Ferrari, Red Bull pull out of FOTA (PA SportsTicker)
ROME (AP) —Ferrari and Red Bull are pulling out of the Formula One Teams Association, saying the body is no longer effective in dealing with key issues such as reducing costs in the sport. Ferrari said on its website Friday that it informed FOTA president Martin Whitmarsh about its decision, which it said was made “reluctantly” and was caused by a “stalemate” among the teams on how to move ahead on several issues. Red Bull then issued its own statement saying it was pulling out as well. Ferrari said it will continue to work with other teams to find ways of reducing costs, an issue that has been increasingly contentious in recent years. “It is now necessary to find some new impetus to move it along, because FOTA’s drive has run its course,” Ferrari said. The Italian team said Formula 1 is going through a delicate period “like the rest of the world.” Like Ferrari, Red Bull, the reigning constructors’ champion, has been disappointed by FOTA’s failure to bring teams together over cost-cutting strategies. But it said it will “remain committed to finding a solution regarding cost-saving in Formula One.” Last season, FOTA represented 11 of the 12 teams on the F1 grid, with Hispania Racing the only one not in the organization.
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Dodoo to head Ghana Olympic Committee (AP)
ACCRA, Ghana (AP)—Former African triple jump champion Francis Dodoo was named the new president of the troubled Ghana Olympic Committee on Sunday following an unruly election process marred by claims of fraud and watched over by armed guards. The 51-year-old Dodoo, who competed at the 1992 and ’96 Olympic Games, has pledged to bring stability to the GOC after Ghana was suspended from the International Olympic Committee earlier this year because of government interference. But soon after Dodoo won the election, Frank Appiah—who was voted out as first vice president—told The Associated Press he would be part of a group filing protest with the IOC, saying the vote was “not properly conducted” and held when some of the candidates had left the congress venue. Ghana was suspended by the IOC in January after then-president B.T. Baba was voted out in favor of Dodoo in an election allegedly influenced by Ghana’s government, which apparently favored Dodoo. Ghana made changes to its legislation to adhere to IOC rules—which do not allow governments to interfere in the elections of sports bodies—and the country was readmitted to the Olympic body in August on condition it hold a new vote. The latest vote, which started on Saturday and ran into the early hours of Sunday, was overseen by Joao Manuel da Costa Alegre Afonso of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, who was an observer for the IOC. Afonso was forced to suspend the session late on Saturday, with delegates shouting at each other over disagreements with nominations for various positions and armed security guards watching to keep order during the congress in an Accra hotel. The session resumed after 2 1/2 hours to elect Dodoo—the head of the Ghana Athletics Association—as GOC president. Dodoo won 38 votes against two for Kojo Adu-Asare and none for Emile Missodey in results announced on Sunday. Baba was stepping down as president and not on the ballot. Deborah Cubagee was elected first vice president with 39 votes to one for Appiah, but Appiah claimed afterward the voting process was unfair. “We shall make a protest to the IOC because the election was held after some of us who had nominated ourselves to stand for position had left the congress grounds,” he said.
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