The vote to determine the host of the 2020 Olympic Games is less than one year away, and Tokyo’s chances of landing the event could be damaged in light of Japan’s ongoing involvement in island disputes with South Korea, China, Russia and Taiwan.

The ongoing dispute with other countries in the region could affect Tokyo’s bid to host the Olympics for the first time since 1964. The vote to determine the site for the 2020 Games will be held in Buenos Aires on September 7. In the past, the host city has often been determined by five votes or fewer.

Tokyo Governor, Shintaro Ishihara, who was the face of the capital’s failed bid to host the 2016 Games, is now at the forefront of the dispute over the Senkaku Islands. When questioned about whether the problems with regional neighbors could result in Tokyo losing the election, Ishihara said: “I don’t have much [concern].”{jcomments on}

The Copper Box arena will be home to the Handball competition during London 2012 Games, prostate but once the medals have been awarded and the fans have gone home it is destined to play a key role as a community venue for London’s East End.

Post-Games, the Copper Box will be known as the Multi-Use Arena. Around 90 per cent of its use will be dedicated to local communities with the cost of hiring a court the same as the average price of hiring one at a local leisure centre.

The venue will be able to host a full range of sports as it has retractable seating, which will allow the shape of the playing surface to be changed.

The Multi-Use Arena will cater for sports includingbasketball, handball, badminton, boxing, martial arts, netball, table tennis, wheelchair rugby and volleyball.

Earlier in April this year 1,000 local schoolchildren visited the venue and sampled a variety of activities as part of a series of One Movement festivals run by the East London Business Alliance.

The children, aged between 11 and 19, spent the day trying out up to 13 different sports including handball, table tennis and judo. The aim of the day was not only to introduce the youngsters to the venue but also encourage them to take part in sport on a daily basis.

“I feel like a VIP guest getting in here before the athletes and getting to try out sports at the Copper Box. Really special and something I will never forget,” said Jordan Campbell, 9, from Holy Trinity Primary School.

Muslima Sheikh, 14, from Mulberry School for Girls, also enjoyed testing out the facilities. “I really like the Copper Box. It’s really colourful and different and I’ve never seen an arena like this before with so many different sports to try, from athletics and curling to judo. It is so much fun,” she said.

The arena also impressed 14-year-old Cydney Dell from West Hatch Secondary School. She said: “It’s really big – I didn’t expect the Copper Box to be so big on the inside. It’s really cool to be able to experience what the athletes are going to experience.”

After the Games the Copper Box will also be used for athlete training, international competition and small-to-medium-scale events. A number of sports National Governing Bodies have already expressed their interest in using the Multi-Use Arena.

It is anticipated the Arena, which will also include a health and fitness gym plus studios and a café, will attract around 400,000 visitors a year and will be the only permanent indoor arena retained in the Olympic Park.

The Copper Box is a further example of the London 2012 Games legacy. As the IOC encourages cities to think from the start of the Games bidding process about the legacy that they wish to leave behind, London 2012 has worked hard to ensure that each venue’s legacy has been an integral part of their planning process.

The Copper Box will host handball and modern pentathlon fencing during the Olympic Games and goalball during the Paralympic Games.

It emerged yesterday, ed March 24, that the chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) Lord Moynihan and CEO Andy Hunt had been barred from board meetings of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) due the dispute over the 2012 Olympics financial surplus.

The BOA is fighting for a share of revenues in the Paralympics, as well as the Olympics, after LOCOG and the International Olympic Committee have claimed that the finances from the two should remain separate. The BOA appealed their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the IOC backed LOCOG in the row.

The London 2012 organising committee stated that it had invited the BOA to nominate replacements for Moynihan and Hunt while the duo “are individually and actively involved in pursuing a dispute against LOCOG”. The statement added: “The BOA is ably represented on the LOCOG board by HRH the Princess Royal, Sir Craig Reedie, Sir Philip Craven and Adam Pengilly.”

The BOA released a statement late on Thursday which responded: “We do not feel a similar action is necessary and we are not taking the same steps as LOCOG. We continue to welcome British International Olympic Committee members, all of whom are LOCOG directors, and their contributions in the interests of the athletes and the success of the Games.”

The BOA added: “This decision by LOCOG will have no bearing on our primary responsibility, which is to prepare Team GB for the London 2012 Olympic Games.” The latest development has come ahead of an important few days for London 2012, with the IOC set to visit the city to inspect preparations and the International SportAccord Convention, a major gathering of International Federations, due to take place early next month.

The Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) have announced that the Columbus Eagles FC have joined the league for the 2014  season.

