SPORTS DIGEST: FENCING: The world's number one foil fencer, Andrea Baldini, has been excluded from the Italian team for the Beijing Games after failing a doping test, the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) said yesterday.
The 22-year-old, who took silver at the 2006 and 2007 world championships, tested positive for the diuretic furosemide last month.
Coni president Giorgio Scarso said, however, Baldini could be restored for the Games should a second sample prove negative.
Restrictions on internet lifted
OLYMPIC GAMES:The IOC and the Chinese organisers BOCOG have agreed to lift all internet restrictions for media covering the Beijing Games, the IOC told Reuters on yesterday.
"The issue has been solved," vice-president Gunilla Lindberg said. "The IOC Coordination Commission and BOCOG met last night and agreed. Internet use will be just like in any Olympics."
The threat of censorship had caused a major stir in recent days.
Sharapova will miss US Open
TENNIS: Russian world number three Maria Sharapova will miss the US Open starting next month and could be sidelined for up to three months after an examination of her injured right shoulder revealed a torn rotator cuff.
Sharapova (21) had announced on Thursday she would not play in the Beijing Olympics after the sore shoulder forced her to withdraw from the Montreal Cup following a second-round 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.
Thanou slams postponement
OLYMPIC GAMES: Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou has slammed the IOC's decision to delay a hearing on her participation in Beijing until the eve of the Opening Ceremony.
The IOC informed Thanou on Thursday the meeting, due to be held this weekend, would take place on August 7th.
Thanou, who served a two-year ban for missing a doping test , said, "I think this situation is unfair . . . I have never tested positive despite repeated tests."
10 out of 11 for leader Loeb
RALLYING: Four-times world champion Sebastien Loeb led the Finnish Rally yesterday after extending his overall lead over Mikko Hirvonen to 14.4 seconds in the 11th and last stage of the opening day.
The French Citroen driver topped the concluding Killere 2 race in one minute 20 seconds to finish the day with a total time of 74 minutes and 57.9 seconds.
Loeb, who is bidding for his first win on the high-speed gravel roads in central Finland, won 10 of the day's stages, the Finn Hirvonen interrupting his run of victories by heading the eighth stage.
Hirvonen, who leads Gronholm by three points in the overall standings after eight races, is hoping to succeed another Finn as the event's winner after the now retired Marcus Gronholm won here last year.
Ruling on Jones medals delayed
ATHLETICS: The IOC is unlikely to decide before the Beijing Games who will get the five Sydney 2000 Olympics medals stripped from the jailed US sprinter Marion Jones, an IOC official said.
The IOC was expected to make a decision at this weekend's executive board meeting on the much-delayed reallocation of the medals. But an IOC official said: "A decision on this is unlikely to be taken during the board meeting here. It will most likely be taken after the . . . Games."
Russian bans 'unprecedented'
ATHLETICS: Russia's sports minister yesterday called a ban on seven of the country's women athletes just days before the Olympics "unprecedented" but indicated there would be no appeal until after the Games.
"The incident that happened . . . is unprecedented; I just don't remember anything like it," Vitaly Mutko said."But it's hardly worth jumping to conclusions without carefully getting into the nuances of the issue, or calling it 'political'."
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