Defending champion Andy Murray said that he will not "be living in the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro, preferring to stay at an apartment with the British tennis team." Murray "stayed in the athletes' village in Beijing in 2008, but not in London in 2012," when he won the Olympic Gold Medal in the singles tournament. Murray: "I'm staying in an apartment with the rest of the team. To be honest, when I stayed in the village in Beijing I had a great time. But my tennis was pretty bad there. I did something different obviously during London and that worked out well for me." Roger Federer is another top player "who reportedly will skip the athletes' village in Rio, although his staff was yet to confirm his official plans." Rafael Nadal was one of "the main attractions at the Olympic Village in Beijing," when he won the singles Gold Medal. He has already said that "he wants to enjoy the same experience in Rio in a few months" (AP, 5/3).
OLYMPIC NOTES ...
The Olympic flame "began its 95-day journey through over 300 of Brazil's cities on Tuesday." The relay "will come to an end at the Olympic Games official inauguration ceremony" which will take place at the Maracana Stadium on Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro. Two-time Olympic champion in volleyball at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, Fabiana Claudino, "received the torch from the hands of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff at the Planalto Palace (the official workplace of the president)." Claudino was chosen as the first torch bearer by Rousseff in honor of the women's volleyball team which is "seeking to win the Olympics for a third consecutive time in Rio 2016" (IANS, 5/4).
Authorities in Nigeria on Wednesday said that "27 male players in the national basketball team have been invited to training camp ahead of the Rio Olympics." The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) said that "the 27 team members who made the preliminary list were a mixture of overseas-based and home-based players." The team's training camp will open in L.A. or Bakersfield in the U.S., on June 27 (XINHUA, 5/4).