Daan Huizing announced today that he has signed with IMG, store the world’s leading sports, arthritis fashion and media company, for worldwide management and marketing representation.

Huizing has dominated European Amateur Golf for the past two seasons amassing multiple titles, including an 11 shot victory at the Lytham Trophy and a 14 shot victory at the St Andrews Links Trophy with a new record low score in the tournament. Daan reached #1 in the European Amateur Ranking and #2 in the World Amateur Ranking before turning professional. In his first three tournaments on the Pro Golf Tour Daan has not finished outside the Top 10, and now heads to the Open Mogador in Morocco standing 4th on the Order of Merit.

Daan explained his decision to join IMG commenting: “I am excited to join IMG. They have a global network of offices, experienced and dedicated golf staff and are involved in every aspect of the game. They are best equipped to help me achieve everything both now and in my future career. I also want take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me to this point. Special thanks must go to the Netherlands Golf Federation who remain an integral part of my extended team.”

IMG Golf’s Global Managing Director, Guy Kinnings commented: “We are delighted to welcome Daan to IMG, he has had an amazing amateur career and the margin of some of his victories is staggering. When your professional clients are discussing amateur results you know you are dealing with someone fairly unique. Credit must go to the team that have supported Daan to this point, as achieving this level of success on the European circuit whilst completing a University degree is no simple task. IMG look forward to supporting Daan throughout what we are sure will be an exciting and successful career.”

Rio 2016 Olympic Games organisers are already encountering problems after revealing that the rugby sevens competition may have to be moved from its scheduled venue.

Rio 2016 chiefs had wanted to play the rugby sevens at the Sao Januario Stadium – home of football club Vasco da Gama – but the tenants have failed to supply the necessary documents to the authorities.

The organising committee have now stated that the return of rugby to the Olympics could be now played at the main Joao Havelange Stadium which will also host the athletics.

“The Sao Januario Stadium had been identified by Rio 2016 as the potential Rugby Sevens venue, subject to delivery criteria being met,” said Rio 2016 organisers in a statement.

“The Clube de Regatas Vasco da Gama was requested, on 9 April, 2012, to provide detailed plans and all guarantees, including financial, related to the provision of the stadium under the conditions required by the IOC and the International Rugby Board (IRB) for the event by 31 October, 2012.

“As the documents requested were not received by the required deadline, Rio 2016 is now going to undertake a reassessment of the operational plans for the Joao Havelange Stadium, in conjunction with the IRB and the IOC, in order to ensure that rugby sevens’ Olympic Games debut is both successful and memorable.”

Rugby is back in the Olympics for the first time since 1924 but it will be a debut for the sevens format, and the International Rugby Board are keen for the competition to go off without a hitch.

With the sevens just taking two days it should not pose a problem to play the event in the opening week of the Rio Games before changing the stadium into an athletics venue, and the IRB are keeping close tabs on the situation.

“The IRB has been kept fully informed by Rio 2016 of the on-going discussions regarding the selection of the sports venue for the Olympic Games Rugby Sevens events,” said an IRB statement.

“The IRB will continue to work alongside Rio 2016 and the IOC to ensure the delivery of outstanding and successful rugby sevens events for teams, fans and the Olympic and rugby families.”

iSportconnect are today (26^th September) pleased to announce an event partnership with the Asia Pacific World Sport and Women Conference 2012.

The event taking place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, unhealthy Australia, is the first of its kind and looks at the world’s most popular sports and provides a global platform to explore ‘how’ and ‘why’ women consume sport and how to leverage this target market for greater commercial and social capital growth.

iSportconnect CEO Sree Varma said “This is not the first time we will be entering into the Asia Pacific market so we feel we can really work well together for what looks likely to be a very successful event. I am very pleased to be partnering with this growing event and working together further in the future.”

iSportconnect is an exclusive online platform that brings together thousands of sports business professionals worldwide. The site provides news, market data and analysis, columns and features, forums, listings of events and jobs and great opportunities for online networking.

There are no introductory fees and no limits on communication.

The site is complemented by events where attendees can network face-to-face and discuss relevant topics with a panel of experts.

World Sport and Women Organising Association President, Patrizia Torelli said “Once again the power of the ‘female economy’ is driving change and we are delighted to be able to feature some of the globe’s leading experts in the business of sport, who will share their knowledge and top tips for success. From the Governor General of Australia to the Federal Minister of Sport, delegates will hear from those who have delivered outstanding results by growing the role of women across every level of sports, both on and off the field.’”

