A top Russian senator said on Thursday he had credible evidence of the United States plotting to “discredit” the 2018 World Cup his country is staging for the first time. “We have grounds to believe that an attack will occur on the football World Cup,” the RIA Novosti state news agency quoted Klimov as saying. The United States did not qualify for the World Cup and will thus avoid the politically-charged potential of facing Russia at a time when their diplomatic relations are near a post-Cold War low. Russia on Wednesday also withdrew its bid to host the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in protest at alleged bias against its athletes. “Considering the global sporting community’s attitude towards Russian athletes and our sport as a whole, we have decided not to contest the right to host the Wold Cup,” Russian Basketball Association president Andrei Kirilenko said in a statement.

Source: Punch November 23, 2017 11:26 UTC