News

LONDON: It’ll be an all-Chinese final in women’s table tennis singles – as expected – between the two favorites Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia. Defending world champion Ding, who goes into Wednesday’s final as the favorite, defeated Feng Tianwei of Singapore 4-2. Feng was born in China and emigrated to Singapore. Li will be a decided underdog after defeating Kasumi …

LONDON: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has no regrets about embracing social media for what some are calling the first “Twitter Games”, despite two athletes having been expelled for tweets and others being abused online. Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella was sent home from the Olympics on Monday for an offensive tweet aimed at South Korea, while triple jumper Paraskevi …

A female Saudi fighter will take part in the Olympic judo competition after being allowed to wear an Islamic headscarf, or hijab, of a specific design. Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani is one of only two Saudi women to travel to London after the International Olympic Committee lobbied the conservative Islamic kingdom to end its refusal to send women to …

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Karen Chammas was knocked out of the women’s 63-kg Judo Elimination Round of 32 at the 2012 London Olympics Tuesday. The 19-year-old Lebanese judoka lost to Elisabeth Willeboordse of The Netherlands. Chammas is the second youngest of the 10 athletes in the Lebanese squad participating at the London Olympics.

LONDON: London Olympics organizers say 3,800 tickets were reclaimed and put on sale to the British public for Tuesday events. Criticism of blocks of empty seats has led organizers to try to recover tickets given to national Olympic committees and sport federations that will not be used. Organizers then put the excess tickets for sale online to the British public. …

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake sauntered through their 200 metres semi-finals on Saturday to set up another rematch and an explosive finish to the Jamaican Olympic trials. The men’s 200m on Sunday will provide the grand-finale to the four-day meeting that could prove even more dramatic than their 100m showdown won by Blake, as the two fastest men …

BEIRUT: Official papers have revealed that the U.K. government under Tony Blair considered asking the queen of England to bestow an honorary knighthood on Syrian President Bashar Assad, The Sunday Times reported. According to documents obtained by the U.K. daily under freedom information laws, discussions to honor Assad took place prior to his 2002 visit to Britain where he sought …

DES MOINES: U.S. wrestler Stephany Lee has been suspended for a year and must give her up spot on the Olympic team after testing positive for marijuana. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday says Lee tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol acid, a marijuana metabolite, at the Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City on April 21. Lee, who also tested positive for …