For Further information on the event please click here

For more information on iSportconnect visit dev.isportconnect.com

London Wasps rugby club has now officially been bought after shares were purchased from previous owner Steve Hayes by a new consortium.

Wasps will continue to play at Adams Park for the foreseeable future, although the new owners have cited relocation to a new stadium as one of their primary goals.

A new board of directors will soon be installed, with former club captain Mark Rigby continuing in his role as chairman alongside new CEO David Thorne.

“We are delighted to confirm the completion of the sale process following the agreement of terms in recent months,” Rigby told the club’s official website.

“It has undoubtedly been a lengthy process and there have been some complex financial issues involved, but we are pleased that the situation finally has been resolved.

“The vision of everyone involved in the consortium who will take the club forward, is to ensure that London Wasps becomes a sustainable business long-term.

“In the short term, we have some major work to get the company back on a sound financial footing and our priority is to stabilise the business after a rocky and difficult 12 months for everyone involved.”

CEWE setzt sich für den Sport in der Region ein. Europas größter Fotofinisher fördert einweiteres Jahr als Platinum-Sponsor den Handball-Bundesligisten und Pokalsieger desDeutschen Handball Bundes (DHB) VfL Oldenburg. Ab dem 1. Juli 2012 streben der Foto-Dienstleister und der erfolgreiche Sportverein eine stärkere inhaltliche Kooperation an.

Die Handballsektion des VfL Oldenburg kann sich sehen lassen: Besonders die 1. Damen-Mannschaft ist seit fast 30 Jahren in der Bundesliga eine geschätzte Größe. Als im letztenJahr einer der Hauptsponsoren des Vereins zahlungsunfähig wurde, sprang CEWE ein undbaute seitdem sein finanzielles Engagement aus. In diesem Jahr wird das Sponsorenverhältnisfortgesetzt und die Zusammenarbeit vertieft. Auch Handball-Fans profitieren: bei Heimspielen,über den Newsletter und auf der Homepage des VfL Oldenburg sowie über facebook werdenwährend der Saison Gutscheine für Exemplare des CEWE FOTOBUCHs verlost. Darüberhinaus sind Foto-Wettbewerbe und Verlosungen von VfLFreikarten auf der Homepage vonCEWE geplant.

Bei den Verantwortlichen auf beiden Seiten ist die Begeisterung groß: „Wir freuen uns,noch enger mit CEWE zusammenarbeiten zu können. Durch den tollen Einsatz im letztenJahr wissen wir, wie sehr wir uns auf den Fotofinisher als Förderer verlassen können“, sagtVfLMarketingleiter Stefan Eickelmann. Dr. Rolf Hollander, Vorstandsvorsitzender von CEWE,erklärt: „CEWE unterstützt gerne den Sport an unserem Stammsitz – und gerade dann, wenn erso erstklassig ist wie beim VfL Oldenburg.“

Sportsponsoring hat bei Europas größtem Foto-Dienstleister eine hohe Priorität. Neben derUnterstützung des VfL Oldenburg setzt sich CEWE für weitere Vereine aus der Region ein, wiebeispielsweise den VfB Oldenburg und die EWE Baskets. Dort ist CEWE seit 2009 einer derHauptsponsoren. „Die Kombination aus Sport und Fotos gehört für uns einfach zusammen. Sowird auch für diejenigen, die bei den Spielen und Turnieren nicht dabei sein können, der Sporterlebbar“, so Dr. Rolf Hollander weiter.

Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One supremo, has insisted he is ready to give organisers of the postponed Bahrain Grand Prix more time to decide whether the race can take place later in the season after ut was called off due to political upheaval and violent protesting.

Motorsport’s governing body told Bahrain chiefs that they had until May 1 to confirm whether it would be able to stage a race later in the year. However, with the security situation in Bahrain still unpredictable, Ecclestone told Reuters that the Gulf state could be offered a few more weeks to decide.

Ecclestone stated: “We need to wait a little bit to see exactly how progress is made. I suppose we’d be safe by early June or something like that. Things can change in a couple of weeks…so you don’t know. All of a sudden everything might be peaceful in a month’s time and they are happy to run the event and so we are happy to be there.”

Meanwhile Ecclestone has reiterated that there are no plans to sell F1 to a consortium led by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

“It (the speculation) is media driven,” he said. “It looks very much like someone who is trying to see if they can make (money). All of these people that get involved with these things, they get some victims and say, ‘we can make this happen, I’m sure we can do this’, and then all they do is keep pumping fees in.”

MotoGP organisers have confirmed that this year’s Japanese Grand Prix has postponed until later in the season following the deadly earthquake and tsunami last week. 

