Boxing Body AIBA Knocked Out Of Tokyo Games

The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday officially took over the boxing qualification and competition for next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics and suspended international boxing federation AIBA following a vote at its session.

Reuters reports:

The IOC voted unanimously to implement a recommendation of its Executive Board to oust troubled AIBA from the Tokyo 2020 Games over issues surrounding its finances and governance and suspend the body until the issues are resolved.

AIBA has been in turmoil over its finances and governance for years with the federation $16 million in debt and an ongoing bitter battle over the presidency that has split the body internally.

Serbian IOC member Nenad Lalovic, who heads an IOC task force to look into the ties with AIBA, earlier on Wednesday delivered a damning report to the IOC session, saying the association could reach a debt of as much as $29 million.

He also said AIBA had failed to reform at the top of the organization.

AIBA President Gafur Rahimov suspended himself from the post in March because of his presence on an U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list “for providing material support” to a criminal organization. The Uzbek strongly denies the allegations.

Rahimov’s presence on that sanctions list was extremely damaging to the IOC though he has been replaced on an interim basis by Mohamed Moustahsane.

“It exposes the IOC and its commercial partners to unacceptable reputational, legal and financial risks,” Lalovic said.

He said AIBA’s debt meant money would not go to sports and the athletes in the future and the organization still faced problems with refereeing.

Among those voting in favour of the exclusion was former AIBA President CK Wu, who was Rahimov’s predecessor before stepping down in 2017 after a bitter dispute with his own executive committee.

“I think that today… all members of the AIBA Executive Committee will understand that we need to unite and say goodbye to the old,” AIBA Executive Committee member Umar Kremlev said in a statement.

“Everyone guilty of what brought AIBA to this, must confess, apologize to the boxing community and leave. Our task, as members of the AIBA executive committee, is to unite, to accept early reforms and to start everything from scratch together to bring boxing back to a high level.”

AIBA largely depends on Olympic Games revenues to survive between Games and has started letting people go as a result of its Olympic exclusion. The sport’s governing body will discuss the IOC decision at its executive committee meeting on Thursday.

Japanese IOC member Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation, heads the task force to organize qualifiers and the Tokyo Games competition.

The IOC will almost treble the number of women boxers in Tokyo to 100, up from 36 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Men’s numbers will be reduced from 250 to 186 with the total of 286 boxers remaining identical from Rio.

There will be four regional qualifiers — Africa, Europe, Asia/Oceania and Americas — between January and April 2020 while hosts Japan can directly qualify four men and two women.

A final Olympic qualifying event will probably be held in May next year to allow athletes a second chance to qualify, the IOC has said.

The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday officially took over the boxing qualification and competition for next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics and suspended international boxing federation AIBA following a vote at its session.

The IOC voted unanimously to implement a recommendation of its Executive Board to oust troubled AIBA from the Tokyo 2020 Games over issues surrounding its finances and governance and suspend the body until the issues are resolved.

AIBA has been in turmoil over its finances and governance for years with the federation $16 million in debt and an ongoing bitter battle over the presidency that has split the body internally.

Serbian IOC member Nenad Lalovic, who heads an IOC task force to look into the ties with AIBA, earlier on Wednesday delivered a damning report to the IOC session, saying the association could reach a debt of as much as $29 million.

He also said AIBA had failed to reform at the top of the organization.

AIBA President Gafur Rahimov suspended himself from the post in March because of his presence on an U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list “for providing material support” to a criminal organization. The Uzbek strongly denies the allegations.

Rahimov’s presence on that sanctions list was extremely damaging to the IOC though he has been replaced on an interim basis by Mohamed Moustahsane.

“It exposes the IOC and its commercial partners to unacceptable reputational, legal and financial risks,” Lalovic said.

He said AIBA’s debt meant money would not go to sports and the athletes in the future and the organization still faced problems with refereeing.

Among those voting in favour of the exclusion was former AIBA President CK Wu, who was Rahimov’s predecessor before stepping down in 2017 after a bitter dispute with his own executive committee.

“I think that today… all members of the AIBA Executive Committee will understand that we need to unite and say goodbye to the old,” AIBA Executive Committee member Umar Kremlev said in a statement.

“Everyone guilty of what brought AIBA to this, must confess, apologize to the boxing community and leave. Our task, as members of the AIBA executive committee, is to unite, to accept early reforms and to start everything from scratch together to bring boxing back to a high level.”

