By Ismail Uddin

IOC vice-president Sir Craig Reedie, cialis  has suggested today his experience with London’s bid for the Olympics will hold him in good stead when judging what it takes for a successful bid to occur.

“It is an honour to be asked to lead such a good commission. I hope that my long association with the London Bid and then 7 years as a member of the LOCOG Board give me the necessary insights into the organisation of a successful Olympic Games. I have also been fortunate to be a member of the Board of the Olympic Lottery in UK which provided a significant part of the public funding for the construction of the London venues in the Olympic Park, order ” Sir Craig, told iSportconnect exclusively.

Reedie was announced yesterday as the spearhead for the 2020 Olympic Evaluation Commission.

He has already received praise from sporting executives about his appointment.

Thierry Sprunger, the former Chief Financial Officer of the International Olympic Committee, said: “I have seen Craig Reedie chair a number of commissions or groups including the Finance Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He has always made the necessary effort to have a clear understanding of the subject matter, the risks and the priorities and more importantly, his management style is all inclusive giving each member of the team the opportunity to give their opinion. 

“These are the qualities needed to manage the Evaluation Commission which has a lot of work on its plate in very little time. Craig comes with more Games experience than many of his predecessors having been part of the London Bid and thereafter Member of the Board of LOCOG. On the technical and operational side, he can count on the experience of Gilbert Felli, the IOC Administration and subject experts.” 

British Taekwondo President, Adrian Tranter, congratulated the IOC vice-president: “I would like to congratulate Sir Craig on his appointment. He is the ideal choice & I am sure that he will steer the Commission with his usual skill & professionalism.”

These sentiments were also refelected by Urvasi Naidoo, CEO of International Netball Federation.

“Congratulations Sir Craig. I am have no doubt you will lead the Evaluation Commission well,” she said.

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Read Sir Craig Readie’s exclusive featured profile here>>

NeuLion, Inc., the leading Internet video technology provider and China Network Television (CNTV), a new media agency of CCTV, today announced the first ever launch of a new premium HD streaming service in China for the 2012 Olympics. 

As the official Internet/mobile platform distribution entity of the 2012 London Olympics, CNTV has the exclusive new media distribution rights in Mainland China and the territory of Macao.

By leveraging NeuLion’s TVE (Television Everywhere) technology and Video Platform infrastructure inside of China, CNTV and NeuLion will deliver over 5,600 hours of live HD Olympic coverage, including a 24/7 live channel from CCTV and daily live event coverage of nine Olympic sports, to Chinese consumers on their PC and mobile devices.

CNTV will distribute and broadcast the Olympic Games via its brand new service “5+” and will be the only media in the world which covers all 5,600 hours of events for this Olympic Games. CNTV 5+ VIP is China’s first sports media platform that integrates the content of the number one Chinese sports TV platform, CCTV5, with exclusive distribution rights for 80% of the new media intellectual property resources that cover the top sporting events.

CNTV 5+ VIP will offer Chinese consumers a new premium, interactive, high quality service for the 2012 Olympics, at a time when Chinese consumers are looking for better quality on the Internet.

“The 2012 Olympic Games will be the first real digital Olympic Games and will be a new milestone for digital media to participate in the World’s largest gathering,” said WenBin Wang, General Manager of CNTV. “The development of new technology and the evolution of media platforms make the London Olympics a great new media venue. We’re committed to providing our CNTV viewers and Olympic fans with the most engaging and interactive Olympics experience possible with CNTV 5+ VIP. Our partnership with NeuLion helps us create a leading digital experience for our viewers. The interest in the Olympics here in China is big and our audience will be very excited by the first premium HD digital service CNTV and NeuLion have created for our Olympics fans.”

China’s consumer market, forecasted to become the second largest in the world by 2015, continues to grow at a rapid rate. Both Chinese and foreign companies are exploring new ways to keep up as the market evolves. CNTV and NeuLion have positioned the CNTV 5+ VIP premium service to take advantage of the expanding Chinese marketplace.

“We’re thrilled by the opportunity to showcase our best of breed technology in China. The sheer size and potential to expand new digital services in China is enormous. We are fortunate to have such a great partnership with CNTV and we are excited about our new premium HD service for the Olympics,” said Nancy Li, CEO of NeuLion. “Our technology and video infrastructure in China represents a strong foundation for other content owners interested in leveraging the opportunities here in China.”

Despite continued speculation centred around doubts over Brazil’s preparations fo the 2014 edition of the FIFA World Cup, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has insisted that the country will be ready and that stadia will be completed in time for the tournament.

