lot,” Federer said Max Mosley won a suit against But the court disagreed, say- exempt from such British court he will ask for evidence of myself” and that he’s “not in Tuesday. Britain’s News of the World for its ing European law didn’t require orders. the claims that six of his this category.” If Djokovic wins his seventh con- 2008 front-page story claiming the pre-notification and that such a One anonymous Twitter user executive committee col- Blatter says he will for- secutive title of 2011 at the Foro Italico then-president of the governing requirement could have a chilling this week named several of the leagues were involved in cor- ward any information he and Nadal fails to reach the semi-finals, body overseeing Formula One rac- effect on freedom of speech. people who had fought to keep ruption ahead of last year’s receives of the allegations to Djokovic will become the first player ing had an hours-long Nazi- “This is just about whether the their identity secret. vote for the 2018 and 2022 the FIFA ethics committee. other than Nadal or Federer to hold the themed orgy with five women. newspapers should have the right British judges have often World Cups. The inquiry in London No. 1 ranking since February 2004. Mosely, the son of a former fascist to publicise very private aspects issued injunctions or gagging The allegations were heard that two members of “Right now these guys are playing leader, acknowledged the orgy but of people’s lives which there’s no orders to prevent names or details made Tuesday in Britain’s the 24-man ruling panel were better than me and better than other denied the Nazi theme. public interest in at all,” Mosley from being published in privacy Parliament. paid $1.5 million to back players,” Federer said. “I feel like Despite winning sizable dam- told the British Broadcasting cases, but they can also issue Blatter says he “can’t say Qatar’s successful 2022 World everybody can play on all the surfaces ages and legal costs, Mosley didn’t Corporation after the ruling. He super-injunctions to prevent jour- if they are all angels or if Cup bid. stop there. may appeal the ruling. nalists or others from even report- these days and that makes it extremely He took the case to the Privacy has become the latest ing that a hearing took place. hard to win all these big tournaments.” Abbottabad to host Pakistan-Afghan ‘Fire in Babylon’ one-day match premiered in London The city where Osama and killed six police offi- bin Laden was killed will cials and a van driver. host a one-day cricket The PCB finalised the Last night saw the London pre- the most gifted teams in sporting his- match between three-match, one-day series miere of Fire in Babylon, a feature tory.