The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Congress ordered a re-vote after Sergey Bubka, the man favourite to become potential successor to President Lamine Diack, catastrophically failed to earn election as one of the four vice-presidents. 

The Ukrainian’s defeat had seemed to have boosted Sebastian Coe’s chances of being elected as the next President when Diack eventually steps down in 2015.

Coe, the London 2012 chairman, polled 167 of the 199 votes to finish fourth behind Qatar’s Dahlan Jumman Al Hamad and Canada’s Abby Hoffman, who both got 175, and the United States Bob Hersh with 171.

Bubka, the 1988 Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder, and seen as the rising star in global sports administration both within the IAAF and International Olympic Committtee (IOC) earned only 118 votes and was not elected finishing fifth overall.

At the last IAAF elections in Osaka four years ago Bubka had topped the poll with 167 of the 192 votes, leading to Diack to appoint him as the IAAF’s senior vice-president.

Hamad, currently acting as the head of the Asian Athletics Association, had on that occasion finished fourth with 129 while Coe got 137.

But doubts over the electronic voting system led to Diack ordering a re-run this afternoon.

The validity of the system began to come under scrutiny following the election of Russian Valentin Balakhnichev as the new treasurer in the election that followed the one for vice-president with more votes were cast than member federations were in the chamber and a wild swing in the polling.

In the first round Spain’s Jose Maria Odriozola had polled 93 votes but failed to earn an overall majority against his rivals, the Czech Republic’s Karel Pilny, who got 75, and Balakhnichev with 42.

That meant a total of 210 votes were cast when only 199 were supposed to be eligible.

Then ,in the second round, Odriozola dropped to 41 as Pilny got 77 and Balakhnichev 87 – a total of 205.

As things stand, it means Bubka will not have a place at the top table of world athletics as he had been so confident of being re-elected as vice-president that he had not put himself forward a place on the ruling Council.

That would seriously jeopardise his chances of succeeding Diack when the next Presidential election is held in Beijing in 2015.

Bubka had declined to challenge Diack for the Presidency this time round, although there was pressure on both him and Coe to put themselves forward.

“It is clear there is a problem with the electronic system,” Bubka said as he hurried out of the room at the end of the session.

When asked if he expected to be elected in the re-vote he replied: “Let’s see.”

A hastily arranged “crisis meeting” was then held by IAAF officials during the lunch break who decided to ditch the electronic system and adopt a manual system instead, holding a series of votes, including for the vice-presidents and treasurer, simultaneously.

“We are facing a situation that was totally unseen,” IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss told the meeting when they returned.

“We have lost trust in the system.

“The solution is not ideal but we are not in a situation where we can have ideal solutions.

“We are in crisis.”

One of the most successful female golfers of all time Annika Sorenstam has renewed her long-standing contract with IMG, ed the global sports, clinic fashion and media agency, cure for her worldwide management and marketing representation.

The retired Swedish golfer  and ten time major winner runs a number of business and charitable initiatives under her name, including the Annika Academy, Annika Course Design, Annika Financial Group, and Annika Collection of premium consumer products, such as a signature clothing line, wine label and fragrance.

Sorenstam said “After much consideration and in light of my ambitions for the next phase of my career, I have determined that IMG remains the company best positioned to support me and the Annika portfolio of businesses,” she also added  “IMG’s experience and global resources are unmatched and I look forward to continuing to work with them across all aspects of my business and charitable initiatives.”

Robbie Henchman, senior vice president and co-managing director of IMG Golf, said: “Annika is a legend in the game of golf and her popularity throughout her career allowed her to transcend her sport. IMG is extremely proud of our long-standing relationship with Annika and is also proud that she has been as successful with her many business and philanthropic pursuits as she has been on the golf course. We are thrilled with the opportunity to continue representing Annika, and we look forward to working closely with her and the dedicated team at Annika Inc., led by Mike McGee, to help her achieve many more exciting milestones in the future.”

The International Tennis Federation has announced today that Jan Menneken has decided to leave his position as Executive Director, medstore Commercial, unhealthy at the end of January 2014. 

Menneken joined the ITF in July, cough 1997 to head up the Television Sales department and took over as Commercial Director in June, 1999.  

During his tenure, Menneken was responsible for bringing more than 500 million dollars in commercial and television income to the ITF. This included the signing and renewal of BNP Paribas as title sponsor of Davis Cup and Fed Cup as well as other international sponsors and important television contracts around the world.

“The ITF wants to thank Jan for all he has contributed to the organisation over 17 years,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti. “Everyone who knows Jan appreciates how much he cares about tennis as a sport and Davis Cup and Fed Cup as competitions. He has done a good job and we wish him only the best for the future.”

