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Sports Shorts: Sania-Cara knocked out of Cincinnati Masters

August 15, 2014 15:21 IST
Sania Mirza and Cara Black

India's campaign ended at the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament after Sania Mirza and Cara Black went down to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Kazakhstan's Yaroslave Shvedova in their women's doubles second round match.

The fourth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair lost 3-6, 3-6 in round two of the $2,567,000 hard court event in the run up to the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the season.

Sania and Cara had got a bye in the first round.

Earlier, fifth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were eliminated from the ATP Cincinnati Masters after their defeat against Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the second round.

While the Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi had also bowed out of the tournament in the first round.

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IOC bars Ebola-region athletes from some events in Youth Games

August 15, 2014 15:21 IST
General view of out side the International Olympic Committee headquarters

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Friday it was prohibiting young athletes from the Ebola-affected region of West Africa from participating in certain events at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. 

Athletes from West Africa, where authorities are battling an outbreak of the Ebola virus, will not be allowed to compete in combat sports or in the swimming pool, as it is impossible to rule out the risk of potential infection, the IOC and the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee said in a joint statement. 

The rules will prevent a total of three athletes from the region from competing in those events, the statement said. 

Those from the affected region competing in other sports will undergo regular temperature checks and physical assessments throughout the games, which begin on Saturday, the two committees said. 

"We regret that due to this issue some young athletes may have suffered twice, both from the anguish caused by the outbreak in their home countries and by not being able to compete in the Youth Olympic Games," the IOC and organisers said. 

The death toll from the world's worst outbreak of Ebola stood on Wednesday at 1,069, the majority of them in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the World Health Organisation said. 

The Youth Olympics in China will run from Aug 16-28 and are the second summer edition of an event first hosted in 2010 to shore up support for the Olympics and win over a new generation of fans and athletes. 

It is also seen as a useful testing ground for new events and/or sports that can gradually be integrated into the Olympic Games. 

Just under 700 athletes will be taking part in the competitions in China.