Cypriot shooter Andreas Constantinou was involved in a rare doping incident which will possibly result in him being stripped of his gold medal won at the last edition of the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE), in Cyprus. Should this be confirmed, Maltese shooter William Vella (right), who took the bronze medal will be awarded the silver medal as a result.

During a recent meeting of the European Shooting Confederation held in Osijek, Croatia it was announced that Andreas Constantinou was found positive in a doping case.

In the air rifle final which took place in Nicosia on 2 June he had finished in first place after scoring 576 and 101 in the final for a final total of 677; in second place was Eric Lanzer of Monaco who scored 574 and 99.3 for a final score of 673.3.

William Vella, who took part in these same games for his first time, scored 97, 97, 95, 92, 95 and 94 for a total of 570. In the final Vella scored 98.8 for a global score of 668.8. Behind him in fourth place, Alexandros Patsalides from Cyprus finished with a 663.2.

If the decision of the European Shooting Confederation is ratified this will mean that Lanzer will be presented the gold medal, William Vella with the silver and Patsalides with the Bronze.

In the final classification of medals Malta won a total of three gold medals, six silver and 12 bronze. Monaco will remain in fourth place with eight gold medals, 17 bronze. Cyprus who placed first will lose a gold medal resulting in a total of 58 gold, 47 silver and 34 bronze medals.

According to the International Shooting Federation doping regulations article 5.14, if a shooter is accused of breaching a doping regulation he or she will have 21 days to present their case against the decision. In fact, Constantinou did not appeal the decision, and has also not carried out a second doping test to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Andreas Constantinou has received with a two-year suspended sentence and therefore cannot compete in international events.

The Malta Shooting Federation President, Salvu Portelli confirmed that William Vella is the winner of a silver medal in air rifle at the last edition of the GSSE.



London marks three-year countdown to 2012 Olympics

The construction of venues is forging ahead, hundreds of millions in sponsorship money has been secured, and the project remains on time and on budget despite the recession.

With three years to go yesterday until the opening ceremony, London organisers say they are firmly on track in preparations for the 2012 Olympics.

“If you had asked me a day after we won the games in Singapore four years ago, whether I would take where we are now, the answer would have been, ‘Absolutely, firmly yes,’” said Sebastian Coe, chairman of London’s Olympic organising committee.

“We are exactly where we would want to be at this moment, halfway through our journey with three years to go,” Coe said. “We’re on budget, we’re on track, we have an ambition to deliver a great games. There is a tangible sense of excitement building.”

The International Olympic Committee, which regularly tracks London’s progress, offered its full endorsement.

“A little over four years ago, Seb Coe presented a vision of games that would make a difference,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement. “London 2012 and its partners are delivering on that vision. ... I am in no doubt that in 2012 we will see great games that will make a difference to us all.”

To mark the three-year countdown, British organisers and Olympic athletes toured the Olympic Park in east London where the heart of the games will be located. They saw firsthand the massive construction site that is turning a deprived area of the city’s Stratford section into the showpiece complex for 2012.

Among the athletes lined up for the visit was 15-year-old Tom Daley, who grabbed national attention last week by becoming the youngest diver to win a world championship title in men’s platform and figures to be one of the faces of the games in 2012.

The group travelled to the park from St Pancras international rail station aboard the new highspeed “Javelin” train, the first test run of the service that is designed to transport up to 25,000 visitors per hour to and from the complex during the games. The journey time is supposed to be just seven minutes.

Construction is under way on all the main venues in the park, including the Olympic Stadium, aquatics centre, velodrome, the media centre and athletes’ village. Most striking so far is the main stadium, whose external structure is already completed. The wave-shaped roof structure on the aquatics centre is more than halfway finished.

“Nobody visiting the Olympic Park can fail to be blown away by the extraordinary engineering achievement that greets you when you arrive in Stratford,” London Mayor Boris Johnson said.



Commonwealth Games 2010: Hooper focused on Delhi

Mike Hooper, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), has dismissed speculation that Delhi could be replaced as host of the 2010 Games by Manchester or Melbourne. The UK and Australian cities staged successful editions of the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and 2006 respectively, but preparations are not going smoothly in the Indian capital of Delhi ahead of next year’s event.

Indian Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill recently admitted that there had been some difficulties at a number of venue developments for the games, and security concerns have also been raised.

Hooper told the international media : “The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be in Delhi next year and there has never been any suggestion, despite the Australian press speculation, that we’ve had secret discussions or put people on standby. It’s simply not true. The games will be here (in Delhi) and whatever the security envelope that is needed and required to facilitate the running of the games in a secure environment will be put in place. If that means lockdown, that’s what it means. I genuinely hope it doesn’t because it takes away from the atmosphere and everything but whatever it means it will be put in place by the authorities here.”

Hooper also made it clear that he is satisfied with Glasgow’s preparations to bring the 2014 Games to Scotland. John Scott has been appointed chief executive of Glasgow 2014 and is already building his team ahead of the event in five years’ time. “Obviously we’re in the early stages for Glasgow but a lot of work has been done, and a lot of work was actually done before they were awarded the rights to host the games,”

Hooper added. “One of the things that we introduced for the 2014 cycle was much more stringent requirements in clarification on venues, the levels of support from the government and the fees that were required. To be honest when they lost the bid (for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which was awarded to Vancouver in Canada) they were at a stage where many organising committees are a year after getting the Games, and that’s positive.”

Hooper continued: “John (Scott) has come on board, he’s now building his team and they’re working really closely with the Glasgow City Council and the Scottish government in regard to the delivery of the venues and venue planning. The Village contract has recently been announced up there in Glasgow and when you think about it and the country’s environment and the economic climate that we’re in, it’s great that they’ve managed to do that. They’ve got that locked down now and will continue working with the developer so I’m pretty pleased with the level of progress.”



Russia says Sochi construction costs five per cent lower

A senior Russian government official says construction costs for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be about five per cent lower than originally planned.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is spearheading preparations for the games, says the costs have been “optimised” following a budget review.

Previous calculations set the construction costs at 206 billion rubles (e6 billion). However, Kozak said in a Sochi statement the estimate has now dipped to 195.3 billion rubles (e4.5 billion).

The Russian government is to provide 102 billion rubles of that amount, with the rest coming from private investors.

The exchange rate for the ruble has fallen sharply over the past year. At the current rate, the new estimate cited by Kozak amounts to about $6.2 billion.