LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Former Olympic champion Koji Murofushi has lost his appeal against disqualification from an election to become an IOC member representing athletes. The Court of Arbitration for Sport says it dismissed the Japanese hammer thrower's challenge of an IOC decision excluding him, after claims he excessively lobbied fellow athletes ahead of voting at the London Olympics.

Beach volleyball tour back after 10-year absence In addition to the grand slam event using the 2-on-2 format familiar to Olympic fans, organizers are also planning 4-on-4 and 6-on-6 tournaments, as well as a World Series Cup that pits the top two-person teams from the U.S. against the top international pairs. Organized by Leonard Armato, the former commissioner of the AVP domestic tour and the former agent for sports stars from Shaquille O'Neal to Oscar De La Hoya, the event will also feature a beach music festival with acts like D.J. Steve Aoki and the band Tap City, along with other performers to be determined. Quadrennial attempts to capitalize on Olympic success have failed to materialize, with the AVP tour declaring bankruptcy in 2010 and emerging in a crowded field of mini-tours competing for the sport's biggest stars. Having the FIVB's backing virtually guarantees that the Long Beach event will draw the best players; in addition to prize money, the FIVB tour has been the primary way that pairs qualify for the Olympics. NBC has broadcast every Olympics since beach volleyball joined the Summer Games in 1996, and the bikini and beach party sport has become a well-rated staple of prime time. Combining Armato's experience running beach volleyball events with NBC's history broadcasting the sport helped sell the idea. "Beach volleyball is the 16th sport in the United States; this is absurd, because in the rest of the world we are the second sport," Graca said. Dalhausser said the idea of a festival revolving around beach volleyball is also appealing to the players.

IOC President Jacques Rogge chaired Tuesday's session, which was attended by the four vice presidents of the IOC and leaders of international sports federations, national Olympic committees and other key groups. Rogge and IOC presidential candidates Thomas Bach, Ng Ser Miang and C.K. Wu were among the delegates who declined comment after talks at the Olympic body's headquarters.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One Pistorius brother is free of charges — acquitted Tuesday of culpable homicide in the death of a woman in a road accident. Carl Pistorius cried tears of relief Tuesday as a magistrate acquitted him of culpable homicide and negligent driving for the woman's death. Carl Pistorius' stepmother and sister hugged him in the court after Magistrate Buks du Plessis announced he was acquitted of all charges — culpable homicide as well as alternate charges of driving negligently and driving without consideration. Simasiku said the state did not have an expert witness to counter a planned defense argument that Barnard actually died from lack of care in the hospital and not as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder for shooting Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 14, which he says was accidental because he mistook her for a nighttime intruder when he shot through a door in his bathroom with his licensed handgun.

(AP) — Olympic gold medalist David Boudia leads a team of 15 American divers who will compete at the world championships in Barcelona, Spain, in July. Boudia easily qualified on the men's 10-meter platform, the event he won at the London Olympics last summer with an upset of the favored Chinese. The men's team also includes four-time Olympian Troy Dumais, who qualified in synchronized 3-meter springboard with partner Michael Hixon. The 33-year-old Dumais won his first Olympic medal in that event at London, teaming with Kristian Ipsen. Harrison Jones will join Ipsen to compete in two individual events, claiming spots in 1-meter springboard and 10-meter platform.