AIBA largely depends on Olympic Games revenues to survive between Games and has started letting people go as a result of its Olympic exclusion. The sport’s governing body will discuss the IOC decision at its executive committee meeting on Thursday.

Japanese IOC member Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation, heads the task force to organize qualifiers and the Tokyo Games competition.

The IOC will almost treble the number of women boxers in Tokyo to 100, up from 36 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Men’s numbers will be reduced from 250 to 186 with the total of 286 boxers remaining identical from Rio.

There will be four regional qualifiers — Africa, Europe, Asia/Oceania and Americas — between January and April 2020 while hosts Japan can directly qualify four men and two women.

A final Olympic qualifying event will probably be held in May next year to allow athletes a second chance to qualify, the IOC has said.

 

Australia Explores Indonesian Co-Hosting Of FIFA World Cup

Australia has held discussions with Indonesia about making a joint bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Thursday.

The FFA confirmed that it had met Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) officials at an ASEAN meeting last week.

Reuters reports;

“Football Federation Australia confirms it has held discussions with the Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) about the possibility to jointly bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup,” the FFA said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

“An Indonesia-Australia joint bid was also discussed at last week’s ASEAN Football Federation Council Meeting in Laos.”

The revelation comes days after Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said 10 countries from the ASEAN bloc, including Indonesia, would bid for the tournament at a news conference in Bangkok on Sunday.

The FFA said it noted the joint South East Asian bid was endorsed at the ASEAN summit.

“FFA welcomes the opportunity to further discuss a ASEAN bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup with fellow Member Associations in the region,” the statement added.

The FFA declined to elaborate as to whether the talks between Australia and Indonesia were ongoing or had been shelved after the ASEAN announcement.

Australia was a candidate in the controversial bidding process for the 2022 World Cup awarded to Qatar but managed to win only one vote from FIFA’s executive council members in 2010.

The bid failure, funded by over A$40 million ($27.96 million) of government money, triggered criticism of the FFA and its methods after it emerged that the federation had funneled money into development projects with ties to FIFA exco members.

Indonesian media, citing PSSI secretary general Ratu Tisha, reported on Wednesday that Indonesia had decided to partner with Australia after Thailand had pulled out of the 2034 bid because it was “not ready”.

The 2026 World Cup is being jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Multiple countries have expressed interest in making joint bids for the 2030 finals, including South American and eastern European nations.

London Triathlon Works To Grow Female Participation

Women’s sport is currently enjoying a high profile but in many participation sports events the number of women participating is still well behind the men. To help narrow the gap, Limelight Sports, which manages the London Triathlon (July 27-28 this year), has teamed up with Her Spirit, a personalised coaching app for your mind, body and fuel aimed specifically at women.

They recruited 30 women new to the sport to understand why fewer women take part and what can be done to change this.

According to the Triathlon Industry Association, despite some recent increases, 68% of triathlon competitors are male. The balance in cycling events is even worse, and although running events are more equal Marastats shows that 62% of marathon runners and 54% of half marathon runners are male. Participation in these sports more broadly is still very male skewed according to Sport England’s Active Lives – 63% of cyclists and 55% of runners are male.

Her Spirit targets women looking to take part in participation events for the first time and make the experience as easy, supportive and as enjoyable as possible.Expert coaching and peer to peer support from like-minded women helps to guide women through all the elements involved in taking part.

The 30 women (the initial programme which was six times over-subscribed) have received a number of benefits including free entry to the London Triathlon, use of a wetsuit for trainingand competing, an 8 week training programme including one-to-one online coaching sessions, their own online community and group coaching sessions.

https://vimeo.com/344742380

Craig Dews, CEO Limelight Sports, said, “In 1990 when Limelight first started organising major participation events, they were generally very male dominated.  Over the last 15 years, there has been an increase in the percentage of female participants but much more work needs to be done. At Limelight, we are looking to get a better understanding of the barriers to women taking part in participation sport and then use the learnings to improve the way we market and deliver events to substantially increase the number of women taking part.”a

Melanie Berry, Co-founder of Her Spirit, said, “Participation sports such as running, cycling and triathlon provide the perfect platform for women to experience the achievement and thrill of taking part in professionally organised participation events. Women need to feel more confident about looking for greater challenges such as the London Triathlon and Her Spirit aims to help them as much as possible to take the first steps and go on to complete the journey.”

