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DOHA: When Qatari sprinter Noor al-Malki makes her debut at the London Olympics, she will not be among those contending for a medal. Breaking her own national record in the 100 meters will be enough of a prize. But even this modest goal presents a challenge. The 17-year-old, whose oil-and-gas rich country is sending women to the Olympics for the …

TOKYO: Tokyo organizers have expressed their delight that the Japanese capital has made the cut to be one of three contenders to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday decided the race for the 2020 Olympics will come down to a contest between Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul. Doha, capital of the Gulf state of Qatar, and …

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: The two leading members of Saudi Arabia’s Olympic equestrian team will miss the London Games after they were banned for eight months on Wednesday. The International Equestrian Federation announced the decisions against Khaled Abdulaziz Al Eid and Abdullah Waleed Sharbatly, whose horses tested positive for anti-inflammatories at separate events in the Middle East. Al Eid, the 2000 Sydney …

LONDON: London 2012 will be the biggest Paralympics in history, with 19 more nations taking part than four years ago, organizers said Monday as they began counting down the last 100 days until the Games. Some 4,200 competitors will take part — up from 3,951 in Beijing in 2008 — and 16 nations will be making their Paralympic debut including …

LAND’S END, United Kingdom: Sailor Ben Ainslie was the first torchbearer as the Olympic flame began its 70-day journey around Britain and Ireland on Saturday ahead of the 2012 London Games. The flame arrived in Britain from Greece on Friday and was flown to Land’s End, the southwesterly tip of England, on Saturday by a Royal Navy helicopter before it …

ATHENS: David Beckham says he’s honored to have the chance to escort the Olympic flame from Greece to London for the 2012 Summer Games. The former English national team captain and current star for the Los Angeles Galaxy toured a school in Athens on Friday and expressed his pride in bringing a symbol of peace to his homeland. But what …

THE HAGUE: Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic went on trial Wednesday accused of carrying out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.“Ratko Mladic assumed the mantle of the criminal goal of ethnically cleansing Bosnia,” prosecutor Dermot Groome told judges as the trial opened at the Yugoslav war crimes court in The Hague.Mladic, 70, has been indicted on …

DAMASCUS: The president of the Syrian Olympic Committee says the war-torn country will send 20 sports officials and 10 athletes to the London Games. Gen. Mowaffak Joumaa says 10 Syrian athletes have either qualified or received wild-card invitations to compete in swimming, track and field, weightlifting, boxing, equestrian and shooting during the games. Joumaa says he and other sports officials …