For the first of LAYTH YOUSIF’S Canadian World Cup diaries, he discovers a Gunners’ haven in Oshawa, Ontario, and explores the town’s role in the historic 1937 labour strikes
BELARUS’S Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has said in an interview that she hopes team managers she holds responsible for her treatment will be punished in some way by sports officials, but doesn’t want anything done that would prevent Belarus from competing in the Olympic Games.
Tsimanouskaya, 24, criticised how officials were managing her team. She said on her Instagram account that she was put in the 4x400 relay even though she has never raced in the event, after which Belarusian sports officials announced they were withdrawing her from the 200 metres and sending her home.
The runner was then apparently hustled to the airport but refused to board the flight and asked local police for help.
MARK HAZELDEN criticises the Western narrative that the incident was an escalation of Russia’s confrontation with the West, given that Belarus, a Russian ally, warned Poland of off-course drones, and the drones were unarmed, cheap wooden decoys