Menneken’s departure presents the ITF with the opportunity to restructure in the Commercial area and plans for this will be announced in due course.

The ongoing disagreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appears to intensifying with the IOC criticising the IOA for refusing to accept an observer for its upcoming elections and threatened to take action if poll date is not announced by September 25.

In a strongly worded letter, in response to a September 13 missive by IOA acting president VK Malhotra in which he had termed the world body’s decision to send an observer as “unacceptable”, the IOC said that such a supervision is required because of the “confusion surrounding the status of Suresh Kalmadi”.

The IOC said that it would not be acceptable for the IOA to simply say that it’s elections would be held in strict compliance with the Olympic Charter and its own constitution.

Earlier, the IOC had written two letters, on August 16 and September 11, that stated the election process of the IOA would have to be held in strict compliance with the Olympic Charter and under the supervision of the IOC and Olympic Council of Asia.

Malhotra wrote to IOC chief Jacques Rogge, stating that the international body’s decision to supervise its election was not acceptable. Malhotra asked whether elections of other NOCs were also monitored or whether only India is subject to such scrutiny.{jcomments on}

NeuLion, Inc., the leading Internet video technology provider for delivering live and on-demand content to any Internet-enabled device, today announced a multi-year partnership extension with longtime collegiate partner, Duke University. 

Building on the successes of its existing relationship, Duke will continue to leverage NeuLion’s state-of-the-art collegiate solution that seamlessly manages all functions of its athletic department on a single system, offering fans easy online access and department personnel (removal of with) an extremely efficient way to handle their donor, ticketing and marketing needs.

NeuLion has helped Duke remain at the forefront of college athletics with the implementation of new, interactive services tying together video, mobile, tablet, ticketing and donor, web, e-commerce and more. In 2011, Duke was the first NeuLion partner to deliver a live game on Facebook, one of the first to launch a complete mobile and tablet suite of applications and among the first to offer live, High Definition video streaming on the PC and iPad.

As new technology enters the marketplace, Duke’s initiative to be a leader and become early adopters of new, innovative technology has resulted in tremendous growth across every facet of its athletic department.

As leaders in the college athletic space, NeuLion and Duke continue to build on past success and enhance their current offerings for next season. In the upcoming months, Blue Devil fans will receive a brand new video portal experience, and an enhanced mobile site and mobile applications. All upgrades will feature sleek, new user-friendly interfaces with improved performance, navigation, additional options and more.

“We’re pleased to extend Duke Athletics’ partnership with NeuLion and continue to provide the most cutting edge digital services on the collegiate sports market,” said Jon Jackson, Duke Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations and Public Affairs. “For seven years, NeuLion has been instrumental in keeping Duke at the forefront of college athletics and ensuring the delivery of the best interactive experiences for Blue Devils fans, using the all-encompassing single platform solution. The results speak for themselves as Duke Athletics has realized significant growth in every function of our department year after year. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with NeuLion and all future initiatives with them.”

NeuLion’s all-encompassing single platform makes managing video, content, e-commerce, ticketing, donations and any other fan requests easy for Duke’s athletic staff. The unique tools for allocating tickets and seat requests along with a streamlined design of Duke’s official athletics website with a single sign-on for all functions greatly enhances Blue Devils fan experiences worldwide.

“Duke University has been an incredible partner to work with and we are very excited to continue building upon the relationship,” said Ed O’Brien, vice president of NeuLion. “Duke has always made a strong commitment to give its fans an interactive, engaging and innovative digital destination, and by implementing the leading technology in video, web, mobile, ticketing and donor management, fans will receive a best-in-class athletic experience for everything related to Blue Devil Athletics.”

National Football League team, the Green Bay Packers are planning a expansion to their stadium which will allow them to have about 6,600 new seats at Lambeau Field in time for the 2013 season.

The Packers plan to fund the $130 million project at their expense, perhaps through another stock sale that would give even more fans the chance to be a part-owner of one of the NFL’s most storied franchises.

Mark Murphy, Packers President, said: “We’re excited to begin work on the expansion of Lambeau Field,”

The seats will be in four levels in the south end zone. The prices haven’t been set yet but are expected to range between the current cost for bowl seats, where the top price is $87, and club seats, where the top price is $313. The project also includes a new rooftop viewing terrace that club-seat holders can use on game days, along with new gates, elevators and access points for people with disabilities.

