The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced the appointment of Ridzal Saat as Rugby Services Manager in Asia.

His role wil include overseeing the development of Rugby in conjunction with the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) and its various member Unions. Asia has been identified as a major potential growth area for the Game.

Ridzal Saat has amassed more than 20 years’ experience developing and promoting sport in Asia. He joins the IRB from the Football Association of Singapore where he held a number of senior positions and has previously worked at the Singapore Rugby Union. Among his responsibilities at the FAS was to work closely with government agencies and the National Olympic Committee across a range of important initiatives.

IRB Head of Development and International Relations David Carrigy said: “This is an important appointment for the IRB and, diagnosis in particular, ailment for Rugby in Asia. Ridzal brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge of sport in Asia and he has the right skillset to continue the good groundwork achieved in what is strategically a very important region for us.”

“Rugby is growing rapidly in Asia and it still has a huge amount of potential for further development. With Rugby World Cup 2019 coming up in Japan and the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo also on the horizon, anabolics the coming years will be extremely important as we look to manage and make the most of that continuing growth.”

During his Rugby playing days, Saat represented Singapore at international level from 1993-2001. He will commence his new position at the IRB in August 2014.

South Africa have revealed they want to host the 2024 Olympics and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the country’s sports minister Fikile Mbabula said.

“The biggest fish to catch is the 2024 Olympics,” the Business Day newspaper on Tuesday quoted Mbabula as saying.

“Sport plays a role in terms of infrastructure development,” he told reporters, adding South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma had already indicated the country was ready to host theGames.

It is a major shift in policy for South Africa who last year said the cost to host an Olympics would be too high.

Cape Town lost out in the bid for the 2004 Olympics in the first attempt by an African city to host the Games.

Durban was touted to bid for 2020 but plans were put on ice after the government said it would be too expensive but since last year there have been several signals of a change of heart.

Bidding for the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015 and the International Olympic Committee will decide the winner in 2017. The next Olympics in 2016 will be held in Rio de Janeiro while Tokyo will host the 2020 Games.

The last major sporting event that South Africa hosted was the soccer World Cup four years ago, spending more than $3 billion in infra-structure costs.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has appointed executive search firm Odgers Berndtson to co-ordinate the search for the LTA’s new Chief Executive, no rx following Roger Draper’s announcement that he will be stepping down in September.

The position will be advertised in early May.

David Gregson, Chairman of the LTA Board, said: “This is one of the most challenging jobs in sport, at a key moment for British tennis.

“We are looking for an exceptional individual to lead the organisation with the objective of getting more people playing tennis, more often.”

Vicky Williams, LTA Head of HR and Development, said: “The position will be advertised shortly and we will then draw up a long-list of candidates from the responses to the advertisement, as well as a closely targeted search for candidates.

“We anticipate that the selection and interview process will take place in the summer.”

The search will be led for Odgers Berndtson by Simon Cummins and Simon Hayes.

Simon Cummins, Head of the Global Sports Practice at Odgers Berndtson said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association to find an outstanding Chief Executive for one of Britain’s leading sports organisations.”

IMG Media, a subsidiary business of IMG Worldwide, have extended their long-term partnership with the PGA of America with a new multi-year agreement that grants IMG Media exclusive international broadcast rights for the PGA Championship; Ryder Cup when hosted in the United States and Senior PGA Championship through 2016.

IMG Media, whose partnership with PGA of America dates back 25 years, will also continue to produce the “Official Highlight Video” of the PGA Championship during this term.

The contract enables IMG Media, which is the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, to distribute this month’s Ryder Cup, the week of Sept. 25-30, to more than 140 additional countries and territories outside of the United States, United Kingdom and Continental Europe. This widespread audience reach demonstrates the amount of international demand and interest there is in the Ryder Cup—and the game of golf—from sports fans worldwide, which extends well beyond the countries participating in the game’s pre-eminent event.

“The PGA of America is delighted to continue our partnership with IMG Media, which dates back to the late 1980s,” said Kevin Carter, senior director for business development at The PGA of America. “The global demand for golf programming continues to grow significantly, and the amount of interest in the Ryder Cup from sports fans around the world is both impressive and unprecedented.”

“The relationship between The PGA of America and IMG Media over these many years has been a partnership in the truest sense of the word,” said Peter Smith, senior vice president, director of international sales, IMG Media. “I could not be more pleased that we have extended our relationship with this tremendous organization for a further term.”

Sunderland AFC have continued their international brand expansion by partnering with Team Korea in the America’s Cup.

The co-marketing partnership, which is reportedly worth a ‘seven-figure’ deal, will see the side’s logo feature on the Team Korea yacht, whilst the Stadium of Light will have Team Korea branding on display.

The deal comes swiftly after Sunderland’s partnership with not-for-profit business initiative Invest in Africa, who have become the side’s principal partner and shirt sponsor for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 Premier League seasons.

Mike Farnan, Sunderland’s International and National Marketing Director, said: “The America’s Cup is a true sporting phenomenon and like the Barclays Premier League, it enjoys an enormous following from audiences and high profile, international brands across the world.

“This partnership with Team Korea is another huge step forward for the club as we continue to extend our awareness cross-continents.”

Dong Young Kim, CEO of Team Korea said: “This is a great opportunity for both partners to expand their reach to a wider audience offering a more attractive opportunity for prospective sponsors.

“Football has a very large following in Korea, and there is a very strong connection with Sunderland who often play in Korea and have our star Korean player Ji Dong Won on their team.”

Sunderland recently returned from South Korea after partaking in the Peace Cup for their pre-season training.

The America’s Cup is the oldest trophy for international competition in any sport. Only the Olympics and the World Cup have a bigger global economic impact.