USA Table Tennis announced Tuesday the selection of Cary as the host city for the 2012 U.S. and North American Table Tennis Olympic Trials. The U.S. Olympic Trials will be held February 8-12, 2012, with the top finishers qualifying for the North American Olympic Trials. The North American Olympic Trials will be held from April 18-22, with the top finishers earning a spot on the 2012 Olympic Team.
Bond Park Community Center in Cary will serve as the host venue for both Trials events.
The two five-day events will attract the top table tennis players in North America to Cary. The U.S. Olympic Trials will feature the country's top players as they attempt to qualify for the North American Olympic Trials. At the North American Olympic Trials, the top finishers from the U.S. and Canadian Olympic Trials will square off to represent their countries and earn North America's slots at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
"We are thrilled to bring our marquee event to North Carolina for the first time," said Mike Cavanaugh, CEO of USA Table Tennis. "Cary has proven itself as an excellent host for our sport with 10 years of the very successful Cary Cup. Several of our national team members have played in the Cup and praised the event. Of course dating back to my own participation in the U.S. Olympic Festival in the Triangle in 1987, the region has demonstrated its organization of, and love for, Olympic sports, and that factored into our decision as well."
No progress in NFL talks
The NFL and its locked-out players wrapped up another round of court-ordered mediation Tuesday in Minneapolis without any signs of a new agreement and the clock ticking on the 2011 season.
Officials and attorneys for both sides said they will return for more closed-door talks with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan on June 7, four days after a key appeals court hearing in St. Louis.
NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash and former Vikings standout Carl Eller both said the talks went well, but there was no indication of any progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement.
France gets 2018 Ryder Cup
France will host its first Ryder Cup after being awarded the 2018 tournament, beating out sentimental favorite Spain as the popular choice following the death of Seve Ballesteros.
The European Ryder Cup committee voted unanimously in favor of the French bid, which centers on the Le Golf National course near Paris - the headquarters of the French federation and venue for all but two French Opens in the last 20 years.
Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands also entered bids.
Coughlin, Denney form team
Two weeks after Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin, who won this year's U.S. pairs figure skating title and finished sixth at the world championships, announced their split, Coughlin said Tuesday he is now skating with Caydee Denney.
Denney won the 2010 U.S. title with Jeremy Barrett, but that partnership ended in February.
"We're excited to start this new chapter in our careers. The partnership felt right from the start, and we were immediately comfortable on the ice together," Denney and Coughlin said in a statement from U.S. Figure Skating.
Nishikori to play in French
The agent for Kei Nishikori says the Japanese tennis player is back at practice and will go to the French Open after treatment for a kidney infection.
Agent Olivier van Lindonk wrote in an email Tuesday that the 60th-ranked Nishikori would join his coaching team in Paris on Thursday. The year's second Grand Slam tournament starts on Sunday.
Associated Press