Lambeau Field is the oldest joint used NFL stadium, and the third-oldest continually operating venue in major sports behind Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Boston’s Fenway Park. The stadium has undergone numerous renovations, updates and additions since opening in 1957 with 32,500 seats; it now has 73,128.

The new seats will be distributed through a seniority system. Current season-ticket holders will get first access, with a chance to trade their existing seats, and priority goes to those who have held tickets the longest. After that, fans on the waiting list will finally get a chance they’ve spent decades waiting for.

The team said it was considering raising money through a stock sale, which would be the team’s fifth. Green Bay is the NFL’s only publicly owned team.

At a shareholder meeting last month, Packers officials highlighted the team’s strong financial performance in 2010-11. The team reported a $12 million profit from operations for 2010-2011, up $2.2 million from the previous year. The overall net income was $17.1 million — a jump of nearly $12 million over last year, due in large part to improved performance by investments.

The Packers quoted a study that said the expansion is expected to employ about 1,600 workers over the next two years, and they predict the new seats will translate into about $11 million of spending in Brown County from non-residents.

University of Miami president Donna Shalala released a nearly six-minute video Monday directed to students and the University community following the recent scandals that have rocked the Florida based University.

The most significant news included in her address: the  Miami athletic compliance staff and NCAA, through their joint effort, are reviewing the eligibility of 15 student-athletes – two more than originally thought.

Shalala also said UM has “retained outside counsel which specializes in NCAA cases” to help UM with “all aspects” of the investigation.

Shalala continued: “With the season fast-approaching, I know our coaches, players and fans are eager to know the results. The process, however, must be deliberate and thorough to ensure its integrity.”

The Hurricanes’ world was rocked last week when it was reported that NCAA investigators were on campus last week conducting interviews regarding the relationships between football players and former booster Nevin Shapiro. But that world was sent into an absolute frenzy by next night after Yahoo! Sports reported that convicted Ponzi schemer Shapiro provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010 from dinners to yacht cruises to jewelry to prostitutes.

The current football players recently reported by Yahoo! Sports as being under investigation are Jacory Harris, Marcus Forston, Dyron Dye, Travis Benjamin, Ray-Ray Armstrong, Adewale Ojomo, Olivier Vernon, Vaughn Telemaque, Sean Spence, Marcus Robinson, JoJo Nicolas and Aldarius Johnson.

The current basketball player is DeQuan Jones.

“I was notified that the NCAA would be on campus on Aug. 15 to investigate potential violations,’’ she said. “I insisted on complete and honest cooperation by every member of the  Miamiathletic department, including administrators, coaches, staff and student-athletes.’’

Shalala also mentioned football coach Al Golden, basketball coach Jim Larranaga and the rest of UM’s coaches. “Their insistence in integrity in their programs will help us move forward,’’ she said.

Global brewer AB InBev has appointed sports and entertainment specialist Octagon to manage the company’s recent agreement with The FA for Budweiser to become the lead sponsor of The FA Cup. ? 

AB InBev’s global director, abortion Sports & Entertainment, Eelco van der Noll said: “We have had a great relationship with Octagon over the years, working together to bring passionate fans closer to the beautiful game.

“We’re looking forward to working with them to bring Budweiser’s sponsorship of The FA Cup to football fans in the UK and around the world.”

Octagon’s MD Global Football, Phil Carling added: “We are delighted to be working with AB InBev on The FA Cup with Budweiser. We will be working with The FA and AB InBev to further build on the competition’s unique values and look forward to bringing the excitement of the tournament to football fans in the UK and around the world.

“The FA Cup with Budweiser can engage fans at all levels of the game, providing a truly democratic competition and because of its knock out format creates the opportunity for fans to experience unique excitement and passion.”? ?

Octagon has worked with AB InBev since July 2009 after being selected to oversee the brewer’s FIFA World Cup sponsorship.

Total Sports Asia (TSA) has agreed an exclusive partnership deal with Simply Sports to distribute the viewing rights to the  World Karate Championships in Asia.

The deal will give TSA rights throughout several Asian countries and includes delivery of four hours of content in HD format. The delivery method will be live via satellite, sale tape of file transfer protocol.

Executive vice-president of TSA media, drugs Julian Jackson, said: “TSA places great emphasis on catering to the needs of a large variety of sports fans. The World Karate Championships is the highest level of competition for the sport and only comes around once every two years, thus giving a great opportunity for broadcasters to tap into the growing combat sports segment at an opportune time.”

Managing director of Simply Sports, Javier Tola, added: “We are delighted with this partnership that could only increase the exposure and international development of the World Karate Championships, which is our main goal.”

The Championships will take place from 28 to 31 October in Belgrade, Serbia.