Games tidbits

(China Daily) Updated: 2016-08-23 07:41

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CLOSING CEREMONY

Abe makes his trip as Super Mario

How do you connect Rio de Janeiro with Tokyo, site of the 2020 Games?

Send in Super Mario, of course.

To the delight of the crowd jamming Maracana Stadium for Sunday's closing ceremony, a video showed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying that he wouldn't make it to Rio in time.

Abe then transformed into the Japanese video game plumber Mario and popped up in the flesh out of a huge green pipe in the middle of the stadium that he allegedly used as a shortcut to bridge the two cities.

Tokyo, hoping to piggyback Rio's final moment in the Olympic spotlight to introduce its vision of the next Games, also filled a video with Pac-Man,Hello Kitty and other manga and video game icons.

WRESTLING

Wrestling coaches strip in protest

Two Mongolian wrestling coaches removed their clothing - one all the way down to his underwear - to protest the result of a bronze medal match.

Uzbekistan's Ikhtiyor Navruzov appeared to have lost to Mandakhnaran Ganzorig 7-6 in the 65kg division on Sunday.

Uzbekistan challenged the scoring, probably because the Mongolian began running around in celebration with less than 10 seconds left rather than engaging with Navruzov.

Navruzov won his challenge and the match on criteria as the last wrestler to score. Ganzorig, who had already started celebrating, fell to his knees in disappointment.

The Mongolian coaches went much further than that.

Byambarenchin Bayoraa took off his shoes and shirt and threw them to the mat in disgust in front of the officials.

Tsenrenbataar Tsostbayar stripped all the way down to his blue briefs as the Brazilian crowd started chanting: "Mongolia! Mongolia!"

VOLLEYBALL

Neymar cheers Brazil's net gain

With soccer star Neymar in attendance, the Brazilian men's volleyball team swept Italy for the gold medal.

Brazil won 25-22, 28-26, 26-24 on Sunday for its third gold medal in volleyball,which became an Olympic sport in 1964. Captain Bruno went into the stands to embrace Neymar after the victory.

The Brazilians were playing in their fourth consecutive gold medal match. The team won silver in at both the Beijing (2008) and London(2012) Games after taking gold in Athens in 2004.

Italy was seeking its first-ever gold medal in the sport. The team also won silver medal in Atlanta (1996) and Athens.

The Brazilians reached the final after beating defending champion Russia in the semifinals, extracting some revenge for London.

ATHLETICS

Pole vault champ elected to IOC

Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva has won election to the International Olympic Committee despite a strong voting bloc that opposed her membership.

Isinbayeva, who was banned from competing in Rio because of the Russian doping scandal,was one of five athlete representatives voted onto the committee on Sunday.

She received 45 votes in favor and 23 votes against, with two abstentions.

The vote reflected unease with Isinbayeva's outspoken opposition to the ban on Russia's athletic team for these Games.

The International Association of Athletics Federations imposed the sanction after a World Anti-Doping Agency report detailed systematic, state-sponsored doping in Russia.

Isinbayeva,who holds the world record in the pole vault, will serve an eight-year term on the IOC.

INVESTIGATION

Cops stop exit of Ireland officials

Police on Sunday blocked Ireland's top four Olympic executives from leaving Brazil as a ticket scalping investigation widened with a raid on the team.

Rio police said they took out search warrants to seize passports and evidence from Ireland team leader Kevin Kilty, chief executive Stephen Martin and secretary-general Dermot Henihan,who are accused of illegally selling Games tickets..

The trio,whose phones and laptops were seized, agreed to present themselves for questioning by officers on Tuesday, the Olympic Committee of Ireland said.

The latest development in the investigation came as committee president Patrick Hickey,who is also a top Olympic official, remained in jail following his arrest on Wednesday.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Complaints pour in from Iranians

Angry Iranian sports fans have inundated the International Weightlifting Federation with more than 1.6 million online comments, many of them abusive, after the country's biggest star failed to win a medal in Rio.

The federation's website was hacked last Wednesday and has been under attack since. Some news items have disappeared, including a report of the men's super-heavyweight contest at+105kg.

At the final weightlifting event of the Games, riot police were put on standby about 50 meters from the stage after furious Iranian coaches entered the competition area illegally to question a decision by the jury.

The Iranian favorite, Behdad Salimikordasiabi, broke a world record in the first part of the competition, the snatch.

Salimi, as he is known, then failed to register a lift in the clean and jerk.

His first attempt was a fail and his second, after being cleared by judges,was overruled unanimously by the jury of five who decided Salimi's left arm was not completely straight.