Despite the race circuit staged in Motegi not suffering irreparable damage itself,  the road network between Motegi and Tokyo has been heavily damaged, making the staging of a major event in the MotoGP season unlikely. 

The race, set for 24th April, has now been moved back to 2nd October, and is the second year in succession the Japanese race has been rescheduled, following the volcanic ash crisis in Iceland last year.

The MotoGP season begins on 20th March in Losail, Qatar, and runs until the 6th November with the final round in Spain – the home of reigning World champion Jorge Lorenzo. 

A recent poll by auditors Global Research has shown the British public are unsure about which companies are sponsoring this summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The research, which was conducted the day before the tournament began on 11 June, shows the 1,005 polled across Great Britain struggled to correctly identify eight sponsors and partners (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Adidas, Sony, Visa, Budweiser, Emirates and Hyundai) of the event from a list of well known brands.

Coca-Cola was the only sponsor to be correctly identified by more than half of those polled (57 per cent), while Hyundai by recognised by the least (ten per cent).

Those polled were also sceptical over the companies’ motives, with 81 per cent believing the reason to be, “to get their company name or logo on TV”, while 50 per cent thought it was “to sell more of their products within South Africa”.

Echo’s Group CEO, Sandra Macleod, said: “These findings show that, as the tournament gets underway, sponsors have much work to do to raise awareness of their role in the World Cup, and to convince the British public that they are motivated by a genuine concern for the host nation and for football and its supporters, as much as by commercial gains.

“Should confusion in these areas continue as the World Cup unfolds, sponsors will not realise the brand and reputation benefits that sponsorship should bring.”

British horseracing commercial group the Jockey Club has appointed two new members to the Cheltenham Racecourse committee, William Rucker and William Vestey.

Both William Rucker and William Vestey have a long association with the course and have joined the committee as of June 1, 2014.

William Rucker is Chief Executive of Lazard in London. He is also Chairman of Crest Nicholson Holdings plc and Quintain Estates & Development plc. He has many horses in training with Evan Williams and his horses have finished in the top four in the last six runnings of the Grand National, with familiar names such as Cappa Bleu and State Of Play, the latter of which also won the  2006 Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury. He also has horses in training with Fergal O’Brien and with Sir Mark Prescott on the Flat.

William Vestey has grown up with Cheltenham Racecourse as a big part of his life, as his father Lord Vestey was Chairman for over two decades. He is Lord Vestey’s elder son and is Associate Director for the family business, Vestey Group. William has horses in training with Jeremy Noseda, Nicky Henderson and Charlie Longsdon.

Robert Waley-Cohen, Chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse commented: “I am delighted that William and William have agreed to join the committee at Cheltenham. William Rucker has a wealth of experience both as a racehorse owner and as a businessman and William Vestey has experience of Cheltenham as a long-term member during his father’s time as Chairman. I look forward to working with them both.”

William Vestey added: “I am thrilled to be joining the committee for Cheltenham Racecourse, having grown up with my father as Chairman. I have many happy memories of racing at Cheltenham over the years and look forward to my first season as part of the committee.”

The Cheltenham Racecourse committee is led by Robert Waley-Cohen, with support from Vice Chairman Christopher Hodgson, a director at KBIS Insurance, CEO of Talk Talk Dido Harding, Head of the Country House Department at Knight Frank Rupert Sweeting and Chief Executive of the Injured Jockeys Fund Lisa Hancock.

England’s fifth tier, the Skrill Football Conference, has announced the Press Association (PA), the UK’s leading multimedia news agency and digital content supplier, as their official and exclusive data supplier.

The agreement, which commences immediately, will run until the end of the 2015/16 season; and will see PA collect and deliver high level data from every Skrill Conference Premier game, including information on matches in the Skrill North and South divisions.

Margaret Hicks-Clarke, PA’s Head of Operations, said: “We have considerable experience both in the collection and commercial use of football data on behalf of rights holders and we look forward to a successful partnership with the Football Conference.

“Our partnership will further enhance the profile of the Football Conference within the media sector of grass roots football, while also delivering a high level data service to the market place through standalone statistics, plus PA’s industry leading graphics and datatorials.”

Brian Lee, chairman at the Football Conference, added: “We are delighted to enter into this agreement with the Press Association – a renowned and well-respected supplier of sports data to media outlets throughout the country.

“This move will increase publicity and awareness of the Football Conference’s growing brand, while satisfying the appetite of sports fans to tap into match data on a regular basis. Our partnership has been cemented already through close cooperation to produce a first class web based app which is FREE to all football followers world-wide and will supplement our current exposure to an ever increasing fan base.”