2022 Beijing Winter Olympic

Russian Olympic Committee athlete Alexander Bolshunov won his first Olympic gold in men's 30km cross-country skiathlon on Sunday. The skiathlon began with 15 kilometres of classic skiing and switched to freestyle after the half-point. The 25-year-old opened a big gap in the second half and crossed the line with a comfortable lead, winning in one hour, 16 minutes and 9.8 seconds.

The Winter Games opening ceremony was divided into 15 segments, including the parade of athletes and the lighting of the Olympic flame. As the ceremony started, the lights dimmed and a 24-second countdown followed. The opening day of the 2022 Winter Olympics coincides with the "Beginning of Spring", which is the first of the 24 solar terms of the year. It is used to count down the last seconds before the ceremony, reflecting the Chinese people's understanding of time, reports Xinhua.

The opening ceremony was held at the iconic Bird's Nest Stadium, which also hosted the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in 2008. India was the 23rd country in the Parade of Nations and the 31-year-old skier, sporting a red jacket, was carrying the Indian flag, accompanied by a couple of support staff. This year, for the first time in Winter Olympics history, each nation had two flag bearers -- one man and one woman.

According to professor John Moore, a British scientist who heads China's 'climate-engineering' research programme, it would be surprising if the weather wasn't enhanced to cover up the fact the Games are being staged in an area where snow is in such short supply that it has had to be manufactured by freezing 49 million gallons of water.

"Consequent to the announcement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) @meaindia, @ddsportschannel will not telecast live the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing," Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO, Prasar Bharati, tweeted. Earlier on Thursday, the MEA had said that it is regrettable that China has chosen to politicise the Olympics.

Political fervour in the US reached a high last month as the White House called for a diplomatic boycott of the Games, a statement against human rights abuses that Washington has accused Beijing of perpetuating in the country's western Xinjiang region. That's added to pressure on companies such as Coca-Cola, Intel, Visa and Airbnb, which in recent months have faced calls to cut ties with the event because of Xinjiang, the report said.

The 31-year-old Khan will take part in the Winter Olympics in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events. He is currently the only Indian to have secured a Beijing 2022 berth, after securing two quota spots last year. "The Sports Ministry's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) has approved the inclusion of Alpine Skiing athlete Md Arif Khan in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Core group, until the Winter Olympics, scheduled this February in Beijing, China," a release said.

The 31-year-old Khan on Wednesday, secured a 2022 Winter Olympics quota spot in men's giant slalom event. Last month, he earned a quota in the slalom event at a meet in Dubai. Arif, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, secured his giant slalom cut during the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) meet held at Kolasin, Montenegro. While Arif remains the only Indian to have made the cut for the 2022 Winter Games so far, his compatriot Aanchal Thakur, who recently won a bronze in the women's giant slalom, remains in the hunt for qualification, an olympics.com report said.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, "Olympic participation is no longer feasible" with 50 league games postponed up to December 23. "Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL's regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events -- 50 games already have been postponed through December 23 - Olympic participation is no longer feasible," said Bettman in a statement.