ICE SKATING: An Italian court has ordered the extradition of alleged Russian mobster Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov to the United States on charges of conspiring to fix skating events at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Tokhtakhounov's lawyer, Luca Saldarelli, said he was "pretty sure" to appeal the decision, but he would first wait for the court to publish its motivation for the verdict, expected within two weeks.

The Uzbekhistan-born Tokhtakhounov (54), has been held in Venice since his arrest in July.

US prosecutors claim Tokhtakhounov influenced members of the Russian and French skating federations to fix the outcome of the pairs figure skating and ice dancing competitions at the Salt Lake City games.

They allege that Tokhtakhounov and others agreed that in return for the French judge's vote for the Russian pairs figure skating team, the Russians would ensure that the French ice dancing team would win the gold medal in that competition.

The French pair included a dancer of Russian descent.

Tokhtakhounov allegedly stood to gain financially by placing bets on the outcome.

The two French officials - judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne and French winter sports chief Didier Gailhaguet - were banned for three years after the vote-rigging scandal erupted.

The International Olympic Committee, finding itself in the middle of an international outcry, took the unprecedented step of awarding gold to both the Russians and the Canadian pair, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who had originally won the silver medal.

Tokhtakhounov's arrest came several months later and thousands of miles away, in the rolling hills of Italy's Tuscany in July, and for alleged crimes unrelated to the Olympic event.

Alleged to be a major figure in the Russian mafia, the businessman was arrested in an operation code-named "East Money", targeting members of eastern European mafias operating in Italy.

The Uzbek-born businessman is suspected of having participated in rackets in Germany, including extortion, and trafficking in drugs, arms and art.

His lawyer, Saldarelli, said he had pleaded "the absence of double incrimination" at yesterday's hearing, saying the crimes of which his client is accused did not exist in Italian law and consequently there were no grounds for extradition.

For the purposes of the US extradition request, the businessman was charged with a total of five offences, one of sporting fraud, two counts of conspiracy, and two of communication fraud - using a means of communication with a fraudulent purpose.