Junior Digest

Montreal, Jul 22 : Russia was facing calls to be kicked out of the Olympics after their highly-regarded track and field squad lost their appeal over being banned from Rio for state-sponsored doping.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling on the athletics team is seen as a key indicator as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) debates whether to order a blanket ban on Russia from the Rio Games that start August 5.

The IOC executive board is to hold more talks on Sunday and a decision on a ban could be announced after, an Olympic spokesperson said.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) asked that the IOC “consider its responsibilities.”

WADA said they were “satisfied” with the CAS decision, claiming it helps ensure a “level” playing field at next month’s Games.

“It is now up to other international federations to consider their responsibilities under the World Anti-Doping Code as it relates to their Russian national federations and up to the International Olympic Committee… to consider its responsibilities under the Olympic Charter,” the WADA statement said.

Fourteen national anti-doping agencies, including the United States, Canada and Germany, sent a joint letter to IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday calling on him to ban Russia from Rio.

Citing the “short amount of time remaining” before the Games, “we believe it is appropriate and necessary for the IOC to take decisive action to uphold the Olympic Charter and the integrity of the Rio Olympic Games,” said the letter, posted on the website of the anti-doping Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

The agencies also called for the establishment of a “task force” to “apply a uniform set of criteria to determine whether individual Russian athletes should be permitted to participate in the Rio Olympic Games under a neutral flag.”

The other anti-doping agencies that signed the letter represent Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Russia is a sporting powerhouse whose absence from Rio would create the biggest crisis in decades for the Olympic movement. But there have been widespread calls for exemplary sanctions against the state-orchestrated cheating campaign.

“This will scare a lot of people, or send a strong message that the sport is serious about cleaning up,” six-time Olympic sprint title winner Usain Bolt of Jamaica said of the court ruling.

CAS said it had unanimously “dismissed” an appeal by the Russian Olympic Committee and 67 athletes against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ban.

Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko called the CAS decision “politicised” and illegal. Russia has denied any state involvement in the doping crisis.

 Paris, Jul 22: IMF chief Christine Lagarde was ordered today to stand trial in France over a massive state payout to a colourful tycoon when she was French economy minister, dealing a setback to her stellar career.

France’s highest appeals court dismissed Lagarde’s challenge against the decision to try her for negligence in her handling of a dispute between a state-owned bank and businessman Bernard Tapie.

Tapie walked away with a staggering 404 million euros (USD 445 million) in compensation in 2008 after Lagarde ordered the long-running row over the sale of sports gear giant Adidas to be resolved by arbitration.

Today’s ruling means the 60-year-old IMF chief will go before a special tribunal that hears cases against government ministers accused of wrongdoing in the discharge of their duties.

The ruling is a blow to the IMF boss, who has long been touted as a potential future French president.

She insists she acted in France’s best interests in the case, and the IMF expressed firm backing for her as it was confirmed she would face trial.

The Washington-based lender “continues to express its confidence in the Managing Director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties,” said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice.

Her lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said he was “convinced” that Lagarde would be “absolved of all responsibility”.

Lagarde will be the third successive IMF chief to face trial.

Her predecessor, compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was acquitted of pimping by a French court last year, four years after he resigned his IMF post to fight separate sexual assault allegations.

Spain’s former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato has also been ordered to stand trial for misusing funds when he was head of Spanish lender Bankia.

Lagarde was placed under formal investigation in 2014 over her handling of a long-running dispute with Tapie, who claimed he was defrauded by the state-controlled bank Credit Lyonnais in its handling of his sale of Adidas in the 1990s.

The case against Lagarde stems from her decision to allow the row be settled by arbitration instead of by the courts, which would likely have resulted in a much smaller bill for the state.

Prosecutors have also questioned her failure to challenge the massive award.

A court has since found the arbitration to be fraudulent because one of the arbitrators had links to 73-year-old Tapie, a flamboyant figure who served as cities minister in the 1990s and has also dabbled in acting.

Lagarde has denied any wrongdoing or that she acted on orders from then president Nicolas Sarkozy, of whom Tapie was a supporter.

North Sound (Antigua), July 21 : Virat Kohli continued his sublime form to ease to a 12th hundred and lead India to 302 for four on day one of the first Test against the West Indies here today.

Kohli (143 batting) led from the front to lay a solid platform for his team with the other major contribution coming from opener Shikhar Dhawan (84).

The Indian captain, who also crossed the 3000-run mark in his 42nd Test, had the support of Ravichandran Ashwin (22 batting) at close of play as the two shared an unbeaten 66-run stand.

The away side had a rather quiet first session where it managed 72 for one in 27 overs before Kohli arrived at the crease and stepped up the tempo. By stumps, India had a decent run rate of 3.35 runs per over.

The pitch was flat and the West Indies bowling lacked depth to trouble the visitors who found it tough early on after Kohli opted to bat.

Starting at 65 after tea, Kohli put on 57 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (22) as the duo looked to build after losing both Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara (16) in the second session of play. Rahane was nearly dismissed cheaply, for 5 runs, as Shannon Gabriel (1-43) induced an edge that fell short of slips. But thereafter the vice-captain tightened up his game and didn t give another chance until his eventual dismissal.

In the meantime, the duo kept the run-rate flowing, bringing up the 200-mark in the 61st over. Then, five overs later, they brought up their 50-partnership, coming off only 65 balls. Kohli was looking particularly good in this period, as cover drives and on-drives started booming off his blade.

Perhaps Carlos Brathwaite (0-46) was the only bowled who troubled him a bit, but even was not able to create a straightforward wicket-taking opportunity.

Just as they were looking good, Rahane was dismissed, a loose stroke off Devendra Bishoo (3-108) lobbing up and he was caught at midwicket. It was yet another loose dismissal for India, with only Murali Vijay (7) getting out to a good delivery earlier in the morning.

Thereafter, with 22 overs remaining in the day’s play, it was surprising to see Ashwin come out to bat ahead of Wriddhiman Saha.

But he did an immaculate job, including some silken drives down the ground, and the two batsmen stayed unbeaten until the end of play, bringing up the 300-mark in the 88th over. Kohli and Ashwin’s stand partnership rescued India from what looked like a disappointing first outing for the five top-order batsmen theory.