Squash’s bid to be included 2020 Summer Olympic Games gained some traction following the revealation that 10,000 players have signed up to take part in the largest squash match in history on World Squash Day 2012.

The World Squash Federation (WSF) hopes that squash will be voted in by the IOC during its congress in Buenos Aires next year.

World Squash Day UK co-ordinator Vicky Clark said: “The response has been overwhelming. New clubs are coming on board every day and it’s great to have already reached 10,000 players. This is the biggest squash match in history and certainly one of the biggest sports fixtures ever held.”

WSF Chief Executive Andrew Shelley discussed the range of countries already featured saying: “Even now, several weeks before the day, we have clubs on every continent taking part, and an A-Z of countries – from Australia and Armenia, through to Ecuador and England, Iran and India, Nigeria and Norfolk Islands, Peru and Panama, and Thailand to Zimbabwe, to name just a few.”

World Squash Day founder Alan Thatcher said, “It’s great to see 10,000 names already on board for World Squash Day and we fully expect to see an ever greater number to illustrate the tremendous global support for the bid.”

Seb Coe, the London 2012 Organising Committee Chair, has received Beyond Sport’s Leadership in Sport Award, supported by P&G, on behalf of International Inspiration, the official international sports legacy programme of London 2012.

Coe and Sir Keith Mills, the Chair of the II Foundation, were presented with the first Beyond Sport Award of 2012 at the Beyond Sport London Reception, held just one month before the Beyond Sport Summit & Awards are staged in London in the week of the Olympic Games opening ceremony. They collected the Award as recognition of International Inspiration’s global impact over the last seven years, in which it has achieved its Olympic legacy goals across 20 countries.

International Inspiration, a unique partnership between the British Council, UK Sport and UNICEF, has worked with an astonishing 12 million children to fulfil the promise made by Coe and the London 2012 bid team in Singapore in 2005, when the two-time Olympic gold medallist vowed that the London 2012 Games would “reach young people all around the world and connect them to the inspirational power of the Games so they are inspired to choose sport, improving their lives as a result.”

Nick Keller, the Founder of Beyond Sport, commented: “There will be many positive outcomes from London 2012, but none more so than the 12 million children reached through International Inspiration. Seb and his colleagues have more than delivered on that memorable promise made in Singapore. As with all great acts of Leadership they have set new parameters. The expectation on the hosts of large-scale sport events has shifted and social legacy is no longer limited to the host city or even host country.”

Seb Coe, the London 2012 Organising Committee Chair, said: “International Inspiration’s work has been a key part of London 2012’s vision to inspire young people around the world, and I am delighted to accept this Award from Beyond Sport on behalf of everyone who has contributed to its success. To have made a difference in the lives of over 12 million children around the world before London 2012 even gets underway is testament to the incredible power of sport.”

After receiving the Leadership in Sport Award, Coe also took the time to present the P&G UK Impact Award in association with the Daily Telegraph, launched to recognise the UK’s most innovative and successful sport for change projects in the year that the Beyond Sport Summit returns to British shores.

Coe presented the Award to Street League, a charity which uses football to help disadvantaged members of society into work, education or training. Two other projects were highly commended by the judging panel: Extra Time, run by the Football Foundation, which engages more than 3,000 elderly men and women in physical activity to help improve emotional wellbeing and reduce social isolation; and Everton in the Community’s Tackling Inequality, Empowering Ability programme, which addresses mental health issues on Merseyside. All three projects will receive a support package from Beyond Sport to enable them to further develop their activities.

Nathan Homer, Sports Marketing & Olympics Project Director at Procter & Gamble (P&G), concluded: “We are delighted to support both of these Awards, which celebrate the impact of London 2012 and the Olympic movement both within the UK and abroad. P&G are proud of our place in the Olympic movement and welcome this chance to pay tribute to the inspirational leadership that Seb Coe and his team have provided around the world, and to recognise the outstanding projects on the ground in the UK.”

