Sport chiefs barred

Athens: Greece has barred the sports ministers of Myanmar and Zimbabwe from the Athens Olympics as part of the European Union’s sanctions against the two countries for human and civil rights violations, a senior official said on Tuesday. Zimbabwe’s Aeneas Chigwedere and Myanmar’s Brigadier General Thura Aye Myint are already barred from entering the European Union as part of the bloc’s political sanctions against the two countries. “We are just complying with EU rules,” a senior Greek official said.

Jana’s last bid

Athens: World 400m hurdles champion Jana Pittman flew to Italy on Monday in a last-ditch bid to recover from a knee surgery in time for the Athens Olympics.

Pittman, Australia’s best hope for an athletics gold until she tore a cartilage at a meeting in Zurich last week, plans to seek treatment in the northern town of Varese before deciding whether to come to Athens. She has 10 days to prove she was ready because Australian officials did not have to submit her final entry until two days before her first heat on August 21.

Honour for Naomi

Athens: Supermodel Naomi Campbell is among 100 celebrity torch-bearers due to carry the Olympic flame on its final stage of a round-the-world journey to the Athens Olympic Stadium this week, organisers said on Tuesday.

Former US Olympic athletics hero Carl Lewis is also due to carry the emblem for a short stage. The journey begins on Wednesday and ends with the lighting of the flame on Friday. The identity of the person awarded that honour remains a secret.

Serie A crisis

Rome: The Italian football federation (FIGC) on Monday ordered 33 people and 12 clubs to face a sporting tribunal over allegations of illegal betting and match-fixing in Serie A and lower division games. The news represented a serious blow for Italy’s favourite sport, which has been buffeted by a string of financial and legal scandals in recent seasons. Among the clubs accused of “illicit sporting behaviour” were Sampdoria, Chievo, Siena and Modena, who were all in Serie A last season. Modena were eventually relegated.

Enrique bids adieu

Madrid: Former Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielder Luis Enrique has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 34. “I don’t see myself being able to compete,” the player said in a statement on his website. “I’ll watch this season from my seat in the stands.”

Luis Enrique Martinez made his debut for Spain in 1991 while still playing for his hometown club Sporting Gijon. He went on to join Real Madrid ahead of the 1991-92 season and won a gold at the Barcelona Olympics the following year.

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