LONDON - Elena Baltacha, a former top-50 professional tennis player who had been fighting liver cancer since retiring from the game, died Sunday. She was 30. The former British No. 1 died peacefully surrounded by family and friends, the Womens Tennis Association said on its website. The Kyiv-born Baltacha, who represented Britain at the 2012 London Olympics, was diagnosed with the illness in January, two months after retiring from tennis and only weeks after she married her long-time coach Nino Severino. "We are heartbroken beyond words at the loss of our beautiful, talented and determined Bally," Severino said in a statement. "She was an amazing person and she touched so many people with her inspirational spirit, her warmth and her kindness." Baltacha was born into a sporting family. Father Sergei played football for Dynamo Kyiv and English club Ipswich, and won a bronze medal for the Soviet Union at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Mother Olga represented the Soviet Union in the pentathlon. After being diagnosed with a chronic liver condition aged 19, Baltacha dealt with illness throughout her career, receiving medication and regular blood tests. "Elenas journey was never an easy one and yet she consistently showed her strength, good humour and indomitable spirit," WTA chairman Stacey Allaster said. Her best ranking was 49th in 2010, and she reached the third round at Grand Slam tournaments three times — at Wimbledon in 2002, and at the Australian Open in 2005 and 2010. Ankle problems eventually forced her to retire in November, and she had hoped to use her experience to develop the next generation of British players. "We have lost a shining light from the heart of British tennis - a true role model, a great competitor and a wonderful friend," former Fed Cup coach Iain Bates said. "We have so many special memories to cherish, but this leaves a gaping hole for everybody in both British and womens tennis, and words simply cannot express how saddened we are by this news." Baltacha had already planned a tennis charity event in June, "Rally for Bally," to raise money for a cancer hospital and her tennis academy. It will go ahead in her memory, with competitors including childhood friend Andy Murray, Martina Navratilova and Tim Henman. "Bally was such a caring human being, always putting others before herself, and a warm, fun person," the WTAs Allaster said. "A shining example of her commitment to looking out for the welfare of others is the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis, which she established so that children from disadvantaged backgrounds could learn to play the game she loved so dearly." Air Max From China . 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Hi Kerry, Thursday nights Bruins-Blackhawks game had a goal by Patrice Bergeron initially waved off by the referee, but video review clarified it was a good goal.BANGKOK - The 2022 Winter Olympics will remain in the traditional February time slot and will not be moved to make way for a rescheduled World Cup in Qatar, the head of the worlds national Olympic committees said Thursday.FIFA is currently considering moving the World Cup to avoid the summer heat in Qatar, including a possible shift to January-February — a period that would clash with the Olympics.Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, said the Winter Games arrangements are already locked in and the onus is on the World Cup to avoid clashing with the Olympics rather than the other way around.Sheikh Ahmad, a powerful IOC member who also heads Asias Olympic association, said the World Cup timing is an issue for FIFA and not the International Olympic Committee.The Olympics should be maintained, Sheikh Ahmad said. The IOC will maintain their time because we already have been committed, the organizers have been organized, the broadcasting, the marketing partners.The IOC has repeatedly said that it has assurances from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that the two events will not clash.FIFA said Monday it was targeting two options for moving the World Cup — January-February and November-December. The January-February option is favoured by FIFAs confederations. European soccer clubs prefer April-May.Sheikh Ahmad said he is confident that FIFA will ensure that the World Cup and Olympics do not overlap.They are the best two events in the world, he told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of ANOC meetings in Bangkok. (FIFA) will analyze this and they will try to come up with the best solution how they will make it without touching each other, achieving the interest of each.Somebody is talking about January and February before the games, somebody speaking about October and November and others asking to maintain in August. Let thee commission do their homework, but I am 100 per cent confident they will never be at the same time.ddddddddddddBeijing and the Kazakhstan city of Almaty are the only two remaining bidders for 2022 after several cities dropped out of the running. They will give formal presentations to the ANOC assembly on Friday.The opposition to the World Cup being hosted in Qatars summer heat had also been regarded as diminishing the chances of a Middle East country hosting the summer games in 2024 or beyond.Sheikh Ahmad, who is from Kuwait, said that was an issue that will be addressed as part of the IOCs Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms. The reforms will be voted on at a special IOC assembly in Monaco next month.The ANOC chief said there needs to be more flexibility over the timing of the Summer Olympics to broaden the list of candidate cities. He cited Dubai and Doha as examples of Middle East cities that could host the 2024 Games.(Dubai) is capable. They dont have to do anything, only the sporting facility, Sheikh Ahmad said. They have the airport, the hotel, the accommodation, the name, the tourism. We have capable cities in our region which can bid for the games whenever they want.This is something we have to discuss in the 2020 agenda. We have to respect the south zone of the world. When we did it in Sydney, we did it in October. We have to put two periods of time: one achieves the north and one achieves the south.He said Doha, which bid for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics but failed to make the list of finalists both times, could be successful next time.The last time (Dohas bid failed) I dont know why it was, because they had almost all the federations accept the time change. Only maybe one federation gave disapproval, Sheikh Ahmad said. In any case, Doha is now in a position better than the last few years. If ever they will go again, I think they will be on the short list. ' ' '