International Olympic Committee delegates attending the meeting on combating illegal and irregular sports betting at their headquarters in Zurich were reportedly “shocked” to hear of the full extent of the problem from an Interpol source. 

The meeting heard that last year’s figure for illegal betting was an estimated US$140bn and in confirming this figure, health Jacques Rogge, discount | the IOC President, there described it as “a budget much higher than that of many developing nations.”

The revelations saw the delegation, including representatives from the sports world, governments, international organisations and betting operators agree to create a task force assigned to work on a set of action points they approved at the meeting.

The task force will comprise members of the sports movement, governments, international organisations and betting operators, and will seek to address the following action points:

• * The necessity and possibilities for governments, international organisations and sports betting operators to support the sports world in its efforts to protect the integrity of sports competitions;
• * The various means to strengthen cooperation between themselves to fight more effectively against all forms of cheating in sport, particularly those linked to  irregular and illegal betting;
• * The various existing systems, national laws, self-regulating systems and implementation methods, in order to identify effective methods for cross-border cooperation;
• * The various existing systems of enforcement, punishment and measures in terms of education;
• Appropriate methods of funding to support the efforts of the sports movement to protect the integrity of competitions.

Jacques Rogge added: “Today’s (March 1) meeting was the latest effort in an ongoing process that will grow to involve many more countries, international organisations and Olympic partners,” said President Rogge. “I am pleased with the fruitful discussions we had today and the progress we made in many areas, all of which will be communicated to our partners in the Olympic Movement in due time.”

A £32m (US$50.2m) revamp of the famous English cricket ground Edgbaston, in Birmingham, will see major event hospitality services provider, Keith Prowse install a new range of facilities.

The venue is currently home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club (WCCC) but is also a regular feature in the Test matches played in England. The works are due to be completed ahead of the 2011 season which will see the capacity of the ground increase to 25,000 once Keith Prowse introduce a new Pavilion Stand. The development will be home to the Jaguar Club, The 1882 Club, Superboxes and The Edgbaston Suite.

WCCC Commercial Director, James McLaughlin stated: “The redevelopment will keep Edgbaston on a par with the world’s greatest cricket grounds, and by partnering with Keith Prowse we can ensure the venue continues to be attractive for corporate involvement”.

The company have strong ties to English sporting venues as official hospitality provider to the Kia Oval, Lord’s, the Wimbledon Championships and Twickenham.

Andrew Hodgkins, Keith Prowse’s managing director, added: “We are thrilled at this opportunity to position Edgbaston, which is renowned in cricket for its feel-good factor, as an entertaining hub for the Midlands. Companies can use sport to bring people together to discuss business in an exhilarating but unrushed environment, and cricket in particular offers a great opportunity to enjoy valuable face to face time.”

Lausanne, health Switzerland – Crisp fall weather on the shore of Lake Geneva, denture served as the perfect backdrop for this year City Events Conference, ampoule as cities met with International Sports Federations and sports event stakeholders on November 13th-15th, 2013. 

This year, over 250 participants from 24 countries gathered at the Beaulieu Congress Center, to discuss the future of sporting events. The theme, “Sporting Events in the Near Future,” lead to a diverse and interesting set of discussions; hitting on topics such as creating long-term value from your event, venue legacy, and tools and trends of tomorrow. The conference was marked by high quality debates, thanks to our highly esteemed speakers, excellent moderators, and an enthusiastic and engaged audience.

Four main themes were debated during 1 keynote session, 4 plenary sessions, and 4 breakout sessions:

• – Creating value for and from your event,
• – Legacy and innovative venue concepts: Optimising existing and refurbished venues + Utilising temporary venues and considering events without venues.
• – Sport event budget management: Operational budget management and effective procurement + Latest tools to measure event ROI.
• – New trends of tomorrow: Events of tomorrow + Tools of tomorrow.

The opening included great speeches by Leonz Eder, Vice-President FISU, Olivier Ferraton, CEO, GL events and Patricle Iseli, Head of Sports, City of Lausanne, who gave us an interesting point of view of the Olympic Capital and about sports events in the near future.