Credit Suisse CEO Among 10 New IOC Members

Ten new members have been elected to the International Olympic Committee, which now totals 105 people.

Greece regained IOC representation after four years with the election of Spyros Capralos as one of the new members to the global organisation.

Another new member is banker Tidjane Thiam, CEO of Credit Suisse, a French and Ivorian citizen (photo below).

Reuters reports:

Two of the biggest international federations were again left out in the cold. Neither FIFA President Gianni Infantino nor IAAF President Sebastian Coe was on the list for a fourth straight year.

The IOC also elected HRH Prince Feisal (Jordan) and Nawal Al Moutawakel (Morocco) to the IOC Executive Board.

Capralos had been reprimanded back in 2012 as head of his country’s Olympic Committee after his involvement in a London 2012 Games ticket resale scandal that also included several other national Olympic Committees.

Greece will host the 2021 IOC session in Athens that will also decide on the re-election of IOC President Thomas Bach.

Other new members are:

  • Former Costa Rica president Laura Chinchill
  • Cameroon sports administrator Odette Assembe Engoulou
  • Matlohang Moiloa-Ramoqopo who heads the Lesotho National Olympic Committee
  • Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir
  • President of the Cape Verde Olympic Committee Filomena Fortes
  • Narinder Dhruv Batra, President of the Indian Olympic Association
  • Mustapha Berraf who heads the African Olympic Committees Association
  • Lee Kee-heung Lee, South Korean Olympic Committee chief

SportAccord Reviews Gold Coast Event With More Still To Come In 2019

As Sportaccord looks head to its 2020 edition in Beijing, new President Raffaele Chiulli of SportAccord and GAISF hailed the successful Gold Coast edition of SportAccord and the many accomplishments achieved during an action-packed week of the 17th edition of SportAccord.

The SportAccord Review magazine looks back at some of the many highlights across the event.

President Chiulli said: “The success of SportAccord 2019 proves the importance and commitment of our organisation to our stakeholders and members, delegates, exhibitors and partners involved in the sport landscape. SportAccord will continue to adapt to the needs of our delegates and provide a platform that allows us to gather and move forward on the activities and collaborations crucial to the development of our sports, athletes and fans, ensuring a voice for everyone.”

Held in the Oceania region for the first time, SportAccord 2019 followed hot on the heels of the XXI Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast – billed as the Games of Firsts.

Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary General of the United Nations, Chairman of the IOC Ethics Commission and Honorary President of 2019 Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships, delivered the Welcome Address at the SportAccord Summit conference, and highlighted the “transformative power of sport.”

He told the event Daily: “SportAccord can play an important role in solving the problems and developing and promoting a sporting community through Conferences, Summits, Sports Festivals and other events, helping to disseminate the values of sport and a healthy community to people worldwide.”

Looking forwards to future events, in an exclusive interview with iSportconnect TV, President Chiulli shared his vision for the expansion of SportAccord into regional saying “relevance is the aim.”

Regional SportAccord Pan America will take place for the first time, from 10-12 December, 2019 ,in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

The Pan American sports business event will bring together around 500 delegates from 400 organisations, representing over 30 cities and regions, over 15 industry sectors and more than 40 international and regional sports federations. Event accreditation is priced at USD $1,500 and organisations who would like to take part can register here for Regional SportAccord Pan America 2019.

The 18th edition of SportAccord will return to Beijing, China from 19- 24 April, 2020. The key decision makers in sport will gather at the China National Convention Center for a week of networking and meetings. Organisations can register and take advantage of the myriad opportunities, high-profile events and social occasions being organised for SportAccord Beijing.

To take part in either event, organisations can register online or contact the sales team to become an exhibitor or partner.

Follow developments and updates via Twitter @sportaccord, or keep up-to-date via LinkedIn and Facebook.

 

PUMA Rolls Out LaLiga’s New Ball

PUMA presented today the official football to be used for all of the LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 1|2|3 professional matches in the 2019-20 season.

LaLiga sponsor PUMA has opted for a very daring design combination with green tones that offer more visibility in the turn and trajectory as well as in the velocity. An attractive Glimmer green over white combined with the NRGY red of the PUMA logo will highlight the flight over the pitch.

For the first time, the ball includes the LaLiga ‘beat’ symbol, which is integrated in the football in the PUMA logo.

For the presentation of the new ball, PUMA has launched a campaign that is inspired in a mix of football, fun, dance and music that will generate a domino effect in which the football is the trigger.

