Tencent, the leading online media company in China, today announced that the most discussed topic in China over the course of the Opening Ceremony was the Queen’s entrance via helicopter alongside James Bond.

According to Tencent Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, posts of support for China’s athletes were overtaken by the sight of the Queen leaping from a helicopter before entering the stadium to announce the start of the Games. 

“What touched me most about the London ceremony is that they made the 500 construction workers of the Olympic stadium the guardians of Olympic torch.”

Discussions in support of Chinese athletes were the second most discussed topic trending on Weibo via Tencent’s online media platform. The third most discussed topic was the flag bearers representing each country and which of them was the most attractive. According to posters on Tencent Weibo, the winner was Maria McQueen Dunn, representing Guam in the Women’s Freestyle Wrestling.

The fourth highest trending topic focused on which athlete would win the first gold medal of the Games. Chinese web users predicted that shooting athlete Yu Dan would get the first gold medal of the Games, but it was another of China’s shooting experts Yi Siling who won the first gold with victory in the women’s 10m air rifle.

Ma Yankun, Head of Tencent’s Frontline Reporting Team for the London Olympics, commented that, “The Games themselves have started very well, and we saw a huge level of interest in both the Opening Ceremony and the athletes across our services, with over 25,000,000 posts and 93,989,290 visits to our portal during and after the Opening ceremony. The Ceremony itself sparked a lot of debate, from comparison of the London Games with Beijing 2008 through to the National Health Service, British history and how those responsible for building the many new stadia that are now in place were involved in the Ceremony as well. The Weibo users also had a lot of fun on the service discussing how the event was put together, from the role that David Beckham played through to which country had the most attractive flagbearer.”

According to data provided by China’s Qinghua University Media Research Lab, Tencent and its portal for online services led the overall demand for content around the Olympic Ceremony. Tencent was ranked first as the online media platform used to access content around the Olympic Opening Ceremony with more than a quarter of all respondents, followed by Sina and Baidu. In the same research, more than 90 per cent of all respondents used PCs or laptops to access content, while just under 30 per cent used tablets or mobile devices.

Deputy Editor-in-chief of Tencent portal and the director of Tencent London Olympics Project, Wang Yongzhi, said “The research that we have seen around the Chinese audience during the opening of the Olympics is that they are accessing a mix of services in order to get content. This included video, Weibo and material created by the journalists that we are supporting at the event, while a significant number used both mobile and PC devices. With audiences acting in this way, it requires a truly integrated approach in order to reach them, whether this is for the purposes of delivering content or for marketing purposes.”

ArbiterSports, treatment the established leader in referee management solutions, check have announced that the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) has selected its online referee management system to assign football officials across the state.

During 2012, the association will expand the online assigning capability to handle additional high school sports in Louisiana where officials are needed.

“We had been assigning officials in football and other sports using a manual paper-based environment for years,” said Keith Alexander, Assistant Director of LHSAA. “With this move to ArbiterSports, we can not only streamline our processes dramatically, we can also deliver targeted feedback to each official after each game.”

Each local assigner in Louisiana will use ArbiterOne to assign officials over the Internet. In addition, coaches can use the same ArbiterOne system to evaluate officials using a format designed by the LHSAA. At the LHSAA headquarters in Baton Rouge, managers will use Arbiter360 to constantly monitor and review the entire statewide ArbiterSports system and provide the necessary feedback to continually improve the quality of officiating in the state.

Clark Evans, Vice President of Sales at ArbiterSports, said: “Louisiana was facing significant scheduling challenges as its sports programs continued to grow. Now with ArbiterOne and Arbiter360, the LHSAA can alleviate its assigning burden and keep an eye on how well the system is being adopted around the state.”

by Ismail Uddin

After allegations have been made over its 2022 World Cup bid campaign, no rx Qatar have hit back with a 1,700 word statement following claims that the bid was fixed. 

The statement was issued in a context that also sees the FIFA presidential campaign of Mohamed Bin Hammam suffering from a worldwide backlash over a string of allegations over illicit inducements to FIFA executive committee voters.

The Qatar Football Association (QFA) describes its statement as a response to the allegations published in a memorandum provided to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in the UK House of Commons.

The statement referred to the alleged whistleblower, reportedly involved in the successful Qatar bid: “Without knowing the identity of the alleged whistleblower, the details of the allegations made or the circumstances in which they have been made, it is impossible for the Bid Committee to respond to these allegations any further at this stage.”

