The Int'l Boxing Association (AIBA) has "sidelined all 36 referees and judges used at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics until an investigation has been concluded, it said on Thursday." The tournament in August "was embroiled in controversy" surrounding the new "10-point must" scoring system, with allegations by some beaten boxers that they "were robbed of victory." AIBA said, "While the majority of the boxing competition in Rio 2016 was received very positively... a small number of decisions under debate indicated that further reforms in the AIBA R&J (referee and judging) procedures were necessary" (REUTERS, 10/6).
The World Anti-Doping Agency said on Wednesday that some of the athlete data leaked by a Russian cyber espionage group "has been changed from its initial form," and has asked "affected parties" for feedback on any inaccuracies. Since the hacking group first released confidential medical data on Sept. 13, "it has released five more batches" involving athletes from countries including the U.S., Germany, Britain, Poland and Denmark who competed at the Rio Olympics (REUTERS, 10/5).
Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman has urged NSW Premier Mike Baird to "reverse his ban on greyhound racing, warning that the issue could cost him the premiership." With Baird reportedly "now seriously looking at reversing the ban," Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce said that he expected an "open and frank discussion" within the Nationals partyroom on the greyhound issue and "if changes need to be made, they should be made." His comments came as Baird’s former deputy and long-term NSW Nationals leader Andrew Stoner said that the ban "was a mistake that had cost the Baird government support in key rural areas" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 10/7).
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred "remains hopeful the sport can play regular-season games in London" for the first time in '18. MLB had hoped to play at Olympic Stadium next season, possibly with the N.Y. Yankees and Boston Red Sox, but said in July that it ran out of time. Manfred: "I want to be really, really optimistic about it. I think it’s an important thing for us to do" (AP, 10/6).
Tennis investigators "are examining whether a match at this year's Wimbledon was fixed after suspicious betting patterns were reported." The Tennis Integrity Unit, which was set up in '08 to detect any corruption, has not revealed which match it is investigating (BBC, 10/6).
