Olympic Newsdesk: Togo Football Tragedy, McDonalds Vancouver Plans, Wrestling Reviews

Togo Disqualified from African Soccer Tournament

Togo has been officially disqualified from the 2010 Angola African Cup of Nations three days after the gun attack on their team bus that killed three officials.

"They are disqualified. This group (B) is a three-team tournament," said the Confederation of African Football late Monday.

Togo’s players arrived home from Angola on Sunday after Friday's deadly machine gun attack on their bus by Angolan rebels in the country’s northern province of Cabinda.

The team had been due to play their opening match against Ghana on Monday. Its disqualification leaves Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Ghana to do battle to reach the next phase of the tournament; 15 teams are left in the competition.

On Monday, Togo declared three days of mourning in the wake of the terrorist attack in which an assistant coach, press officer and bus driver were killed.

Two members of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, a separatist group that has sought independence for more than three decades, have been arrested in Cabinda.

The Angolan government has stepped up security for the Jan 10-31 competition. Cabinda is one of the four host venues for the 27th edition of the Confederation of African Football’s continental championship; the other venues are the capital Luanda, Benguela and Lubango.

South African president Jacob Zuma and the South African Football Association have dismissed reports questioning the country’s ability to host a safe and secure World Cup following the horrific attack on the Togo team.

Zuma said that South Africa was 100 percent ready to host the June 11 to July 11 World Cup.

Mali shocked hosts Angola in the opening match of the African Nations Cup on Sunday when they fought back from four goals down to draw 4-4. In today’s matches, Malawi beat Algeria 3-0 but favorites Ivory Coast could only draw 0-0 with unfancied Burkina Faso.

McDonald’s Unveils Vancouver Plans

TOP Sponsor McDonald’s revealed its athlete-themed plans for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and announced the 10 McDonald’s Champion Kids from the U.S. on Monday.

McDonald’s Canada will air six television commercials and feature Canadian Olympic athletes Cassie Campbell, Brad Martin, Crispin Lispcomb and Alexandre Bilodeau in advertising in restaurants.

U.S. advertising will also feature U.S. athletes on McDonald’s packaging.

“Athletes continue to tell us they love our quality food when training or celebrating wins at the Games, and it’s one of the reason we’re proud to be the only brand serving them as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games,” Mary Dillon, McDonald’s Global Chief Marketing Officer, said.

Other plans include new menu items at Canadian locations. In Vancouver 300 restaurant employees from Canada will work at the Games as part of the McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew.

Positive Reviews of Wrestling World Champs

A study of the International Wrestling Federation world championships in Herning, Denmark found a positive reaction to the event.

The study was commissioned by Sport Event Denmark and polled participants on their view of the championships, held Sept. 21 – 27.

Nearly every spectator enjoyed the event. According to the study, 99 percent of the international spectators found the atmosphere at the venue, Exhibition Centre Herning, very good or good.

Support was nearly that high among the 1500 wrestlers and officials. 94 percent of those polled had a positive reaction to the event, according to a FILA press release.

Danish Wrestling Federation president, Allan Bo Jakobsen said, “[b]efore we hosted the event, we made it clear that we wanted to set new standards from an international point of view. And now, we are very happy that we succeeded in coming across with our new initiatives and especially that we have gotten such a fantastic response to them.”

Briefly…

Founder of the ski jumping cup Torbjørn Yggeseth died Sunday after a battle with prostate cancer. He chaired the FIS ski jumping committee from 1982 until 2004 and founded the ski jumping World Cup in 1979. He was born June 18, 1934 in Norway.

Written by Mark Bisson, Ed Hula III, and Isia Reaves.