The statement concluded that the country was still preparing to host the World Cup in 2022, adding: “Qatar is excited at the prospect of hosting one of the world’s greatest sporting events and is determined to deliver a World Cup truly deserving of football fans around the world.”

The chairman of soccer financiers Seymour Pierce, brand viagra online Keith Harris told SportAccord in London that Liverpool and Everton could finish up doing the unthinkable and end up ground-sharing one day.

Harris stated: “If it works in Italy for the two Milan teams, pills then why not in Liverpool?”, click after claiming back in 2008, “the controversial thing to suggest, is the notion that maybe the city of Liverpool could have one stadium.”

Despite admitting that he had received “more death threats from fans than from my ex-wife” over his initial comments, Harris persisted with his belief that a ground share was a sensible option for both clubs.

Harris, noted for acting as a go-between for clubs and potential buyers, added: “It makes so much common sense yet unfortunately the notion that technology can turn red to blue in a switch is lost. But it will happen one day.”

Harris’s comments during a panel entitled: ‘What can sport learn from the economic crisis?’ On that issue, and in reference to the economic downturn and how it will affect football in the long term, Harris suggested that the ground share option was an inevitability – “It will be forced on us but it is a change for good.”

Canadian Football League (CFL) franchise Winnipeg Blue Bombers have announced Wade Miller as their President and CEO.

Since his appointment as Acting CEO on August 9, symptoms 2013, anesthetist Board Chair, Brock Bulbuck, said Miller has proven himself to be a strong, progressive leader with the right combination of football and business experience to succeed in this important role.

“What we have seen in Wade since he became Acting CEO,” said Bulbuck, “is a decisive, solution-oriented leader who isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and get down to the hard work of turning the Club around.  We have seen that from the very first day he was appointed and we have every confidence that he will continue to make the kind of change that will position us with a competitive team and successful business office well into the future.”

Bulbuck also credited Miller for being a team player both inside and outside the Club.

“Wade was instrumental in securing the support of both the City and Province as part of the WFC’s recent bid to land either a 2015 or 2016 Grey Cup. As he moves forward, we know he’ll also strengthen relationships with fans, alumni, sponsors and the community-at-large and we look forward to seeing him in action in the years to come.”

In accepting the permanent appointment, Miller said he appreciates the support of the Board and is honoured to serve and lead an organization that has long been such an important part of his life – first as a fan, then a player and more recently as a member of the Blue Bombers’ Alumni, a season ticket holder and corporate sponsor.

“This Club is in my blood,” said Miller, “and I won’t rest until I set things right with fans and that means putting a competitive product back on the field that is capable, in the years ahead, of restoring the pride in this once storied franchise. That is what we owe our fans and that is what I’m 100 per cent committed to doing.”

US Olympians have taken to social media sites including Twitter to vent their frustration they cannot publicise their sponsors who aren’t Olympic sponsors during London 2012.

400-meter gold-medal favorite Sanya Richards-Ross said athletes want a voice in the distribution of sponsorship money that currently goes directly to the IOC.

The ban is spelled out in Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter. The IOC has also issued guidelines limiting athletes’ ability to thank or promote their personal sponsors via social media and limiting what they can say in blogs or tweets.

“I just believe that the Olympic ideal and the Olympic reality are now different,” Richards-Ross said at a news conference Monday.

“Six billion dollars is being traded hands behind the scenes,” she said. “I’ve been very fortunate to do very well around the Olympics, but so many of my peers struggle in the sport, and I just think it’s unjust that they’re not being considered. Athletes are not a part of the conversation. And once again Rule 40 shows the restrictions that are put on athletes and makes the burdens even heavier for each individual athlete.

“Athletes just want to be considered. This is not just a USA issue. This is a global issue … all this money is being made.”

Richards-Ross said only 2% of U.S. athletes can tweet about their sponsors because only that small percentage has IOC or U.S. Olympic Committee sponsors.

“So that leaves out 98% of my peers,” she said. “We are disgruntled about that. We understand the IOC is protecting their sponsors, but we want to have a voice as well.”

Decathlete Ashton Eaton, who also participated in Monday’s news conference, responded with a simple “no” when asked what he thought about Richards-Ross’ campaign. The third participant, high jumper Jesse Williams, said, “Sanya did a pretty good job, I thought.”

Richards-Ross, Nick Symmonds, Darvis Patton, Bernard Lagat, Jamie Nieto and Lashinda Demus are among athletes who posted identical messages late Sunday on Twitter that said, “I am honored to be an Olympian but #WeDemandChange2012.”

