Sports court rejects Valentino Rossi appeal

GENEVA: The Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Italy’s Valentino Rossi, motorcycling’s former world champion, to set aside his punishment over the ‘Marquez-kick’ incident.
During the October 25 Malaysia Grand Prix, race officials found that Yamaha’s Rossi deliberately ran wide, resulting in contact with Honda’s Marc Marquez, who fell off his bike.
The current Championship leader appealed a three-point penalty that forced him to start from the back of the grid in Sunday’s race in Valencia.
He now faces an upill task to protect a slender seven-point lead over Spanish Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, as they come to the final race of the season, with defending champion Marquez out of the title running.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed Valentino Rossi’s request to stay the execution of the decision issued by the (international motorcycle federation) on 25 Oct. 2015,” a decision from the Lausanne-based tribunal said.
The Italian motorcycling legend’s actions have sparked outrage in Marquez’s home country of Spain.
But Rossi denies kicking defending champion Marquez, claiming instead that he is the victim of a Spanish plot.
Honda has insisted that Rossi’s kick was deliberate, claiming their technical data proves Rossi kicked Marquez’s machine.
The row kicked off, literally according to Rossi’s accusers, when the Italian tangled with Honda’s outgoing double world champion Marc Marquez at Sepang.
The young Spaniard has said Rossi kicked him off, an allegation the Italian has denied, suggesting Marquez was trying to sabotage his championship bid and help Lorenzo.
Race stewards allowed Rossi to keep the Malaysia result but handed him three penalty points which, added to an earlier one, triggered an automatic demotion for Valencia.
The sanction has divided the sport, fueled national rivalries and led to finger-pointing in both directions.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called Rossi to express his support while Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy took to Twitter to back Marquez. Yamaha have taken up the cudgels against Honda.
Spanish media have compared Rossi’s actions to those of Italian defender Mauro Tassotti, who elbowed Spain’s Luis Enrique in the face in an infamous incident in the quarterfinals of the 1994 soccer World Cup.
On the other side, Marquez filed a legal complaint after he and his family were allegedly insulted and physically attacked by Italian television reporters at their home near Barcelona.
Hundreds of thousands of people have also signed an online petition calling on MotoGP organizers to drop the Valencia penalty.
Such has been the atmosphere that the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) and promoters DORNA canceled Thursday’s pre-race news conference and summoned riders “to address the situation.”
“The recent events ... have had a damaging effect on the staging of our competitions and poisoned the atmosphere around the sport,” said FIM president Vito Ippolito.
“I express the hope that ... in Valencia the riders will fight it out on the track and in a way that fully respects the spirit of fair play.”