India has been warned of heavy penalty by the Olympic Council of Asia "if it withdraws from sending teams in a few disciplines in the upcoming Asian Games," a development which led to the Indian Olympic Association slamming some government officials for “ruining sport” (PTI, 9/5). ... China donated $1M to a World Anti-Doping Agency fund "for research and development of techniques to detect prohibited substances." WADA said that China State Council Vice Premier Liu Yandong "become the first national government leader to commit support" (AFP, 9/6). ... The lure of a big crowd, and intent to guard against an underwhelming crowd, has swayed the Australian Football League "to cut ticket prices for Geelong and North Melbourne members" by 20%. The AFL "had already committed to the price cut for all members who attended their team's week-one final, but on Sunday elected to expand that to all Cats and Kangaroos members interested in attending Friday night's semi-final" at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (THE AGE, 9/7). ... The AFL "will review a security report from the incident between Fremantle coach Ross Lyon and a spectator at Saturday's Swans-Dockers qualifying final before deciding whether to launch an official investigation." Lyon and the spectator, claiming to be a Fremantle supporter, "have both given vastly different accounts publicly of the confrontation that took place as Lyon took his usual route through the crowd from the coaches' box to the playing arena" (THE AGE, 9/7).
