Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov believes that Ukraine has a strong chance to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games after the country gained experience in hosting the Euro 2012 SoccerChampionship this summer.

According to Xinhua, Azarov said: “The success of Euro 2012 and the positive assessment of Carpathian mountains potential increase our chances in the bid for the 2022 Winter Games.”

But he added that the Olympics are a much bigger event than Euro 2012 and it will be more difficult to host them, noting that Ukraine still has 10 years to prepare.

Azarov said that he held talks with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge and the presidents of several sports federations during the Opening Ceremony of the London Games, and that the officials expressed optimism about Ukraine’s sporting potential.

Xinhua reports that in the near future the Ukraine government aims to attract 1.4 billion U.S. dollars to promote Ukraine’s bid.

In 2014 the country intends to bid for the 2022 Games in the Carpathian Mountains of western Lvov region.

Spyros Capralos, Greek Olympic president, has ridiculed claims that he boasted he could obtain extra London 2012 tickets for sale on the black market.

The Sunday Times’ allegations of a ticket scandal involving 27 Olympic officials and agents included the claims that Capralos, the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC), has been caught on camera boasting he had “pulled strings” with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe to allocate his country more top tickets to the Games that he could sell on for a profit.

On Monday the HOC insisted the allegations were “untrue and misleading” and all sales had been conducted by an agent.

A statement on their website read: “The whole process was totally transparent and in accordance with the laws of the Greek State. Therefore, there can be no issue on creating a ‘black market’ by the HOC which did not buy any tickets, whatsoever.

“The journalists of the Sunday Times, violating all principles of journalistic ethics, pretended to be representatives of a ticket selling company, and had even created a fake webpage. The whole discussion concerned the Winter Olympic Games Sochi 2014.

“The video recording was made with a hidden camera, in a misleading way too, while the publishing of the statements of the HOC president, Mr Spyros Capralos was fragmentary and a patchwork of answers, made in a way that served the authors of the article.

“Even in the published statements of the HOC president – which we would like to stress once more that they are a product of a patchwork – as every reader can notice, there is nothing reproachable. On the contrary, the way of operating and the allocation of the tickets of the Olympic Games is explained.”

The International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission are investigating all the claims.

On Sunday, Denis Oswald, a member of the IOC executive board and the London 2012 co-ordination commission chairman, insisted anyone found guilty of selling London 2012 tickets on the black market would be banned from any future role in sport.

He said: “These people should no longer belong to the Olympic movement.”

Elections took place over the weekend by the Gambia National Olympic Association, announcing Momodou Dibba as the organisation’s new president. Dibba beat competition from his only rival, Abdoulie Touray in a decision overshadowed by the arrest of acting president and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Beatrice Allen.

However, the decision to elect Dibba did not go smoothly and is set to be investigated by the IOC after several sports associations in Gambia boycotted the elections because they claim Touray was not being treated fairly.

This will not come as pleasing news and puts the nation’s future involvement in the Olympics in further doubt after the IOC warned in the build-up to the election that the Gambian Government were risking getting the country suspended from London 2012 if they are suspected of interfering.

The post was vacated last July when Lang Tombong Tamba, also chief of defence staff for Gambia’s armed forces, was sentenced to death for his alleged role in a 2009 coup to oust the Government.

Acting president, Allen was forced to step down after her arrest last month along with GNOC treasurer Ousman Wadda and accounts officer Muhammed Janneh on allegations of embezzlement. 

Dibba promised to give sport in Gambian schools a higher priority, stating: “My sport development agenda is to focus my attention on the sporting associations, in particular for athletes to develop and excel in their various sporting disciplines, to ensure that GNOC takes full responsibility to regularise the associations’ annual contributions to their respective international federations to enable them to have a platform in meetings, conferences and seminars in these international bodies.”

Indian sports broadcaster Star Sports has secured the rights to telecast the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).

“The acquisition of IPTL rights is in line with the Star Sports’s objective of fulfilling India’s growing appetite for non-cricketing sports such as tennis, cough hockey, pharmacy badminton and kabaddi,” the company said in a statement.

The league, created by Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi, will begin on November 28 in Singapore and conclude on December 13 in UAE.

“The IPTL is an unprecedented opportunity for sports fans across India to experience the game played by its legends. This is the first time India will play host to some of the biggest names in tennis, and we at Star Sports are extremely proud to be associated with this league,” Star India President–Sports Nitin Kukreja said. Matches will be telecast live on STAR Sports, STAR Sports HD and starsports.com.

“We’re very excited that Star Sports has acquired the rights to broadcast over the long term. Given their network strength and their commitment to growing sport in the country, our decision to partner with them was an easy one. We’re confident that the IPTL’s quicker and more exciting format, bundled with Star Sports’ strength in packaging and promotion will lend greatly to delivering a great viewing experience to sports fans,” said Bhupathi, the founder and Managing Director of IPTL. 

Cardiff City are looking for more footballing expertise on their board according to chairman Mehmet Dalman.

Dalman told the Cardiff Evening Post he wants: “Somebody who has done it all, seen it all would be great value to the club.”

But, he says an appointment is not ‘imminent, adding: “It could take five years or five hours and will be done when we meet the right person.

“It would be nice, and I mean no disrespect to my boardroom colleagues, to have some grey-haired chap experienced in football matters we could bounce ideas off. It is a great idea.

“When I grew up in the world of finance I was always lucky that I had a great mentor, somebody I could go to and ask ‘What do you think?’

“We are missing that on our board in football terms. It would be nice to add that somebody who has done it all, seen it all.

