Australian Ladies Professional Golf, view President Shani Waugh has announced CEO Warren Sevil will step down from his role.

“Warren tendered his resignation to the Board last Friday and, and with regret, patient we accepted it,” Waugh said.

“We certainly wouldn’t be in the position that we are in today without Warren and on behalf of our members want to thank him for his sustained efforts in the role.”

“Through his passion and hard work for the women’s professional game in this country and around the world, the ALPG is recognized as one of the five major women’s golf tours in the world. He was also an integral part in the development of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and sits on the Rolex Rankings Governing Board”.

“The ALPG Tour Schedule has well and truly held its own on the Australian sporting landscape in the last 15 years thru the coordination skills of Warren Sevil. He has worked diligently to create strong and lasting relationships with our key stakeholders both here and abroad.”

“His influence on Australian women’s golf was highlighted when he was recently named in the top 25 most influential people in Australian Golf over the past 40 years. “ Waugh added.

“I have known Warren all my professional career and have witnessed first-hand the dedication and hard work that he has put into our organization. He will be missed by many.“

In his letter to the board, Warren spoke warmly of his long tenure at ALPG:

“The fifteenth anniversary of my role with ALPG is approaching and I feel the time is right to disengage. Fifteen years is a long time in any position, so for the benefit of my own personal development and for that of the ALPG, I believe new directions and fresh perspectives are healthy and necessary for both parties.” he said.

“The ALPG has been a huge part of my life. My time with this exclusive organisation has been demanding, but rewarding in so many ways. I have been proud of my position, proud of my achievements and passionate about my responsibility to the organisation and its members. I have met and learned from hundreds of wonderful people across the broad spectrum of ALPG and international women’s golf, many of whom are now close personal friends.”

Waugh said that Sevil will work with the Board and staff of ALPG to ensure a smooth transition to the next stage of management, and will finish on Friday 31 May.

As Munich’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics enters a critical phase at SportAccord this week, Corporate Germany is set to throw its full weight in support of the campaign.

Presentations are scheduled tomorrow, April 7, for Munich and its rivals, Annecy and Pyeongchang to lobby for support with only three months left to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Durba on July 6, where the host city will be chosen. 

Munich is trying to entice voters by claiming that it will be a financial boost for the future of winter sports with chair Katarina Witt revealing that companies including BMW and Audi pay a total of US$3.7bn a year in sports sponsorship in Germany.

According to Witt, half of the sponsorship revenues of the seven Olympic international winter sports federations comes from German companies, stating: “This shows how much German companies are behind winter sports,”

Germany’s leading role in sports sponsorship is expected to figure prominently in Munich’s official presentation and Witt said Ian Robertson, BMW’s head of sales and marketing, will be part of the presentation focusing on the “business side.”

“German companies bring in about 50 per cent of the sponsorships for the winter sports international federations. This is why we have Ian Robertson here to join our delegation.”

World Rally Championship (WRC) team, Hyundai Motorsport has announced Stefan Ph. Henrich will become their Director of Marketing & PR.

Stefan will bring considerable communications expertise with him to the role, including 12 years at Hyundai Motor Europe culminating in his most recent role as HME Spokesperson. He will be heading up a highly experienced team made of people from various motorsport and automotive backgrounds.

Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “We’ve been evolving rapidly since the beginning of the year and made great progress in filling all the main roles to establish our core team. We’re facing a big and exciting challenge, in building a team from scratch and we have now only nine months to prepare for next year. I’m now surrounded by the best people in the business and I’m confident we’ll be ready to meet our ambitious goal to be ready at the start of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship. While we have a very busy year ahead of us, I believe that team-work together with shared commitment and passion for motorsport are the keys for success.”

The Munich bid committee hoping to host the 2018 Winter Games has appointed global public relations firm Weber Shandwick, who worked on Sochi’s successful bid to host the 2014 edition, to help win its campaign.

With offices situated in 74 countries, Weber Shandwick is the world’s largest global PR company and has worked on several successful Olympic campaign’s, including Turin’s bid for the 2006 Winter Games and Beijing 2008.

Bernhard Schwank, the chief executive of Munich 2018, stated: “We are extremely happy to be able to work with Weber Shandwick.

“The agency’s ability to develop impactful international campaigns, expertise and experience in Olympic and sport bidding, geographical spread we need and strong presence in Munich have been the decisive factors to select it as our international public relations partner and we have been happy with its support around major Olympic events to date.”

On a less success note Weber Shandwick also worked on England’s disastrous bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, however, CEO for the UK and EMEA Colin Byrne, was confident that they could help Munich prevail over its rivals Annecy and Pyeongchang.

Byrne added: “We are honoured to be engaged to support Munich 2018. Our goal is to provide a winning global communications programme for Munich 2018 and support them throughout their journey across the world. 

“Our Global Olympics practice, which helped lead the past three Weber Shandwick bidding campaigns including Sochi 2014, will bring to bear the best bidding and campaigning experts we have in our roster to support this effort.”

The hopes of the French city of Annecy hosting the 2018 Winter Games have been hit after a group opposed to the bid claim to have collected over 13,000 signatures of people who are against it, overshadowing the announcement that 500 of France’s greatest ever sportsmen and women, including Zinedine Zidane were behind the campaign.

The group, Annecy Comité Anti-Olympique (CAO) – Annecy Anti-Olympic Committee – claim to have gathered 13,649 signatures and are planning to hold a press conference to highlight their concerns about the French city’s bid.

A statement published via the CAO’s official website read: “The CAO exists for two years, multiplying actions. 

“It aims to inform very precisely Haute-Savoie population not only on the excesses of the Olympics, the sport business, the financial stakes of multinationals and unacceptable demands of the IOC, but also on adverse impacts on the environment and on uncontrolled public spending with long-term debt for the Olympic city.

“We believe that the truth must be told.

“Annecy 2018 nomination is no exception to the rule of the denial of democracy, despite the repeated promises on budget transparency, nothing has been published.

“Are elected officials lying to us?”

The President of Annecy 2018, Charles Biegbeder has refuted the claims, vowing that the public were fully behind the bid and the support of so many top athletes would help Annecy close the gap on Munich and Pyeongchang, the favourites.

Biegbeder stated: “Athletes are at the heart of this bid and have played a central role in helping us devise our plans.

“We are delighted to have been able to unite the entire French sporting movement, including athletes of all disciplines, behind Annecy 2018. 

“Their collective support and commitment in helping galvanise public support and promoting the bid around the world is vital as we enter the final straight in this campaign.

“We have had fantastic support from the public throughout this campaign and believe they will energise the bid team over the next 100 days.”