Curling kicks off Beijing Games ahead of Putin-Xi main event

BEIJING: Mixed doubles curling opened competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday (Feb 2) as the shadow of war in Ukraine, and the impending arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, loomed over an event already transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Curling teams from Sweden and Britain clashed inside Beijing's "closed loop", where the world's athletes will compete until Feb 20 in front of crowds made sparse by COVID-19 curbs.

Basketball great Yao Ming and a Chinese soldier wounded in a border clash with India joined in a torch relay set to last just three days and only be viewed by selected members of the public before the Olympic cauldron is lit.

But the political showdown between Putin and the West over Ukraine remained the main Olympic act ahead of Friday's opening ceremony, which the Russian president will attend in a show of unity with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

"Putin is very busy now. He is here because he has to be," said Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing's Renmin University. "Putin knows China is indispensable for Russia, just as Russia is indispensable for China."

While many Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia, are diplomatically boycotting the Winter Olympics over China's human rights record, Putin will join a number of Beijing-friendly leaders at the Games.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistan's Imran Khan and Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyhan of the United Arab Emirates were among several Middle Eastern and Asian leaders expected to attend. From Europe, only Poland and Serbia have said they will send their heads of state.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also attend the opening ceremony, telling reporters last month it was