Mixed doubles curling was set to open competition in #Beijing2022 as the shadow of war in Ukraine - and the impending arrival of Putin - loomed over a Winter Games already transformed by the coronavirus pandemic reut.rs/3ukmcuK 
Earlier, 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 reut.rs/3saf4hB
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 was expected to attend in a show of unity with Chinese leader Xi Jinping
Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistan's Imran Khan and Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, were among several Middle Eastern and Asian leaders expected to attend reut.rs/3GmMlLJ
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 reut.rs/3ukmcuK
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