One of the highlights of the campaign is the production of a video where the rhythm is marked by the heartbeats of LaLiga stars with the music by the band Afrojuice written especially for this occasion.

To watch the video, click here.

With an 18-panel heat sealed structure, the new LaLiga football has bigger panels allowing a better connection with the sphere. One of the new details is located in the 1mm Hi-Solid Dimple PU (San Fang) casing which improves the aerodynamics and also provides high resistance to the graze and wear and tear, which creates better durability and high performance level. The structure of this advanced design is similar to that of a golf ball to assure a straight path and better consistency in the shot.

Likewise, the incorporation of an additional POE foam layer improves the touch and increases the sensibility, which results in a firm touch and an improved rebound consistency. This football is reactive in the shots and has an explosive potential. The air chamber made of rubber with the PAL valve (PUMA AIR LOCK) assures excellent air retention.

 

 

 

 

Digital Masterclass: “Athletes Are Drivers Of Engagement”

The central role of athletes in creating fan engagement was a recurring topic at the iSportconnect Digital Masterclass in London yesterday during a day jam-packed with insights from experts from both sides of the Atlantic. This overview on iSportconnect TV gives a sense of the buzz.

Here are some of the stimulating points made in the discussions.

Panel 1: Content, Data & Innovation

  • Jodain Massad, Executive Producer, Fighting Irish Media, Notre Dame Athletics
  • Johary Rafidison, Digital Content Insights, beIN Media Group
  • Xavier Diquet, General Manager – Content & Brand Engagement, Nissan Europe

The moderator was Joe Kyle, Marketing Director of digital marketing agency Goodform.

  • “The most interesting social media metric is retweets rather than likes. Retweets mean people want to align their own personal ‘brands’ with you.”
  • “The young audience is done with fake. They demand authenticity.”
  • “Athletes should be content collaborators.”
  • “The biggest challenge is making the link between the physical and digital experiences.”
  • “Intuition are common sense are not enough when you play in the digital world. You must depend on the analytics.”
  • “Social listening is crucial.”
  • “The single most important of a brand is trust.”
  • “Digital is ideal for bringing young people to your brand even before they become your customers. You take them on a journey to becoming customers.”
  • “Our most important KPI is time.”
  • “It’s challenging to compete with publishers who produce content without spending money on rights.”

Panel 2: Digital Media & Technology

  • Richard Berry, Commercial Director, Williams Racing
  • Taylor Riese, Managing Director EMEA and India, Verizon Digital Media Services
  • Anand Narayanan, Head of Digital Marketing and Innovations, Panasonic UK
  • Marcus Parnwell, SVP Future Market Expansion & Planning, DAZN

The moderator was Mark Bishop, Head of Marketing EMEA & APAC of digital payment solutions leader Vindicia.

  • “The OTT market is a creation of technology. Broadcasters used to own the delivery platforms. Now they don’t.”
  • “OTT barriers to entry are low. In Brazil, we launched in a new market by promoting through YouTube and subs for OTT took off.”
  • “For content, we have a cost-per-minute KPI.”
  • “OTT should be about doing what broadcasters are unable to do.”
  • “Some social media integrations with partners work, others don’t.”
  • “Digital latency is getting lower. But broadcasters will always be a bit faster.”
  • “Unscripted up-close content with legends can work best. Show Rio Ferdinand reacting to a real game and the authenticity shines through.”
  • “For a brand, the moments between the games are more important. When there’s a game, the engagement is on the game, not a brand.”

Panel 3: Is Digital The New Sphere for Athletes to Win the Battle of Ideas & Opinions?

  • Callum Skinner,Olympic Champion, Lead Athlete for Global Athlete, and Sports Governance Reform Campaigner
  • Daniel Smith, Director of Communications and Digital, World Sailing
  • Rob Woodhouse, General Manager Talent – UK, TLA Worldwide
  • Steve Wilson, Communications Adviser / Writer

The panel was moderated by Ben Nichols, CEO of Ben Nichols Communications, who also acted as emcee for the day.

  • “Athletes have audiences that are more engaged and more powerful than many organisations.”
  • “We use the athletes’ channels to amplify our organisation’s communication.”
  • “The most effective way for athletes to use social media is by being themselves.”
  • “What makes a good campaign is the athlete believing in it.”
  • “In five years, we will probably see more collaboration between federations, athletes and commercial players.”
  • “Thanks to social media, athletes are now in a position to control the conversation.”

