Poor sportsmanship proves costly

Italian Roberto Chiappa paid a heavy price for poor sportsmanship. The men's sprint bronze medallist at the World track cycling championships on Friday was disqualified for an incident that left defending champion Laurent Gane flat on his back after their race.

Gane, the French sprint sensation, won the deciding race in the best-of-three rides semi-final, much to Chiappa's displeasure. And the Italian he made no bones of it as he rode straight into the Frenchman's path as Gane waved his hand at him, offering to shake hands, causing him to crash.

Chiappa then circled the track like a jubiliant boxer waving his arms even as the crowd booed him.

With former Olympic champion Jens Fiedler of Germany ruled out by sickness, it gave his compatriot Jan van Eijden a ride-over into the final to take on Gane. The bronze automatically would have been Chiappa's without further racing effort. But he chose to be petulant and officials announced he was disqualified, adding that the bronze would not be awarded.

Agencies