“That would be great value to the club.

“It’s about somebody having experienced enough to see the bigger picture.

“That could be somebody who knows football in Asia, somebody who knows football in Latin America or anywhere.

“It’s important to add value. We need to be a sustainable Premier League football club and this would help us.”

Dalman also down played talk of instability at the club under owner Vincent Tan.

“Cardiff City right now is stable,” said Dalman.

“We are debt free. Vincent Tan wrote off interest (on loans) and is in the process of converting loans into equity. The club is in no debt.

“We have an extremely-talented team and a board who are stable, motivated and ambitious.”

Majority shareholder Kelvin Bryon has rejoined the board for RFU Championship team London Welsh as Deputy Chairman.

Kelvin’s association with the club goes back 20 years and he has previously held the position of Chairman. His former company, ampoule Basildon Chemicals, ask was the club’s principal sponsor for many years and he remains a key financial backer.

“Kelvin has been the mainstay of the club for many years and we’re delighted that he has decided not only to rejoin the board but to take an active role as Deputy Chairman, recipe ” said current London Welsh Chairman Bleddyn Phillips.

“This move underlines Kelvin’s continued commitment to the club and our strong belief that we have an excellent squad with a great team spirit and with high expectations for the season ahead.”

London Welsh have also announced David Jenkins has come on board as Commercial Director. Jenkins joined the club in December 2012 as Team Manager.

David was previously involved with Bath Rugby from 1970-1999. His playing career was cut short at the age of 22 due to serious injury.

He fulfilled various roles at the club during the amateur era and became commercial director in 1996, with the advent of professional rugby.

In 1999 he moved to Cardiff as CEO until 2003, and held a similar position at the Dragons (2003-2005) and the Cornish Pirates (2005-2006).

In 2007 David returned to the healthcare industry in a sales and marketing role, and continued in that capacity until joining Welsh.

“David has a wealth of experience to draw upon in assuming the role of Commercial Director at London Welsh having fulfilled that role at Bath at the advent of the professional era when that club enjoyed regular success at the very highest level,” added Bleddyn Phillips.

“His time as Chief Executive at clubs such as Cardiff, Newport Gwent Dragons and more latterly the Cornish Pirates underscores his knowledge of the rugby scene and we are very fortunate to have him on board.”

Japanese automaker Honda has unveiled a new racing engine that it will use in its Word Touring Car Champion (WTCC) cars that are based on the Civic model during the 2013 season.

The ‘HR412E’  engine was developed at the Honda Research and Development Center in Tochigi.

It is a 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine with a turbo charger and gasoline direct injection. Honda will test its car and engine in three races during the 2012 WTCC season, Suzuka, Shanghai and Macao, before fully joining the racing series for the 2013 season.{jcomments on}

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has begun investigations into allegations that some national Olympic committee officials and authorized ticket resellers violated its rules on ticket sales for the 2012 London Games.

“After claims that several NOCs and ATRs were reportedly willing to break the rules by offering to buy or sell tickets outside their territory, allergy sell tickets at inflated prices, arthritis or sell tickets to unauthorized resellers, pills the IOC has ordered an immediate inquiry and referred the allegations to its independent Ethics Commission,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

The move stemmed from a report by British newspaper The Sunday Times, claiming that agents and officials representing 54 countries ignored guidelines surrounding the sale of tickets to Olympic events, some offering to sell tickets up to 10 times their value and on black markets.

“The IOC takes these allegations very seriously and has immediately taken the first steps to investigate. Should any irregularities be proven, the organization will deal with those involved in an appropriate manner. The NOCs are autonomous organizations, but if any of the cases are confirmed the IOC will not hesitate to impose the strongest sanctions,” Adams further said.

Adams added that the IOC investigation will be used to improve the way that tickets are allocated and sold internationally in the future.

Leading into the 2012 Games, IOC officials distributed tickets to NOCs based on demand in their respective countries and have specific sets of rules regarding how the national committees are to then distribute them within their own countries.

The Times alleged that officials and agents violated IOC guidelines by selling tickets outside of their assigned territories, sold tickets at inflated prices or sold tickets to unauthorized retailers on black markets.

It also alleged that ATRs were the tickets to the men’s 100-meters final and other especially popular events.

The paper also reported that Greek Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos had “pulled strings” with London organizing chairman Sebastian Coe to obtain an extra batch of premium tickets for official agents in Greece.

The allegations supported a BBC News report last month that Volodymyr Gerashchenko of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, had told an undercover reporter that he was prepared to sell tickets. He resigned after the report.

The television report alleged that Greg Haney, a former United States Olympic Committee official who now works at a travel company, told reporters how to hide an illegal ticket deal.

Trilochan Singh, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Vice President has defended the body’s shamed chief Suresh Kalmadi, after he was relielved of his duties as chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee last month.

Singh insisted that the under-fire administrator will remain in his post despite allegations of corruption for another year at least and criticised the Clean Sports India (CSI) Foundation for demanding Kalmadi’s resignation due to corruption allegations.

The IOA’s vice-president stated: “He (Kalmadi) is our President till 2012. And the IOA fully backs him. What is CSIs contribution to the sports? Why don’t they do some good work elsewhere?”

CSI is a newly-floated forum by former internationals like hockey Olympian Pargat Singh and former athletics stars Ashwini Nachappa and Vandana Rao. Kalmadi had yesterday said that the IOA had plans of including former sports persons in sports organisations.

The Annual General Body meeting of the IOA was held today, February 14, in Ranchi where the 34th National Games opened the same evening.