Eight women badminton players have been disqualified by the sport’s federation on Wednesday following deliberant attempts to lose at the Olympics and manipulate the draw.

They were disqualified following a formal disciplinary hearing by the Badminton World Federation, but were not expelled from the Games. It was not clear what that meant for their future participation in London.

The players involved were China’s world champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari and two South Korean pairs – Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na, and Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung.

The four women’s doubles pairs, two of which are from South Korea, were accused of throwing Tuesday night’s matches to get a favourable position in the draw for the knock-out phase.

The South Korean and Indonesian pairs are appealing the decision.

Lord Coe, chairman of London’s organising committee, called the incident “unacceptable.” “Who wants to sit through something like that?” he added.

The audience were flabergasted by the scenes and booed the players, who included Chinese world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, after the longest rally in their first game was only four strokes. The outcome of the game would determine which team they faced in the knockout rounds.

Gail Emms, a 2004 British Olympic badminton silver medallist watching the game, said it was “very embarrassing” for the sport and was not in the Olympic spirit.

Paul Deighton, the chief executive of London 2012 said spectators at the matches would not receive a refund for their tickets as they also saw other games.

FIFA has stepped up its social media strategies by launching it’s own YouTube Channel to make the world football federation’s rich audiovisual content more accessible to fans.

FIFA on YouTube features tailor-made football match action from the most recent FIFA competitions, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 Germany, top player profiles and clips from FIFA documentaries, FIFA Futbol Mundialshows and the 2014 Brazil monthly magazine show.

This content will be updated and expanded regularly and will be complemented with content from the non-competitive side, such as features on football development, social development initiatives and human interest stories, as well as video news releases and live streaming of media events.

“FIFA is keen to engage with football fans beyond our competitions by sharing our rich visual content with them, and for this there is no better platform in terms of reach and penetration than YouTube,” said Joseph S. Blatter, President of FIFA . “We want to provide YouTube users with the greatest moments of FIFA World Cup history but also invite them to share theirs with us.”

Stephen Nuttall, YouTube’s senior director of sports partnerships in EMEA, said: “We are very excited that FIFA is launching its channel on YouTube. This new channel will allow a global audience to discover and interact with videos featuring the best footballers competing in the most prestigious tournaments. This is one more example that YouTube is increasingly the place for football,” he added.

While content for FIFA on YouTube is at present sourced primarily from FIFA Films’ voluminous archive, the aim is to further engage with fans by including user-generated content and other interactive offerings, as well as material from FIFA’s many stakeholders.

by Ismail Uddin

After being accused and investigated by the FIFA Ethic Committee with alleged bribe offering yesterday, May 25, Mohamed Bin Hammam has hit back, claiming the move was “little more than a tactic” on the the part of the opposing camp loyal to Sepp Blatter.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Bin Hammam, along with FIFA vice-president Jack Warner have both been charged and ordered to appear before the organisation’s Ethics Committee on Sunday, May 29, where they will almost certainly face long bans if found guilty.

Bin Hammam stated: “This has been a difficult and painful day for me. But if there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind.

“This move is little more than a tactic being used by those who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge successfully from the FIFA Presidential election.”

General secretary of CONCACAF, American Chuck Blazer, presented FIFA with a dossier alleging violations of the code of ethics during a meeting organised by Bin Hammam and Warner for Caribbean Football Union (CFU) federations. 

Two CFU officials, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, have also been charged. In reporting to FIFA with the allegations Blazer is fighting against his own president at CONCACAF, Warner.

There is no precedent of a senior FIFA administrator citing a breach of ethics by another but Bin Hammam totally dismisses the accusations, adding: “I remain deeply indebted to Mr Warner for his sense of fair play because without his support and understanding I would not have been able to meet with several important member associations of FIFA to discuss my election manifesto.

“I completely deny any allegations of wrongdoing either intentionally or unknowingly while I was in the Caribbean. 

“I will speak to Mr Warner on this subject and offer him my full support in ensuring we are discharged honourably by the FIFA Ethics Committee, a body which I hold in the highest esteem.

“I am confident that there is no charge to answer and that I will be free to stand in the FIFA Presidential election on 1 June as originally planned.”

The National Football League’s (NFL) Minnesota Vikings have agreed to help fund a proposed US$1bn, retractable-roof stadium project in the latest attempt by the team to get a new home after the Metrodome’s roof collapsed last season.