Recent reports have suggested that development work at the 12 venues listed for the tournament have been affected by delays, with some stadia struggling to meet FIFA deadlines.

Stadia in Sao Paulo and Natal have caused particular concern and while work has now begun at the former, development is yet to start at the latter.

However, Rousseff has dismissed that the stadia will not be ready in time: “We have stadia which are still being built and these must be ready by December 2013 to be in an extremely calm and comfortable situation. There are others which are a little more delayed but all will be ready. I feel confident that Brazil will be ready in 2014 to present the best World Cup.

“We (the government) together with the governors and the mayors of the cities of the World Cup are taking all necessary measures to ensure that this will happen.”

FIFA’s head of security Chris Eaton believes International friendlies are vulnerable to match-fixing.

Games played around the world today and tomorrow carry a greater threat of being fixed because the focus on them is lower than for competitive fixtures, stipulated Chris Eaton, who joined Zurich-based FIFA from Interpol, the international police group.

“They’re more vulnerable than most, absolutely,” Eaton said in a interview. “We’ll always make judgments about those that are most vulnerable. There are some we’re looking at.”

Match fixing is becoming more common by the day. Police have arrested people in Asia, Europe and Africa for rigging matches. The start of the Turkish league has been delayed amid a police inquiry there and FIFA has uncovered several national-team games that may have been compromised, including Nigeria’s 4-1 victory over Argentina in an exhibition match on June 1.

The illegal gambling market is estimated to be worth $90 billion, according to the World Lottery Association, a lobbying group for state-backed lotteries.

The European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) has announced the finalization of a partnership with IEC in Sports that will be responsible for managing the TV rights and spreading around all footage associated to the 2011 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship.

The CEV confirmed that the Championship circuit will comprise two Masters plus the Final scheduled for next August 9-14 in Kristiansand, ambulance Norway.

The 2011 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship will start on July 13-17 in Novi Sad with the Serbian Masters, viagra before moving to Niechorze for the Polish Masters on July 19-24.

As per the conditions of this partnership, abortion IEC in Sports will have to guarantee the coverage of minimum 24 matches of the European circuit, including all semifinals, bronze medal matches and finals of the three above mentioned events.

CEV President André Meyer stated: “I am more than delighted that we were able to finalize this partnership as this will offer a unique opportunity to our athletes to enjoy additional promotion and visibility especially by taking into consideration that this year those participating in the European Championship Final will get some valuable FIVB ranking points that will count also for the Olympic qualification”.

Jonas Persson, CEO of IEC in Sports, added: “We are pleased to start working with CEV on such an ambitious project. We have been working with Beach Volleyball globally for more than ten years. It is a sport that we know very well and our broadcast partners appreciate a lot.”

Australian Football League team Greater Western Sydney have appointed coach Kevin Sheedy to their board of directors.

The former Essendon mentor said on Thursday he was thrilled to remain at the Giants after handing over the coaching reins to Leon Cameron at the end of the 2013 season.

“Helping to start the Giants four years ago has been one of the most exciting things I have done in my career and I have unfinished business, therapy ” Sheedy said.

Sheedy was appointed Giants coach in 2009 and steered the club through its first AFL season in 2012.

The London Paralympics have sold more tickets than any previous Games and been broadcast to more people in more countries.

More than 2.7 million tickets have been sold for the London Games which is 900,000 more than in Beijing four years ago.

Organisers had originally set a target of £35 million in ticket revenue, but Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London organising committee (LOCOG), announced that the final figure was likely to be nearer £45 million.

“To put it in context of previous Games, we have almost sold 900,000 more tickets than Beijing, which is amazing,” International Paralympic Committee chief executive Xavi Gonzalez told reporters.

“And to put it in context again, we only started to sell tickets to the Paralympics in Atlanta 1996.”

Deighton attributed part of the success to the affordability of tickets, with more than half available for 10 pounds or less, three quarters for less than 20 and 95 per cent for under 50 pounds.

“If you look at the demographic in the park, it’s great to see families come in big groups and have a wonderful day out,” he said.

“The interest in the Paralympic Games and the attendance at the Paralympic Games has been quite extraordinary from the start.”

Paralympic broadcast rights have been sold to more than 100 countries around the world.

“We have had outstanding media coverage online, on radio and on TV, both nationally and internationally,” Gonzalez said.

“As a good example the victory the other day of Alan Oliveira knocked out all the football coverage in Brazil and you can probably understand that is quite a big deal.”