Senators owner on Erik Karlsson at Olympics: Maybe, if he was Canadian

By Nick ZaccardiMar 20, 2017, 12:01 PM EDT

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Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk reportedly said he would not let star Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson play at the Olympics without NHL participation, unless, maybe, Karlsson was Canadian.

“So I’m going to give Sweden my best player at the risk of him being injured, beating our Canadian team,” Melnyk said on Sportsnet. “That doesn’t make sense. Maybe if it was a Canadian going to play for Canada. Maybe. But right now it doesn’t make any sense for our franchise, or it’s not fair to our fans if we were to lose him [to injury], God forbid.”

Karlsson, 26, helped Sweden to a silver medal at the Sochi Olympics, tying for the tournament lead with eight points, and was named the best defenseman at the event. A year later, Karlsson earned his second Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman.

The NHL hasn’t announced whether it will take a break in its season to participate in a sixth straight Olympics in PyeongChang. NHL officials have said that if the status quo doesn’t change, they will not be going.

That stance has led owners and players to be asked if they would consider going against NHL policy and playing in the PyeongChang Winter Games anyway, at the risk of possible punishments.

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has said he plans to play for Russia no matter the NHL’s stance. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has supported Ovechkin.

“Good, go ahead, wait until you’re going into the Stanley Cup final, or you’ve got a hot team or you’re favored for the Stanley Cup and Ovechkin is gone,” Melnyk said, according to Postmedia News. “Go to [Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey] Price. He gets hurt. What happens to the Canadiens?”

Karlsson said that he really wants to go to the Olympics, according to Sportsnet, but thus far has not come out with an Ovechkin-like declaration that he would hope to go even if the NHL doesn’t participate.

Which brings us to Melnyk.

“No, no, it would be no, a flat no,” Melnyk said, according to Postmedia News.

Part of Melnyk’s thinking comes from 2006, when his then-star goaltender Dominik Hasek injured himself at the Torino Winter Games. Hasek didn’t play another second for the Senators, who went on to lose in the second round of the playoffs.

“I had a Cup in 2006 parked for me and waiting for me,” Melnyk said, according to Postmedia News. “We were arguing about whose name was going to go on the [Cup]. We were there and what happens? Hasek. I’m not going to do that.

“Can you imagine if [Karlsson] goes and he gets a permanent injury? You know what I’m saying? That’s my view.”

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2023 French Open men’s singles draw

By OlympicTalkJun 7, 2023, 5:18 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

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But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They meet in Friday’s semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

IOC board recommends withdrawing International Boxing Association’s recognition

Associated PressJun 7, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT

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The IOC finally ran out of patience with the International Boxing Federation on Wednesday and set a date to terminate its Olympic status this month.

While boxing will still be on the program at the 2024 Paris Games, the International Olympic Committee said its executive board has asked the full membership to withdraw its recognition of the IBA at a special meeting on June 22.

IOC members rarely vote against recommendations from their 15-member board and the IBA’s ouster is likely a formality.

The IOC had already suspended the IBA’s recognition in 2019 over long-standing financial, sports integrity and governance issues. The Olympic body oversaw the boxing competitions itself at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 and will do so again for Paris.

An IOC statement said the boxing body “has failed to fulfil the conditions set by the IOC … for lifting the suspension of the IBA’s recognition.”

The IBA criticized what it called a “truly abhorrent and purely political” decision by the IOC and warned of “retaliatory measures.”

“Now, we are left with no chance but to demand a fair assessment from a competent court,” the boxing body’s Russian president Umar Kremlev said in a statement.

The IOC-IBA standoff has also put boxing’s place at the 2028 Los Angeles Games at risk, though that should now be resolved.

The IOC previously stressed it has no problem with the sport or its athletes — just the IBA and its current president Kremlev, plus financial dependence on Russian state energy firm Gazprom.

In a 24-page report on IBA issues published Wednesday, the IOC concluded “the accumulation of all of these points, and the constant lack of drastic evolution throughout the many years, creates a situation of no-return.”

Olympic boxing’s reputation has been in question for decades. Tensions heightened after boxing officials worldwide ousted long-time IOC member C.K. Wu as their president in 2017 when the organization was known by its French acronym AIBA.

“From a disreputable organization named AIBA governed by someone from the IOC’s upper echelon, we committed to and executed a change in the toxic and corrupt culture that was allowed to fester under the IOC for far too long,” Kremlev said Wednesday in a statement.

National federations then defied IOC warnings in 2018 by electing as their president Gafur Rakhimov, a businessman from Uzbekistan with alleged ties to organized crime and heroin trafficking.

Kremlev’s election to replace Rakhimov in 2020 followed another round of IOC warnings that went unheeded.

Amid the IBA turmoil, a rival organization called World Boxing has attracted initial support from officials in the United States, Switzerland and Britain.

The IBA can still continue to organize its own events and held the men’s world championships last month in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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