Iraq hold Denmark in Group A opener

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 4, (Agencies): Men’s soccer got under way at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Thursday when Denmark and Iraq played out a 0-0 draw that was more entertaining than the scoreline suggested. The match, played in front a tiny crowd in Brasilia in Group A.

Both Iraq and Denmark were unperturbed by the 80 degree temperatures and set out to play open and attacking football at the 72,000 capacity National stadium. Denmark hit the post after three minutes but Iraq had the best chances, with Ali Adnan forcing the Danish keeper into three good saves from free kicks. Two Russian swimmers implicated in a bombshell report on state-sponsored doping were given the green light to compete at the Olympics on Thursday as football superstar Neymar prepared to kick-off Brazil’s quest for football gold.

Amid simmering political and social tensions, Brazil is also on alert for protests ahead of Friday’s gala opening ceremony with heads of state from at least 45 countries expected at the Rio Olympic stadium. Vladimir Morozov and Nikta Lobintsev, who were both implicated in the World Anti-Doping Agency report headed by Richard McLaren, are among 31 Russian swimmers confirmed to take part in Rio, world swimming body FINA said.

Although five Russian swimmers remain banned, all of the country’s waterpolo players, synchronised swimmers and divers have been allowed into the Games. Russia’s boxing and judo teams have also been cleared to compete. Russia could confirm the final composition of its team later on Thursday. Italian beach volleyball player Viktoria Orsi Toth meanwhile became the first athlete to be sent home from Rio after failing a dope test. Orsi Toth underwent a spot check on July 19 and tested positive for clostebol, an anabolic steroid, Italy’s Volleyball Federation said. A second analysis confirmed the result, the federation added.

The fall-out from the Russian drug scandal has dominated the build-up to the Games, which formally get under way with Friday’s opening ceremony at the iconic Maracana Stadium. Football legend Pele is reportedly the front-runner to light the flame at Friday’s spectacular, which starts at 8:00pm (2300 GMT) and will feature Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, thousands of dancers and hundreds of VIPS. “It’s going to be a beautiful ceremony, very Brazilian, very Olympics, and very sportsmanlike,” Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada told a press conference on Thursday.

The ceremony could be targeted by protests directed against Brazil’s interim president Michel Temer, who took over from elected president Dilma Rousseff while she battles impeachment proceedings. Temer has said he expects to heckled when he makes a short announcement declaring the Games open. Brazilian media reports say that music will be turned up as soon as he finishes speaking to mask any booing. The Olympic torch approached the end of its nationwide relay around Brazil on Thursday, the day after police clashed with demonstrators and with new political protests planned for the opening ceremony. The torch, meant to be a symbol of hope and unity, has had a troubled 12,400 (20,000 km) journey around Brazil, featuring attempts to put out the flame with buckets of water, the shooting dead of a rare, captive jaguar, and violent protests by Brazilians angry at the cost of the Games.

Presidents from France and Hungary, Italy’s prime minister and the US secretary of state headed for Rio on Thursday to step up their countries’ bids for the 2024 Olympics. Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome are in contention to stage the 2024 Games and the Rio Games will be a key campaign stage ahead of the International Olympic Committee vote in September next year. With the International Olympic Committee plunged into the Russian doping crisis, lobbying will be more difficult though crucial as access to the IOC is more restricted. “It’s my responsibility to be here, in Rio, to meet the maximum number of representatives of the Olympic movement and to convince them that Paris is the best choice and France the best destination,” said France’s President Francois Hollande as he stepped off a jet emblazoned with the Paris 2024 logo on Thursday.

Hollande will be jostling for attention with Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Hungary’s President Janos Ader at the Rio opening ceremony on Friday. Renzi was due to visit a favella — as Brazil’s slums are known — in Salvador in the northern state of Bahia before opening the Casa Italia in Rio — the centre for Italian athletes, officials and fans during the Games. In the absence of Rome’s new mayor Virginia Raggi, who is not going to Rio and has expressed doubts about Rome’s bid in the past, Renzi is going to be busy in Brazil.

The son of former Olympics chief Juan Antonio Samaranch was elected a vicepresident of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, returning a name synonymous with the Games’ rise to prominence. Samaranch junior, who has the same name as his late father, was voted in with little fuss alongside Turkey’s Ugur Erdener, filling two vacant, four-year terms, at an IOC session in Rio de Janeiro. Samaranch’s father, who liked to be referred to as “His Excellency”, served as IOC president for 21 years until 2001, ushering in an era of fat profits but also, critics say, opening the door to corruption. Samaranch junior, 56, has been an IOC member since the year his father stepped down and is a vice-president of the International Modern Pentathlon Union, alongside a career in the finance industry.

“This represents a lot to me. Being an IOC member is a lifetime dream that came true — being able to work as a VP (vice-president) is another dream,” Samaranch said. Ukrainian pole vault great Sergey Bubka, beaten last year by Sebastian Coe to the leadership of the world athletics body, was among four members to win a new fouryear term on the IOC executive board. Defending Olympic champion Andy Murray has decided against living in a private Rio apartment to move into the sprawling Athletes Village, according to International Tennis Federation chief David Haggerty.

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