Bach defends decision to miss Paralympics opening

ZAGREB, Croatia — International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is quoted as saying his absence from the opening of the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro has nothing to do with the charges brought by Brazilian prosecutors against another high-ranking IOC official. Olympic Council of Ireland President Patrick Hickey is among 10 people facing charges of ticket scalping, conspiracy and ambush marketing related to last month's Olympics. Police investigators have said they wanted to speak with Bach about email exchanges he had with Hickey related to Ireland's ticket allocation. Bach, who traveled to Zagreb, Croatia, this week, said he missed the ceremony to attend the funeral in Germany for former West Germany president Walter Scheel. In comments translated into Croatian and published on the Croatian Olympic Committee website, Bach also said he didn't want to cancel a visit to the country for the second time in just three months. He missed the International Skating Union Congress in Dubrovnik in June to attend the funeral of Muhammad Ali. "Choosing between the trip to Rio and the funeral of a close friend whom I had known for more than forty years, the human reasons prevailed," Bach was quoted as saying. He adds that "Hickey is innocent until proven guilty and I, as the president of the IOC, have received no official request from the Brazilian authorities." Paralympic authorities probe Algeria's no-show Paralympic authorities said Sunday they are skeptical about Algeria's claim that its women's goalball team missed a game against Israel in Rio purely due to travel delays. The Algerians did not show up for opening matches against the US team Friday or Israel Saturday, leading to accusations in the Israeli media of a boycott by the mostly Muslim country. However Algeria's team spokesman reiterated Sunday that there was nothing political about the absence, saying he was "astonished" by the accusation. "I wonder why the team would boycott the Paralympics tournament that it has prepared so hard for and which the Algerian state has spent so much money on," spokesman Abdelkader Kelfat told AFP. Kelfat said the team had now arrived in Rio after a travel snarl-up caused by a missed connection in Rome on Sept. 5. "This missed plane had a knock-on effect for the rest of the trip," he said. However, following an incident at the earlier Olympic Games in Rio where an Egyptian judoka broke protocol by refusing to shake hands with his Israeli opponent, the explanation was not immediately accepted. Political protests are banned at the Olympics and Paralympics. The Algerian women's team is next due to play Monday against Brazil. — Agencies