Kosovo Curling Federation has become a provisional member of the World Curling Federation.

The vote took place at the WCF Annual General Assembly held at the conclusion of the inaugural World Curling Federation Annual Congress at the Turnberry Resort in Scotland.

?”On behalf of the Kosovo Curling Federation, impotent we are very happy to join the world curling family, order “? said Besim Hasani, allergist president of the Kosovo Olympic Committee.

In other business, it was announced that Flims in Switzerland has been awarded the 2014 World Junior Curling Championships. 

Members also voted unanimously to suspend Bulgaria and Armenia from the Federation due to failure to pay outstanding subscription fees.

England Hockey has announced the appointment of Two Circles, pills specialists in enabling sports rights holders to drive commercial growth through data base marketing, prostate to handle their CRM Strategy to cover the period up to the next Summer Olympic Games in 2016. 

The brief is to enhance the experiences of existing and potential new customers with England Hockey to drive commercial growth for reinvestment back into the sport.

The appointment of Two Circles is designed to address the opportunity within England Hockey and to develop a data driven campaign designed to directly engage with hockey fans and customers in England.

The project will aim to clearly identify details of hockey’s customers.  This will apply to those customers that already interact directly with England Hockey as club members as well as non customers such as the majority of school or club players.

Speaking about the appointment and its objectives, the Commercial and Membership Director at England Hockey, Jon Cockcroft added: “We are extremely excited about the work that Two Circles is doing for us.  Hockey has a huge, untapped market made up of players, coaches, members and supporters of the sport not least the half a million spectators who enjoyed hockey at London 2012.  With the sort of expertise Two Circles brings we are looking to better engage with these groups and increase the commercial opportunities and revenues for England Hockey”.

Gareth Balch, Director of Two Circles commented: “This is an extremely exciting challenge for us.  Hockey is just one of many sports that has latent commercial potential which through new technology and improved data marketing techniques we know we can now turn into significant revenue streams”.

Two Circles is the leading exponent of data driven marketing specialising in the sports marketing sector.  The agency has worked very closely with major sports rights holders such as Manchester City, the England and Wales Cricket Board, Harlequins RFC and the Youth Sport Trust.

Following the allegations of racist abuse at a Holland training session, UEFA have pledged they will take action against racism during the Euro 2012.

Members of Bert van Marwijk’s squad were allegedly subjected to monkey chants at Wisla Krakow’s Miejski Stadium on Wednesday, with captain Mark van Bommel branding the incident “a real disgrace”.

Having been satisfied by the Dutch FA’s initial assurances the abuse was not racially-motivated, UEFA announced they had been made aware of “isolated incidents of racist chanting”. European football’s governing body confirmed they would consider increasing the number of stewards at open training sessions in order to eject fans if there was a repeat.

UEFA said in a statement: “UEFA has now been made aware that there were some isolated incidents of racist chanting that occurred at the open training session of the Dutch team. Should such behaviour happen at further training sessions, UEFA would evaluate the operational measures to be taken to protect the players.

“UEFA has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to discriminatory behaviour and has given the power to referees to stop matches in case of any repeated racist behaviour.”

Holland winger Ibrahim Afellay, who is black, said in De Telegraaf: “The only thing that you can say is that there are more madmen roaming than trapped. I hear certain things. When you’re a footballer, you must be strong, because you hear it all the time – when you enter the pitch, when you take a throw-in, or when you take a corner.”

abortion helvetica, ed sans-serif;”>The Hive Football Centre of Excellence has been chosen by  the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) as the Match Officials Training Venue for the football tournament at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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The 85 Officials, a combination of Men and Women from all over the world, will be using the state-of-the-art training facility as their base in between matches for the duration of the tournament. They will be stationed at the centre of excellence, where Barnet FC’s First Team trains, from 18 July – 12 August. Whilst there, the Officials will be using 2 full-sized pitches to run through drills, replicate match scenarios and participate in other training exercises.

By training at The Hive, the Olympic Officials will follow a host of International and Club Football Teams who have used the Camrose Avenue facility as their footballing headquarters, including The Swedish National Team, Egyptian National Team, Montenegro National Team, Parma FC, and FC Gabala, amongst others.

John Blasebalk, Senior Manager at Barnet FC, said, “It is an absolute honour to be selected by LOCOG to host the Olympic Officials during the course of the London 2012 Olympics. The Games are the biggest sporting event in the world so to be associated with it in some way is something all those associated with The Hive, Barnet FC and the local community should be extremely proud of.