Panel 4: International Expansion for Brands – Using Digital to Engage Fans in New Territories

  • Adam Field, Head of Global Fan Engagement, Chelsea FC
  • Robert Alberino, Vice President & Executive Producer, San Francisco 49ers
  • Alejandro Daroca, Communication & Translation, Real Betis Balompié

The moderator was Ben Barker, Commercial Director of digital engagement technology specialists Monterosa, who before the panel gave a fascinating presentation on his company’s interactive solutions. He pointed out that fans have always relied on media companies for content. Now rights owners and sports bodies can (and should) create their own content “to keep the fans in their own environment.”

Comments and observations made by the panellists included:

  • “Think like a fan. Thank about the story you want to tell and how they want to hear it.”
  • “Do not be afraid to fail. You have to fail to succeed.”
  • “We have now launched in India because we have succeeded in gaining traction in China. If we hadn’t made progress in China, our focus would have remained entirely on making progress there.”
  • “You can never switch off in China. Even for a day.”
  • “Nine times out of ten with our content, we just try something. If it doesn’t work, we move on.”
  • “One size does not work in the international market. That goes especially for the U.S.”
  • “Engaging with the popular culture in a market is a good way for a sports property to grow.”
  • “In the Mexican digital market, memes are very popular.”
  • “We tend to experiment in overseas markets. If we try something new at home that doesn’t work, the fans might riot.”
  • “Sports have the advantage of huge archives of video to draw upon in creating digital content.”

Digital Masterclass Goes Deep Into Engagement

The iSportconnect Digital Masterclass today in London delivered a wealth of insights and information on key issues from a powerful line-up of speakers from some of the biggest rights owners, media companies and brands in the sports market.

The prime importance of authenticity in social media was a recurring theme, as was the value of experimentation (and a willingness to make mistakes) in developing winning digital initiatives.

The event featured four in-depth panel sessions with experts from:

  • beIN Media Group
  • DAZN
  • Nissan Motors
  • Notre Dame Athletics
  • Panasonic
  • Real Betis
  • San Francisco 49ers Chelsea FC
  • TLA Worldwide
  • Verizon Digital Media Services
  • Williams Racing
  • World Sailing

We will be following up with key take-aways on Thursday. So tune in tomorrow.

LaLiga Breaks Attendance Record

LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 1|2|3 matches had a total of 14,812,356 fans come through the turnstiles during the 2018/19 season, setting a new record which takes the competition ever closer to the 15-million mark.

It is the first time that LaLiga has registered a total attendance of 14,812,356, which is a 3.8% increase on the previous campaign, equating to 538,538 more across the two divisions.

For the sixth consecutive season, LaLiga Santander has managed to surpass the 10-million mark, with a total of 10,102,394 this time around. The figure shows a 0.7% decrease on the previous campaign, although during the second half of the season, 5.8% more fans attended stadiums (2,243,316) than in the corresponding period in 2017/18.

LaLiga 1|2|3, meanwhile, had a total attendance of over 4.5 million for the first time, despite the fact that CF Reus did not compete in the second half of the season for disciplinary reasons. The total figure of 4,591,290 shows a 15.2% increase on 2017/18.

A total of 118,672 supporters attended matches during the LaLiga Santander promotion playoffs, a 2.2% increase on the previous year.

Average stadium occupancy at LaLiga Santander grounds is 72%, up by 2.7% compared with the previous season.

Stadium attendance figures have been consistently increasing season upon season since 2013/14, when the total was 13,116,414, up to the current record of 14,812,356 set this campaign. The accompanying PDF offers a detailed breakdown of stadium attendance figures in each season.

LaLiga continues to grow as an entertainment industry, with the fans’ sustained interest in taking part in the spectacle of Spanish football driving the upward trend in stadium attendance figures season after season.

IDG Group: “Winter Sports Market Is Growing Fast In China”

The growth of winter sports facilities and participation in China ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 is dramatic. By 2025, winter sports will account for 20% of the whole sports market in China, according to Li Zhang, Vice President of International Data Group – China. This eye-opening interview with her on iSportconnect TV is full of facts and figures on the winter sports trend in the world’s largest country.

IDG was an early investor in China’s tech industry. Among its many activities today, the group is a major sports investor. Its sports fund currently earmarks about $3 billion for the sector, with a particular interest in winter sports.