A dolphin will take part in the 2014 Sochi Olympics torch relay "three days before the opening ceremony." An animal trainer "is to hold a dolphin's fin in one hand and the torch in the other before the pair swims across a small pool" in Sochi on Feb. 4 (R-SPORT, 10/10). ... A senior Georgian official on Thursday described boycotting the 2014 Sochi Olympics "because of a petition campaign as unacceptable." Some non-governmental organizations "have launched an online petition to collect public signatures to urge the Georgian authorities to boycott" the Games, due to the fact that a '08 military pilot "had run in Sunday's section of the Olympic torch relay in Moscow" (XINHUA, 10/10). ... Tennis, "struggling to regain elite status at the Sports Institute, claim they have been victimised by the Hong Kong Olympic Committee which refused permission to field a full-strength squad at the East Asian Games in Tianjin." A senior Hong Kong Tennis Association official said that the sport "continued to be unfairly treated after an application to send four men and four women was knocked back by the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 10/11).
