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Poker
aficionados claim their sport is getting a raw deal from
the Olympics and are campaigning for a place at the
table at the Athens Games.
A
group calling itself "Poker in Athens" have said they
will not take the exclusion sitting down and have upped
the stakes with an online petition calling the bluff of
the sporting world.
The
group's Web Site (www.pokerinathens.org) says they are
"passionately dedicated to bringing Texas Holdem poker
to the 2004 Games," and demands that poker be given the
respect shown to games like chess and bridge.
In
an open letter, the group says that poker demands "the
focus of the archer, the endurance of the decathlete and
the skill of the gymnast."
"After all, the ribbon-waving rhythmic gymnasts are in.
The shuttlecock-chasing badminton players are in. Even
the ice-sweeping curlers are in. And poker's out?" they
lament.
"That's like throwing a party for mankind's greatest
inventions and forgetting to invite indoor plumbing."
The
International Olympic Committee, the body which decides
what is Olympic and what is not, was not available for
comment.
The
Web Site features spoof releases to illustrate the
group's efforts, under titles such as 'Poker Players
Submit to Drug Testing' and 'Poker Players Agree to Wear
Unitards (skin-tight one-piece garments)'.
Another section shows rhythmic gymnastics and
synchronized swimming clips with the caption: "If this
qualifies, why not poker?."
The
owners of the site, playing their cards close to their
chest, were also unavailable for comment.
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