The Vikings would commit $407m to the project, or about 39 per cent of the total cost, the team said yesterday in a news release. The team didn’t say how the remainder of the stadium would be financed.

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said in the release: “Reaching an agreement with Ramsey County as our local partner is a major milestone in our efforts to finalize a long-term stadium solution.”

While the team appreciates other proposals made by Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Wilf added: “We believe the Ramsey County site offers the most benefits to our fans, the team and the state and is the ideal site for a new stadium.”

The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which owns the Metrodome, said in February it will spend about $18.1m to replace the stadium’s damaged roof before the start of the 2011 football season after it collapsed in December under the weight of 17 inches of snow, forcing the Vikings to relocate their final two home games of the season.

The Indian Super League has secured eight new franchise holders, the organisers have announced.

IMG Reliance, the joint venture between IMG Worldwide and Reliance Industries in India, Star India and the All India Football Federation are organising the inaugural football championship which will begin in September and continue to November this year. 

The Indian Super League’s proposal for ‘League Partners’ received an overwhelming response from the business, sports and Bollywood community, to own a team from the nine proposed cities in contention.

The winning bidders represent a strong mix of corporate entities and celebrities:

-Sun Group the Indian conglomerate for BENGALURU.
-Chairman Sameer Manchanda of the cable provider Den Network for DELHI.
-Venugopal Dhoot of the industrial conglomerate Videoco, with Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V. Dempo for GOA.
-The Indian film actor John Abraham partnering with the I-League team Shillong Lajong for GUWAHATI.
-Renowned Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar and the media and entertainment investment firm PVP Ventures for KOCHI.
-Former captain of the Indian National team Sourav Ganguly, Harshavardhan Neotia, Spanish football Club Atletico Madrid, Sanjeev Goenka, Utsav Parekh for KOLKATA.
-Bollywood’s Ranbir Kapoor, one of the leading Indian film actors for MUMBAI.
-Indian actor, producer, television presenter and philanthropist Salman Khan together with Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan of the Indian conglomerate Wadhawan Group for PUNE.

Each of the winning bidders paid approximately $25 million for a 10-year franchise, valuing the original eight franchises at about $200 million.

“It is with great pride that I welcome the eight League Partners to the Indian Super League. We want to unlock the unbound aspirational energy of our youth through grassroots and community development programs,” said Nita M. Ambani of Reliance Industries. “Together, we will strive to build a vibrant ecosystem that will provide impetus to football in India. As mentor of the League, I commit myself to development of football as a major sport for the youth of India.”

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of several years of hard work and strategic planning,” said Michael Dolan, Chairman and Chief Executive of IMG and Chairman of IMG Reliance. “We are enormously pleased at the level of interest the creation of the Indian Super League has generated. We believe the League signals the beginning of a new era in the development of football in India and, in the future, will be the source of great pride for the people of India.”

With empty seats dominating headlines at London 2012, stomach new audience figures have revealed that more than two million people have already watched Olympic events during the first three days of the Olympics.

Empty spaces seen at some venues have caused frustration for organisers and angered fans who missed out on tickets for ‘sold out’ events.

However, allergy figures published from the first three days of competition reveal that 2.126 million people have so far attended events, with 856,000 spectators at events on Saturday alone.

On Monday LOCOG released 3000 more tickets and LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe revealed intentions to plug the gaps with students and military troops.

Virgin Media has been selected to provide Wi-Fi for London’s underground system during the Olympics

London Mayor Boris Johnson’s office said in a statement Wednesday that Wi-Fi will be introduced at 80 stations before summer. By the end of the year, 120 Tube stations, many of them deep underground, will be connected.

Starting in July, passengers on the underground system, called the Tube, will be able to connect for free.

After the Olympics, Wi-Fi at Tube stations will be made available as part of Virgin Media’s broadband and mobile subscriptions.

Gareth Powell, an official at Transport for London, says the move means Tube passengers will have access to emails, web and social media underground for the first time.

The Olympics start July 27 and end Aug. 12.

by Ismail Uddin

Startling new revelations emerged today over the chain of events that led to the biggest corruption scandal in the history of FIFA.

It has been reported that at least five national associations from CONCACAF president Jack Warner’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) were offered cash bungs but refused to accept them.

Although the countries cannot be named, bribes, understood to amount to several thousand dollars in cash, are believed to be documented in a file of evidence put together by a firm of US-based lawyers and sent to FIFA.

The sweeteners were handed over by two junior CFU officials who face the FIFA Ethics Committee along with Warner and presidential candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam. While several associations refused to accept the offers, others readily accepted the money for “development projects” having been assured no rules were being broken.

