World sport festival will start 23 day later. the latest news by NationalTurk.

London 2012 Olympics : Tenis

Rafael Nadal has said he is confident of defending his Olympic singlestennis title, despite being forced to pull out of a charity exhibition match with Novak Djokovic. The world No 1 and 2 were due to play at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium on 14 July, but Nadal has cancelled because of tendinitis in his knee. He crashed out of Wimbledon in the second round last week in a shock defeat to Lukas Rosol and has been advised to rest for 15 days. Nadal said in a statement

London 2012 Olympics : Football

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo has confirmed Daniel Sturridge is suffering from viral meningitis but is hopeful he will be fit to take his part in Team GB’s Olympic football squad.

Apparently he only has a mild strain of the illness. Di Matteo said: “We’re going to follow his situation and hopefully he will get well as soon as possible and be able to join Olympics squad. He is currently still in hospital but I am optimistic he will recover [in time to play].”

Stuart Pearce’s 18-man GB squad is set to meet in Loughborough next weekend and the manager has until July 25 to select a replacement should Sturridge be forced to withdraw.

London 2012 Olympics : Cycling

David Millar has spoken about his selection for the Team GB cycling squad.

” It’s exciting. I can start arranging my post-Tour de France now. It’s surreal, really. It means a lot; it’s a lot different for me than other competitors in that it was an event that I wrote off many years ago. I’ve already missed two [Olympics]. The first one I was in a drunken haze and as far away from the world of sport as humanly possible, but in Beijing it was pretty hard to avoid how hard it was not being there.

I made the right decision to put myself up and I’m very proud that the team has seen that I won’t be a hindrance and that I can be a positive influence. I want to help and I want to help Mark [Cavendish] win the gold medal.”

He said he had no complaints about not being selected for the time-trial event. “It’s the road race I’m passionate about; that’s why I’m going.”

The British Olympic Association has announced the five men’s road cyclists who will compete for Team GB in the road race on 28 July. They are:

Mark Cavendish

Chris Froome

David Millar

Ian Stannard

Bradley Wiggins

London 2012 Olympics : Team GB Medal Target

Here are some quotes from Liz Nicholl, the chief executive of UK Sport, on Team GB’s medal target:

The top of the range is what is possible but not probable, and that is the same for the bottom of the range. At least 48 medals sits very comfortably within that range. We aspire for them to be more than 48 medals.

Beijing 2008 was an outstanding Games for British athletes, and we knew at the time that bettering or even matching that achievement would not be easy, and should not be underestimated.

Since Beijing the performance system has stepped up another gear, and we really believe that the nation will be inspired this summer by our athletes winning more medals in more sports.

London 2012 Olympics : Latest News

*  Danny Boyle, the director of the Olympic opening ceremony, has written to animal rights campaigners promising no harm will come to any of the animals used in the show.

Animals including 12 horses, three cows, two goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, nine geese, 70 sheep and three sheep dogs will appear in the event’s opening scenes.

Ingrid Newkirk of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had written to Boyle warning of the stress, confusion and trauma the creatures could suffer, and asking him to use “truly dazzling state-of-the-art animatronics” instead.

If he did choose to use real-live animals, she asked that they be retired to an animal sanctuary like 48 piglets in the film Babe.

Boyle’s letter promised “genuine care” would be taken of the animals. “They will feature only in the beginning of the show during daylight hours and will leave the stadium shortly after 9pm and before any large effects or noisy sequences take place,” he said.

The Slumdog Millionaire director said he had not previously considered whether to send them to an animal sanctuary, but “will now follow that up vigorously”.

*   Transport for London has offered to share any additional bus-fare revenue during the Olympics with bus staff to avert strikes planned for tomorrow and 24 July.

Members of the Unite union are planning to walk out over bus drivers’ claim for a £500 bonus.

Leon Daniels of TfL said:

TfL does not directly employ London bus workers and this is therefore an issue for the bus operating companies and Unite to resolve through negotiation.

However, in order to address the perception that TfL will be generating significant additional bus fare revenue from the Games, we have offered to share any additional revenue with bus staff.

The offer of additional funds from the bus operating companies and a share of any additional bus fare revenue generated during the Games means there is no justification for further strike action.

Should Unite insist that the total sum available is offered to all employees at bus operators across London, then this would mean a payment of £583 for every employee of every bus company.

Unite should call off their strike action planned for tomorrow and put this very fair offer to their members.

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