“The Hive has been growing in notoriety since it opened in 2009 and it shows how much recognition we are now receiving after having International Football squads training here, and now the Olympic Officials. Our aim is to constantly provide state-of-the-art, top level training facilities for elite athletes and local residents alike.”

Infront Sports & Media and the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) will continue their partnership after they signed a deal that will last them until the end of the 2014/15 season.

The respective agreement was signed today at the SPORTELMonaco convention and runs for four seasons. The partnership covers the worldwide media rights for the Men’s and Women’s FIBT World Cup and the FIBT World Championships. It also includes an expansion of Infront’s role with the FIBT in representing international marketing packages for the sport’s top-tier sponsorship programme on an exclusive basis.

Increasing media coverage boosts sports exposure and as part of the agreement, Infront will continue to market all forms of media and electronic media rights including TV, radio, internet and mobile communications worldwide. Infront offers segmented packages market-by-market, including live, delayed and highlights coverage. The FIBT will produce its own, high-quality television coverage for the
FIBT events.

Since 2003, Infront Sports & Media has embarked on a path of expansion resulting in impressive levels of international broadcast coverage for the top FIBT events. Over the last six years, there has been an 84% increase in the cumulative audience (across all disciplines) and the hours of coverage have also grown impressively – up a huge 313% from 2004/05.

In the 2010/11 season, FIBT World Cup competitions were broadcast across 59 TV stations in 23 countries reaching a cumulative audience of 747 million viewers and a total of 988 broadcast hours.

Continuous exposure throughout the season in addition to the media rights distribution, Infront will exclusively represent the FIBT’s international marketing programme for the FIBT World Cup and World Championship events, offering sponsors a continuous, wide-reaching communication platform throughout the bobsleigh and skeleton season.

Along with the growing appeal of the FIBT events to fans and commercial partners, Infront’s efforts on the marketing side have resulted in very good results in terms of sponsorship. Among other agreements, Infront secured title sponsor Bauhaus and main sponsor Crystall Lefortovo for the FIBT World Championship – both long-term agreements that boost the stability of the platform into the future.

Ivo Ferriani, FIBT President, said: “Infront, as the leading expert in winter sports marketing, is undoubtedly in the best position to increase the impact of our marketing and media rights platforms. Top bobsleigh and skeleton events gaining popularity and it is therefore highly beneficial for us to have a marketing partner on board that holds the ‘big picture’, one that can harness this growth opportunity and help drive our sport forward on the long term.”

Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports, said: “Over the four seasons, the aim will be to enhance various elements of the communication platform and to further strengthen the international appeal of the FIBT competitions on the road to Sochi and beyond. Working closely with the FIBT to offer a highly attractive broadcast product, we will increase the exposure of these premium winter sport events market by market and across all platforms – with particular focus on exploiting the new media potential.”

For the 2011/12 season, sponsors, fans and media can look forward to exciting bobsleigh and skeleton events across the world’s most prestigious tracks, including the ones in St Moritz (Switzerland) Winterberg (Germany) and Cesana (Italy). The 2011/12 VIESSMANN FIBT World Cup will start in Igls, Austria on 2 December and culminate with the BAUHAUS FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, USA in February 2012.

Indian cricketer, Nilesh Kulkarni, who announced his retirement from the game yesterday, has launched the Indian Institute of Sports Management.

The Institute aims to provide a structured sports marketing and management programme through its undergraduate and postgraduate diploma in Sports Management in association with Jai Hind College in Mumbai.

Kulkarni said: “I have retired in order to focus on developing the younger generation in the field of sports. I am now ready and excited to move into the next phase of my life which will be of paramount importance.

“Sports has always been my passion. IISM aims to deliver sports education with a global perspective and I’m confident that my students will find their tenure with us an enriching experience.”

The launch was attended by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief administrative officer, Prof Ratnakar Shetty. He added: “Sports management is a huge area which is untouched in India. Sports today have got various areas of specialisation.

“Cricket only used to be related to cricketers but today it is a career, you have an umpire who makes a career, you have a statistician, you have a video analyst. So I think avenues are open for people, it’s only how you look at it and go into areas where you want to understand and create a career for yourself.”

Kulkarni played three Tests and ten One Day Internationals for India. He became the only Indian ever to take a wicket on his very first delivery in a Test match.