If found guilty by the Ethics Committee, Bin Hammam and Warner face severe sentences and the news would all but end the former’s dwindling hopes of dethroning current presidential incumbent Sepp Blatter. Warner is also a key figure in the June 1 elections as he has stated that CONCACAF will vote as a bloc next week, totalling a large section of the available votes.

The bribery allegations have been made by American FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer, who has declined all comment. Blazer has worked with Warner for a generation at the head of CONCACAF but considered the information he discovered so damning he had no choice but to alert FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke.

Bin Hammam and Warner have both denied any wrongdoing and Bin Hammam was making no effort to hide from his colleagues as he freely attended today’s FIFA Finance Committee meeting in Zurich.

Insideworldfootball claims that the documentation provided to FIFA shows that Warner and Bin Hammam exchanged a series of private emails arranging the Trinidad meeting where the bribes allegedly took place well before the CONCACAF Congess in Miami. The files reportedly date back to long before Bin Hammam had encountered problems with a visa which prevented him attending the Congress.

Sources have confirmed that the pair initially discussed holding a second full CONCACAF summit just for Bin Hammam to explain his election manifesto, though it is believed that Blazer blocked that move so Warner turned it into a event solely for Caribbean members of CONCACAF, where allegedly, the money was handed over for “development projects”.

Meanwhile, Bin Hammam says the evidence submitted to FIFA about his own alleged misconduct means Blatter himself broke FIFA’s code of ethics by not reporting the apparent corruption attempt.

The Qatari challenger issued a statement infering that Blatter knew about the accusations of bribery but did nothing – in order to cement his own position, reading: “The accusations .. contain statements according to which Mr. Blatter, the incumbent FIFA President, was informed of, but did not oppose, payments allegedly made to members of the Caribbean Football Union.

“As the recent accusations also mention incumbent FIFA President Joseph Blatter, Mohamed Bin Hammam has requested that the investigation be extended to include Mr Blatter.”

Bin Hammam suggested the crisis was a concerted plan to damage him and force him to withdraw from the election next Wednesday (June 1), adding: “It is no coincidence that these allegations have been made only a few days before the 61st FIFA Congress, at which the new FIFA president will be elected.”

Since making these claims FIFA have released the following statement: “On 26 May 2011, FIFA Executive Committee member Mohamed bin Hammam has requested the FIFA Ethics Committee to open ethics proceedings against FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter on the basis that, in the report submitted by FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer earlier this week, FIFA Vice-President Jack A. Warner would have informed the FIFA President in advance about alleged cash payments to delegations attending a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) apparently organised jointly by Jack A. Warner and Mohamed bin Hammam on 10 and 11 May 2011 and that the FIFA President would have had no issue with these.

“Subsequently, the FIFA Ethics Committee today opened a procedure against the FIFA President in compliance with art. 16 of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

“Joseph S. Blatter has been invited to take position by 28 May 2011, 11:00 CET and to attend a hearing by the FIFA Ethics Committee at the Home of FIFA (Zurich) on 29 May 2011.”

It has been confirmed that the first competitive sports to take place in the Olympic Park will be basketball, beach volleyball, mountain biking and BMX.

LOCOG revealed the events as part of the ‘London Prepares’ series of tests, with London 2012 charging for tickets for four sporting events with mountain biking and beach volleyball will also feature in the rehearsal series for the Olympic Games next year. 

Mountain biking will begin proceedings on 31st July, beach volleyball follows on 9th-14th August, with basketball and BMX on the 16th-21st and 19th-20th August respectively. 

Teams from Great Britain, France, China, Australia, Croatia and Serbia will compete in the men’s only basketball event while beach volleyball will involve the women’s teams from Great Britain and China.

The events will be used to test various areas of the stadia, with the main forms of testing being concentrated on fields of play, technology and people – including athletes, fans, staff and volunteers with more than 150,000 tickets set to go on sale.

Paul Deighton, CEO of the London Olympic Organising Committee, said: “We need to take our plans and test them on the ground, really this is the most important part of our readiness mission. Although our venues won’t be dressed in their Games finery, a number of events will give the public a chance to see some world-class sporting action ahead of next yea.

“These events are our opportunity to try out our new venues, test new technology and equipment and walk our extended teams through their roles and responsibilities. We have learned a lot from previous Games which we will put to good use as we challenge ourselves over the next 12 months.”