Another highlight of the opening session was a surprise appearance by the Winter Universiade flame, currently making its way across to Trentino.

City Events: Many Networking Opportunities

In addition to excellent speeches, and rousing debates, City Events is first and foremost an opportunity to meet and connect with individuals from the international sports business world. One of the highlights of the conference is the one-on-one meeting session, which allows cities to meet individually with sports federations, sports events organizers, and sponsors. This year, 35 cities were represented, from five continents, and 28 international sports federations were present. All in all, 147 one-on-one meetings were organized during the two-hour meeting session. This unique networking opportunity was followed by the FISU reception held at the Rolex Learning Center. 

This year’s City Events conference was the most successful conference to date, and we hope it will result in many great sporting events in the coming years. We are already looking forward to next year’s conference, where we hope to build on this year’s success to hold a bigger and better City Events 2014.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 5th City Events, which will be held on November 12th through the 14th, 2014.

The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has announced that Karen Webb has joined the organisation as Director of Communications.

Karen has been working in global marketing, capsule corporate affairs and communications for 25 years and has had senior roles with the Sydney 2000 Organising Committee, salve the International Olympic Committee and with London’s Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Most recently, viagra through her own business and working on her ninth Olympic Games, Karen has been advising a number of international sports federations, UK Legacy charity, Sported, and companies including BT and Westfield. She also advised UK Sport and the Mayor of London’s Office on major events, international business engagement and legacy planning around the Games.

At the ICSS, Karen will work closely with the ICSS President and senior management team on the overarching communications strategy of the organisation and continue to build upon the ICSS’s ongoing activities, including the Save The Dream initiative and major ICSS events such as Securing Sport 2014. Karen will also advise on the further development of the ICSS’s comprehensive sports governing body and stakeholder engagement strategy.

Mohammed Hanzab, President of ICSS, said: “Karen has a wealth of experience, working with many international players in the business of sport.

“Karen joins at a very exciting time for the ICSS with many important events and initiatives set to be unveiled over the next few months. With security and integrity stories currently dominating the news agenda, I look forward to working with Karen to develop the next chapter of the ICSS story.”

Speaking of her appointment, Karen Webb said: “Working within the world of sport and major events is always exciting, but sport is increasingly facing complex challenges and issues around security and integrity; so the opportunity to learn from and work with experts in this area and with an organisation which has the integrity and safety of sport at its heart, is one I am very passionate about.

“The ICSS is a leading organisation and global hub of expertise in the field of sport security, safety and integrity. As part of my new role, I look forward to working closely with the ICSS President, the senior management team and our advisers to further develop a communications strategy that will showcase the ICSS’s ground-breaking and unique offer in world sport.”

Michael Jones, a committee member of Tulsa Olympics Exploratory Committee is gearing up to host an Olympic Games in 10 years.

He says with the help of surrounding communities Green Country has a good a chance just like any other big city.

He added: “The research proved that we could do it. We’d have to use the regional model that Atlanta utilized as opposed to this centralized model that London is utilizing.”

The committee was formed about three years ago, and will bid when U.S. Olympic officials give them the go.

Jones said: “We can build the infrastructure that we need now in order to make the bid later.”

The committee expects to place its bid in 2015.

Syria’s National Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa has been refused a visa by British authorities denyng him the chance to attend the London 2012 Olympics, according to the BBC.

Mowaffak is regarded as a close friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been strongly criticised by the British government and other Western and Arab nations for a crackdown on an opposition movement seeking his overthrow.

The British Home Office (interior ministry) and Foreign Office declined to comment, saying they do not discuss individual cases.

Pressure has mounted over Joumaa’s attendance since Syrian opposition activists urged Britain to ban him.Syria was expected to send four or five officials to the Olympics, including Joumaa, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) official has said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in March any of the country’s officials covered by a European Union travel ban would not be welcome. He also said there would be no ban against Syrian athletes taking part.