NEW YORK: The host city for the 2024 Paralympics will be selected without the Paralympic leadership having a say in whether Los Angeles or Paris is chosen.
It is the consequence of the International Paralympic Committee electing a new president in early September — and the winner not immediately and automatically replacing outgoing leader Philip Craven as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.
In an agreement that was extended last year, the city selected by the IOC to host the Olympics is also obliged to stage the Paralympics shortly afterward. A decision will be made next week on whether the 2028 host is also selected at the September meeting in Peru, with the IOC keen to avoid making a loser of either Paris or LA given the strength of the bids.
The IOC confirmed to The Associated Press “there will be no representative from the IPC voting in Lima” on Sept. 13.
Four candidates are in the running to replace Craven as IPC president at a vote on Sept. 8 in Abu Dhabi: Patrick Jarvis, Andrew Parsons, John Petersson and Haidi Zhang.
“Sir Phil Craven will no longer be an IOC member once his mandate within the IPC ends,” the IOC said. “It does not mean however that his successor will automatically become an IOC member. His potential candidature will have to be proposed to the IOC members election commission which is charged with preparing profiles and proposing candidates in order to achieve a diverse and balanced membership of the IOC.
“The commission submits a report to the IOC executive board which is the competent body to propose a candidature to the session. The session alone is competent to elect any IOC member.”
The IPC has been pushing to retain its vote, with Craven telling the AP that “something has to be worked out.”
Parsons, the IPC vice president vying for the top job, called it “unfortunate.”
“It is purely a timing issue,” the Brazilian added. “This is understood and cannot be avoided.”
The Paris and LA bids declined to comment on the Paralympic leadership not participating in the vote. Both cities will present their projects to IOC members next Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland. The full IOC membership, still including Craven, will then decide whether to ratify the board’s request to award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games at the September meeting.
Paralympics leadership denied vote by IOC on 2024 host city
Paralympics leadership denied vote by IOC on 2024 host city
Gooch, Detry and Uihlein share lead at halfway stage in Riyadh
- Smash GC lead the team competition at LIV Golf Riyadh with score of 30-under
RIYADH: Three shots separate the top 13 players after 36 holes here for the LIV Golf season opener.
The competition shifted up a gear for the second round of the Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh 2026, as the world’s best continued to battle under the lights, with cooler and windier conditions in round two.
With the event reaching its midway point, the leaderboard has begun to take shape, setting the stage for a high-stakes weekend in the Saudi capital.
Talor Gooch (Smash GC) has joined overnight leaders Thomas Detry (4Aces GC) and Peter Uihlein (RangeGoats GC) after Thursday night’s round, carding a consecutive five-under 67 to move to 10-under for the tournament with 36 holes to play.
Sitting one back from the leaders on nine-under after carding an under-four 68 in round two, Sebastian Munoz (Torque GC) reflected on his round: “It started a bit slow with a bogey on No. 2. I hit a bad bunker shot.
“Then after that I made some good birdies and kept it moving along. The wind came over, and I was able to kind of keep my focus and keep hitting good shots and keep giving myself good chances, and made some birdies on the back.
“Then I made some solid pars coming in. So really happy where the game is at.”
Meanwhile, first-round co-leader Detry remained firmly in the hunt, following up his opening 65 with a steady three-under 69 as he continues to embrace the atmosphere on course.
“Got off to a pretty shaky start. It was a bogey-free round yesterday, but today I felt a little uncomfortable early on. I managed to sort of settle the ship then with two birdies on holes No. 4 and 5, and then just fought hard.
The temperature sort of dropped after nine holes and the wind picked up, as well. I wasn’t really expecting that. It was sort of a bit of a fight out there, which was nice. I like it.”
“I was sort of out there taking care of my business, and suddenly I saw the leaderboard with the 4Aces GC popping up, and that sort of reminded me that I was also playing for the team, which is great.”
After shooting a five-under 67 for the second time in his two rounds Gooch commented: “Yeah, it was a really solid day. Really good ball control. The only bogey made was a three-putt from about 15 feet (4.5 meters).
“Made life really simple today. Hit a bumping of greens, gave myself some good looks and made a few. These are the type of days of golf that you wish you could have more of.”
On his first experience as captain of Smash GC, he said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year through the first two rounds. We’ve still got a lot of golf left, so we’ve got to go and continue to play great.
“But like I said, I couldn’t have predicted or hoped for a better start. It’s a great start, and hopefully we can continue going and just set the tone for a great year after this first week.”
Gooch’s Smash GC teammate Jason Kokrak fired a bogey-free eight-under to storm the leaderboard and get within two shots of the leaders. “It was really good. Got into a couple sticky situations but made a couple of nice par saves,” he said.
“Got hot for about a nine- or 10-hole stretch. Drove the ball very nicely. Way better than yesterday. So very pleased with how I played.”
Uihlein is eager to bring his fine form into the weekend after shooting a three-under 69 in round two. When asked about the potential of bringing home his first LIV Golf trophy, he said: “Yeah, it would be awesome.
“That’s what we want to do. We want to win individually. We want to win as a team. But winning individually? Yeah, that’s what the goal is, to win.
“Now that we get world ranking points, you can jump up in the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) and try to get in the majors. That’s definitely the goal.”
In the team standings, Smash GC (-30) took a commanding lead after those low scores from Kokrak and Gooch. Torque GC (-27) and 4Aces GC (-23) stay firmly in the race for the podium with all four player scores counting for all four rounds this season.
Round 2 – Individual Leaderboard:
1 – Talor Gooch (Smash GC) | R2 (-5) - After R2 (-10)
1 – Peter Uihlein (RangeGoats GC) | R2 (-3) - After R2 (-10)
1 – Thomas Detry (4Aces GC) | R2 (-3) - After R2 (-10)
Round 1 – Team Leaderboard:
1 – Smash GC (-30)
2 – Torque GC (-27)
3 – 4Aces GC (-23)
