OLYMPICS: Curling-CAS dismisses Romei's appeal against exclusion from Italy team

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sunday dismissed an appeal by Italian curler Angela Romei, who sought to overturn her exclusion from the women’s curling team for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics amid allegations of favoritism.

Romei had asked CAS to overturn the Italian Ice Sports Federation’s decision to replace her with the national team technical director’s daughter. Rebecca Mariani, 19, the daughter of Marco Mariani, was among the five curlers named to Italy’s squad for the Games. The women’s tournament is set to begin next week in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

In a statement, CAS said a hearing was held Saturday, during which the arbitrator found it unlikely that the head coach would select an athlete “simply to help a member of the federation include family in the Olympic roster.” The statement added that it was equally unlikely the coach would endorse false or fabricated statements to justify such a decision.

Romei had also appealed to the World Curling Federation (WCF), which responded that the selection of Italy’s Olympic team was a matter for the national federation. CAS confirmed that WCF does not have the authority to overrule national team selections and that international federations are not tasked with revisiting national selection processes.

The Italian federation defended Mariani’s inclusion, describing it as a “technical” decision. -Reporting by Aadi Nair;Editing by Alison Williams/Reuters