Sport-Australia threatens to cut funding to top sports

MELBOURNE, March 19 (Reuters) - Australia will cut government funding to its top sports if they fail to bring governance standards up to scratch in the wake of the country's London Olympics flop and the release of a clutch of embarrassing reports.

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC), which holds the purse strings for sports Down Under, said swimming, cycling, athletics, sailing, rowing, hockey and basketball were the most well-funded sports and the first to see cuts of up to 20 percent if they failed to meet new mandatory standards.

The ASC said standards included improving organisation structures, the board election processes and gender balance, and having zero tolerance for any lack of transparency on how sports spend money.

There will also be public company level requirements for sports financial reporting practices and proper supervision by boards of sports science practices.

"While good governance does not guarantee success, its absence almost certainly guarantees failure," ASC Chairman John Wylie said in a statement on the agency's website (www.ausport.gov.au) on Tuesday.

"The ASC believes that the Australian public has the right to expect that sports receiving significant taxpayer funding will be well run."

Australia had its lowest medal haul in 20 years at the London Olympics, prompting local media to slam sports authorities for wasting taxpayers' money.

A series of embarrassing revelations have since come to light, with reviews exposing disciplinary problems in the Olympic swim team, and a criminal probe finding "widespread" doping among both amateur and professional athletes.

Governance shortcomings had been identified in both swimming and cycling "for failures in the competitive, business or ethical standards in those sports," the ASC said, adding that an additional A$5 million ($5.20 million) of funding would be up for grabs for sports that put their houses in order.

Both governing body Swimming Australia and the Australian Olympic Commission (AOC) issued statements saying they welcomed the new regime.

"This is a long overdue approach by John Wylie and we share his views on striving for excellence," AOC President John Coates said.

"In a nutshell the taxpayers deserve to know they are getting bang for their buck when it comes to funding sport."

($1 = 0.9621 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Ian Ransom; editing by Peter Rutherford)

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SKorea, US begin drills as NKorea threatens war

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the United States began annual military drills Monday despite North Korean threats to respond by voiding the armistice that ended the Korean War and launching a nuclear attack on the U.S.

After the start of the drills, South Korean officials said their northern counterparts didn't answer two calls on a hotline between the sides, apparently following through on an earlier vow to cut the communication channel because of the drills.

Pyongyang has launched a bombast-filled propaganda campaign against the drills, which involve 10,000 South Korean and about 3,000 American troops, and last week's U.N. vote to impose new sanctions over the North's Feb. 12 nuclear test. Analysts believe that much of that campaign is meant to shore up loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un.

Pyongyang isn't believed to be able to build a warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile, and the North's military has repeatedly vowed in the past to scrap the 1953 armistice. North Korea wants a formal peace treaty, security guarantees and other concessions, as well as the removal of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

Still, South Korean and U.S. officials have been closely monitoring Pyongyang's actions and parsing the torrent of recent rhetoric from the North, which has been more warlike than usual.

North Korea regularly claims South Korea-U.S. drills are a preparation for invasion, but Pyongyang has signaled more worry about the drills that began Monday. The drills follow U.N. sanctions that the North says are the result of U.S. hostility aimed at toppling its political system.

North Korea has also warned South Korea of a nuclear war on the divided peninsula and said it was cancelling nonaggression pacts.

Under newly inaugurated President Park Geun-hye, South Korea's Defense Ministry, which often brushes off North Korean threats, has looked to send a message of strength in response to the latest threats. The ministry warned Friday that the North's government would "evaporate from the face of the Earth" if it ever used a nuclear weapon. The White House also said the U.S. is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korean ballistic attack.

North Korea has said the U.S. mainland is within the range of its long-range missiles, and an army general told a Pyongyang rally last week that the military is ready to fire a long-range nuclear-armed missile to turn Washington into a "sea of fire."

While outside scientists are still trying to determine specifics, the North's rocket test in December and third atomic bomb test last month may have pushed the country a step closer to acquiring the ability to hit the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction. Analysts, however, say Pyongyang is still years away from acquiring the smaller, lighter nuclear warheads needed for a credible nuclear missile program.

But there are still worries about a smaller conflict. North Korea has a variety of missiles and other weapons capable of striking South Korea. In 2010, North Korea shelled a South Korean island and allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship, killing a total of 50 South Koreans.

Both incidents occurred near the disputed western sea boundary, a recurring flashpoint between the Koreas that has seen three other bloody naval skirmishes since 1999.

Kim Jong Un visited two islands just north of the sea boundary last week and ordered troops there to open fire immediately if a single enemy shell is fired on North Korean waters. Kim was also quoted as saying his military is fully ready to fight an "all-out war" and that he will order a "just, great advance for national unification" if the enemy makes even a slight provocation, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Despite the threats, South Korea and the U.S. began the 11-day war games as scheduled Monday. The allies have repeatedly said the drills and other joint exercises are defensive in nature and they have no intention of attacking the North.

A U.S. military statement said the exercise is not related to current events on the Korean Peninsula.

The drills are part of larger war games that began March 1 and are set to go on for two months.

U.S. troops in South Korea are meant to prevent North Korean aggression, U.S. and South Korean officials say, and are a legacy of the Korean War, which ended with the peace treaty that leaves the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.

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Associated Press writer Foster Klug contributed to this report from Seoul.

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Canadian family threatens lawsuit over ski cross racer's death

TORONTO (Reuters) - The family of Canadian ski cross racer Nik Zoricic has threatened to sue the International Ski Federation (FIS) and Alpine Canada if they refuse to launch an independent investigation into his death by mid-June.

Zoricic died last March after suffering fatal head injuries when he crashed near the finish area during a World Cup race in Grindelwald, Switzerland, and the lawyer representing his family dismissed an inquiry by Swiss authorities as "incompetent."

Tim Danson said FIS and Alpine Canada have until June 15 to undertake an investigation or face legal action the next day.

"FIS and Alpine Canada can either choose to be part of the process - part of the solution - or they can continue to bury their heads in the snow," Danson said during a news conference on Wednesday alongside Zoricic's father, mother and sister.

"We are bending over backwards to avoid such an outcome, but the resolve of the Zoricic family to honor and protect their son's memory should not be underestimated."

The FIS has no immediate plans to launch an investigation.

"The police report is the basis for the state prosecutor to decide whether any persons shall be charged and brought to court because of negligent homicide," FIS said in a statement.

"The report says that the accident was not caused by a fault of any person. However the state prosecutor has not issued his decision yet and until this time we have no further comment to the investigation carried out by the state here in Switzerland."

Alpine Canada said it is too soon to discuss whether they will launch an investigation given a need for more information than the interim report released by Swiss police last December.

"Alpine Canada is disappointed that a final report, which it would like to have the opportunity to thoroughly review, has still not been published," Alpine Canada President Max Gartner said in a statement.

"With respect to calls for a separate, independent investigation, we continue to await the publication of the final Swiss police report and look forward to reviewing the investigation's findings."

The investigation by Swiss police called the death a freak accident.

But Danson said the police report was intended to protect powerful interests in Switzerland and one that distorts the truth by placing the blame on Zoricic.

Zoricic, who raced on the World Cup circuit for over three years and finished eighth in the 2011 world championships, died after landing wide right off the final jump on the course.

Danson called upon Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help get an investigation started and described the final jump as a "death trap" that forced skiers out of bounds. He said the course was poorly groomed and used the wrong safety fences.

During the news conference Zoricic's father flipped through a series of photos showing his son and two other skiers leaving the final jump on target but landing near the boundary line.

The Zoricic family has maintained an earlier promise to remove all legal options from the table in exchange for an independent and transparent investigation.

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

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