Symmonds auctioned space on his arm for a promotional tattoo and got $11,000 from Hanson Dodge Creative, a design and advertising agency based in Milwaukee. He also appears in Web videos created by the agency. However, he must cover the tattoos during competitions, including the Olympics.

“People see the Olympics and see the two weeks when athletes are at their best. It’s the most glorious time in our lives. But like I said, they don’t see the three or four years leading up to the Olympic Games when a lot of my peers are struggling to stay in the sport,” Richards-Ross said. “The majority of track and field athletes don’t have sponsors and don’t have support to stay in the sport. A lot of my peers have second and third jobs to be able to do this, and that’s just unfortunate.”

RightView Pro, rx a teaching tool to help improve, ed define and standardize instruction, has partnered with United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) to to bring video analysis solutions to the baseball and softball players.

“We are very proud to align with a pioneering leader in softball and baseball instruction. RightView Pro has set the standard for integrity in instruction over the last decade,” said Don DiDonatis, Commissioner – USSSA.

Originated by former Major Leaguer Don Slaught, RightView Pro was started in 2001 after Slaught had accepted a baseball coaching position at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. “I wanted to show my players what the best hitters in the world were doing, and I discovered very quickly that I needed a coaching tool,” Slaught said. “I was dealing with 60 kids in a two-hour practice, and I needed a quick easy way to show my players exactly what they were doing vs what the best hitters and pitchers in the game were doing.” Slaught goes onto say, “I quickly learned that it’s much easier to show than it is to explain.”

Consequently, Slaught went to Major League Baseball and the Player’s Association and expressed the need to create a product that would help coaches at all levels communicate and breakdown the swing at a speed that can be understood more effectively, while using Major League Baseball hitting models to compare against. Slaught found that video analysis helped to provide the proof that hitters prepare to swing differently but become virtually the same prior to swinging the bat. Through video analysis it was also revealed that hitters don’t squish bugs, don’t swing down and hitters don’t leave weight on their back foot. After consulting with Major League Baseball, work began on the first software program in conjunction with MLB. Today, the 10-year old company has greatly expanded and offers a full line of instructional and analysis systems for the part-time coach, all the way up to to college, international, and professional teams.

Some notable RVP users include the most recent Major League Baseball World Series Champions, the 2010 San Francisco Giants, 2007 Boston Red Sox, 2005 Chicago White Sox, 2004 Boston Red Sox, 2006 American League Champion Detroit Tigers, and the back to back NCAA Baseball Champions South Carolina Baseball.

by Ismail Uddin

Sepp Blatter has confirmed that FIFA will interview the whistleblower who claims US$1.5m bribes were paid to two members of world soccer’s governing body’s Executive Committee by the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid.

Blatter declined to rule out re-running the vote for the 2022 tournament, following the astonishing bid bribery allegations made during a UK parliamentary inquiry into soccer governance last week.

“We have organised and the newspaper (The Sunday Times) have agreed we will bring this whistleblower to Zurich and then we will have a discussion, an investigation,” Blatter was quoted by Reuters on Thursday.

He added: “I haven’t identified the general whistleblower, for the time being, we have no name – if it is man, or woman.

“It will be the relevant authorities, in FIFA which handles such cases, the secretary general [Jerome Valcke].”

Several independent sources claim that the whistleblower is a former media officer with the Qatar bid. Amadou Diallo, a close friend to Blatter’s presidential challenger Mohamed Bin Hammam, was accused in written evidence of facilitating the Qatar bribes to Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma. 

Both Ex-Co members have vigorously denied the allegations as has the Qatar Football Association. The Sunday Times corruption evidence was based on a covert conversation with former FIFA secretary general, Michel Zen-Ruffinen, who told undercover reporters that Diallo worked for Qatar “to arrange financial deals with African members in exchange for World Cup votes”.

If the allegations of bribery against Hayatou and Anouma are proven, Blatter raised the prospect of a revote on the 2022 World Cup host. Under this scenario, the other 2022 candidates – USA, Japan, South Korea and Australia – could yet win hosting rights.

Blatter was quoted by Press Association Sport, saying: “This is an idea circulating already around the world which is alarming. Don’t ask me yes or no, let us go step by step.”

It was revealed last week that Diallo was a longstanding FIFA employee, working from around 1999 to 2007, “paid by FIFA on a Goal Bureau chairman budget with the task of monitoring Goal projects”.