“We are pleased to have the Columbus Eagles FC join our women’s competitive league for the 2014 season. We expect that Columbus will provide an excellent, competitive team that will represent the Columbus area well.” said the League Commissioner, Jerry Zanelli.

The Columbus Eagles FC will provide Columbus women’s soccer fans an opportunity to join the growing women’s soccer movement in the United States. The WPSL is one of the highest levels of women’s soccer in the US surpassed only by the professional National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

The Eagles will be playing in the Great Lakes division of the Mid-West Region of the WPSL. Other teams in the Great Lakes division include Detroit, Dayton, Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

Ukraine are to undergo a preliminary feasibility study on a 2022 Winter Olympic bid to be submitted by the State Agency for Investment and National Projects.

KYIV Post reports Ukraine has to complete sports infrastructure between 2012 and 2021, pills including the Borzhava ski resort in Liviv region. There are also plans to build transport infrastructure including airports, highways and railway facilities.

“The construction of accommodation infrastructure, including Olympic villages and an international media centre, is also important”, said a press release.

The bid would be funded by private investors and through state and local budgets.

A government resolution says the Cabinet of Ministers should receive proposals within a month for the determination of a central executive government agency responsible for the coordination of activities on the preparation and support of the bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the right to stage the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the measures to be taken to prepare the infrastructure required for the Games.

Following the completion of the Olympics, healing the £40m London Aquatics Centre will serve the local area, catering for all levels of swimming ability from families to people with disabilities and school children.

With moveable floors capable of reducing the depth for swimming lessons it is hoped the two 50m pools and diving pool at the Aquatic Centre will encourage more people to swim more often.

The centre will offer an activity programme including a range of aquatic fitness sessions, a learn to swim programme, coaching in water polo, synchronised swimming, diving and sub aqua.

Not only will the centre be a great asset for local communities and schools, it will also offer visitors the chance to use the Olympic facilities for the same price as the average local pool or sports centre.

Earlier in March, 300 local schoolchildren tested the centre’s water, with swimmers aged between 9 and 18 years old competing in a number of races at the annual Six Host Borough Swimming Championship.

The event, organised by the Olympic Park Legacy Company and Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), gave the community their first taste of their new swimmingfacility.

Andrew Altman, Chief Executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, said: “The Host Borough Swimming Championships was a taste of things to come. The atmosphere was electric and the excitement of the young swimmers was evident as soon as they entered the centre. We want all local children to experience this when the centre reopens after the Games.”

With an anticipated 800,000 visitors a year, the Aquatics Centre will be a London legacy and a place where the UK’s best sporting talent can swim and train.

GLL Managing Director, Mark Sesnan added: “Not only is this a world class venue designed to host international sport, it also aims to nurture sporting talent at grass roots level and encourage healthy living.”

Together with GLL and Olympic Park Legacy Company, Sport England is currently working with the Amateur Swimming Association, five London boroughs and the University of East London to develop a strategy and usage programme that will allow swimmers and divers to progress from recreation to international performance.

In addition, the Aquatic Centre will also be used to host major events with Triathlon England and British Swimming planning to use the venue regularly. In March this year London bid to host the 2016 LEN European Swimming Championships at the Aquatics Centre.

Sepp Blatter, President of world soccer’s governing body FIFA, says he will step down from his post in 2015, if he is re-elected for a fourth term in June.

The 75-year-old has been head of world football’s governing body since 1998 but is being challenged by Asian confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Blatter told a UEFA Congress today, March 22: “You know I aspire to another four years. [But] these will be the last years for which I stand as candidate.”

The new president will be elected at a FIFA Congress which starts on 31 May, with Qatari Bin Hammam vowing to increase FIFA’s decision-making power and spread its considerable wealth.

The presidential challenge is the first that Blatter has faced since Issa Hayatou took him on – and lost – in 2002.

Bin Hammam is also currently attending the Congress for European football’s governing body, UEFA, as the candidates lobby federation presidents for their vote on 1 June in Zurich, with UEFA’s 53 member countries representing more than a quarter of the 208 FIFA voters.

BBC’s Sports Editor, David Bond claimed: “This is a significant announcement.

“It’s the first time Blatter has said this in this campaign for [the next] presidential candidancy.

“Clearly it’s a message to UEFA president Michel Platini, who would like to take over from Blatter in 2015. Platini is crucial to both candidates.

“This might just help swing Platini’s support behind Blatter.”

Bin Hammam is likely to want eight years in office but has said he would be interested in cutting a deal with Platini to oust Blatter.

The winner needs a two-thirds majority of valid votes cast in the first ballot, or a majority in the second.

Blatter spoke of the upcoming elections: “We are in extra-time. Let’s wait and see what the outcome will be.”