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When Michael Phelps became the first American male swimmer to qualify for his fifth Olympics, he added a huge incentive for two young Indians heading for their first Olympic Games.22-year-old Sajan Prakash and 18-year-old Shivani Kataria are huge Phelps fans, and unabashedly so.Prakash and Kataria stand selected for the Indian contingent through the Universality Rule, which allows countries to nominate one swimmer each even though they may not have met the A standard qualification time.Prakash will be competing in the 200m butterfly, an event that Phelps has won two of his record 18 gold medals in (he also picked up the silver in 2012), and recently clocked 1:59:27 in Hong Kong, the first time an Indian had clocked under two minutes in the meet. Phelps is my idol, and his pet event is the same as mine, says Prakash. I hope we meet in the heats.Kataria, originally from the northern state of Haryana, was an accidental swimmer who also had a choice of playing tennis for a living. She would swim for most of the year while living in the capital city of New Delhi, but when the winter would make swimming impossible, she would play tennis.However, after shifting to a more temperate Bangalore in 2012, she tried mastering all four strokes.I used to look for videos on the internet, says Kataria of her early days as a swimmer. One of the first videos that I found was of Phelps, doing the butterfly. The butterfly is my second stroke, incidentally, says Kataria, who will represent India at the 200 m freestyle in Rio. It is such an elegant stroke, and so tough too!Kataria will become the first Indian woman to compete at the Olympics since Shikha Tandon in 2004, and she cant wait to tick one of the boxes left from the 2015 World Championship, her first as a competitor.I was so excited that I would get to meet so many swimmers. Katie Ledecky, Cam McEvoy... they were all there, says Kataria. But Phelps wasnt there since he was serving a suspension.Vince Carter Jersey . 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But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days.RIO DE JANEIRO -- International Olympic Committee leaders will meet in Rio de Janeiro this weekend to review the final preparations for the Games and deal with the fallout from the doping scandal that has led to the exclusion of more than 100 Russian athletes.The IOCs ruling executive board opens a two-day meeting on Saturday, its last formal gathering before next Friday nights opening ceremony at the Maracana stadium.The meeting comes less than a week after the IOC board decided not to ban Russias entire team from the games because of state-sponsored doping. Rejecting calls by more than a dozen anti-doping agencies for a complete ban on Russia, the IOC left it to individual sports federations to vet which athletes could compete.On Friday, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that, so far, 272 of the countrys athletes had been cleared by international federations, out of an original team of 387. More than 100, however, have been barred -- including the track and field team banned by the IAAF and more than 30 other athletes rejected under new IOC eligibility criteria.Russias eight-member weightlifting team was kicked out of the Games on Friday for what the IOC called extremely shocking doping results that brought the sport into disrepute.The IOC has been roundly criticized by anti-doping bodies, athletes groups and Western media for not imposing a total ban on Russia. Pressure for the full sanction followed a World Anti-Doping Agency report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that accused Russias sports ministry of overseeing a vast doping conspiracy involving the countrys summer and winter sports athletes.IOC President Thomas Bach has defended the decision as protecting individual athletes from collective punishment.This is a decision we just had the opportunity to discuss with some athletes, Bach said in Rio. I think the general feeling is that it is appreciated that, on the onee hand, we are sanctioning a (doping) system, but on the other hand, we have given athletes who were not part of the system the opportunity to demonstrate this and then to be allowed to take part in the Olympic Games.ddddddddddddRios preparations, meanwhile, remain clouded on several fronts, including budget cuts; raw sewage that pollutes the sites of rowing, sailing, canoeing, open-water swimming and triathlon; slow ticket sales; concerns over crime and the Zika virus. The Games come with President Dilma Rousseff awaiting an impeachment trial and the country gripped by a severe recession.The Australians and at least eight other Olympic teams complained this week about their accommodations in the athletes village, citing plumbing leaks, electrical faults and dirty conditions. On Friday, Australian athletes and staff had to be evacuated from their building after a small fire broke out in the basement. They returned safely after about 20 minutes.Bach remains publicly upbeat.In the end, you will see a fantastic Olympic Village and great games, he said. The Brazilians will overwhelm all of us with their passion, with their joy of life, their great hospitality and with their energy.The IOC will hold a three-day session next week, starting Tuesday. A top item on the agenda is Wednesdays vote on a recommendation to add five sports to the program of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics -- baseball/softball, surfing, karate, roller skating and sport climbing.The proposed sports -- backed by the executive board and to be voted on as a package -- would add 18 events and 474 athletes to the program.An IOC program commission report released on Friday said the five sports are a blend of the traditional and emerging, youth-focused events, and all have international and local appeal. ' ' '