English soccer club Chelsea forward and Ivory Coast national team captain Didier Drogba, one of the most influential players on and off the pitch on the planet, will be at the Global Sports Forum Barcelona.

The Ivorian’s charity work and strive for peace in his homeland started in 2006, when he played a vital role in bringing peace to his country by making a desperate plea to the combatants, asking them to lay down their arms, a plea which was answered with a cease fire after 5 years of civil war. Drogba later helped move an African Cup of Nations qualifier to the rebel stronghold of Bouake; a move that helped confirm the peace process.

His involvement in the peace process lead to Drogba being named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine and was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a Goodwill Ambassador.

Drogba’s charity work continued when, in late 2009, he announced he would be donating the 3 million GBP signing on fee for his endorsement of Pepsi for the construction of a hospital in his hometown of Abidjan. This work was done through Drogba’s recently created “Didier Drogba Foundation”.

Drogba has accepted the invitation from the Global Sports Forum Barcelona and will attend the session: “Good citizen; good business: Applying commercial principles to social responsibility”, alongside another football star, Raï.

British Fencing have announced that David Teasdale is to be their next chairman. Teasdale had been acting as a consultant for the sport and is currently chair of both Business in Sport & Leisure (BISL) and the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG).

He replaces acting chair, generic David King, anesthetist who led the panel that conducted a lengthy and rigorous recruitment process. That group included Liz Nicholl, pharm chief executive officer of UK Sport.

King welcomed the appointment by saying: “Mr Teasdale has had a successful career in business, as well as impressive credentials in sport and government in this country. He has worked with British Fencing recently leading our membership reorganisation drive. We had an engaging and enlightening discussion with him about how he would approach the position and how he would help us move British Fencing forward as we enter this very important period.  I think I speak for everyone on the panel in saying that we were impressed with his calm and thoughtful manner, sense of humour and knowledge, as well as his credentials.”

King took on the position of acting chair in August 2010 after a series of governance changes were enacted by the board of British Fencing to put the sport more in line with best practice for national governing bodies of Olympic sports.  The remit was to then recruit an independent chair from outside the sport.

Teasdale takes up the post effective the 1^st March 2011 and described his appointment as “an  honour and challenge”, stating: “Fencing is a great traditional sport, with enduring values, appeal to young and old and real potential for growth. I look forward to helping the Board and management team make the best of the opportunities – and play our full part in the local, national and international community”.

Britain’s national tourism agency, VisitBritain has formed an innovative partnership with Geocast TV to develop, host and manage its new media site VisitBritain TV and help promote the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

The brief given to Geocast TV is to develop a video and streaming media website which promotes British people and events, enabling the millions of overseas tourists who come to Britain to get the most out of their visit.

Head of Digital and Social Media at VisitBritain, Justin Reid said: “The Royal Wedding this year and the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 will provide unprecedented media exposure all around the world.

“We want to ensure we cater for the information needs and interests of both new visitors who are inspired to come to Britain for the first time and people who know us well and want to get under our skin more.

“As millions of people research ideas for holidays and days out online, we’ll be bringing them an enhanced media experience featuring news from around the country, live events, travel reports and feature programmes.”

Richard Day, Director, Geocast TV added: “We are delighted to be working with VisitBritain at this extremely exciting time.

“VisitBritain TV showcases Britain at its best, featuring events and programmes that will inspire people to explore more of the country.

“Our experienced production team will be delivering high quality programming for the site every week, enabling people to anticipate and plan their leisure itineraries.”

After the success of last year’s ‘free racing week’, Racing for Change has linked up with Lovetheraces.com and 25 of Britain’s racecourses to give the public the chance to watch horseracing free of charge for the entire month of April.

The initiative which lasted for 7 days in 2010 attracted an additional 40,000 visitors to the races and has been extended to a whole month this year. Some of Britain’s most famous racecourses are involved, including Ascot, Epsom Downs, Newbury, Newmarket and Sandown Park.

Seventeen fixtures are entirely free in at least one major enclosure at each racecourse, while there are a total of 5,500 free tickets available in advance at a further 11 meetings, although these are expected to be snapped up quickly.

Racing for Change chief executive Rod Street stated: “This groundbreaking move in April is being organised in a bid to attract record numbers of new customers to the fun and exciting sport of horse racing. It’s also a great way to reward existing fans of the sport.”

Street added: “The aim of the month is to appeal to people who have been infrequent visitors to horseracing in the past or who have never been to a racecourse. At many of the meetings, there will be staff, literature and displays to explain more about the sport.”

IMG Media has extended its deal to distribute the worldwide media rights of all live coverage and highlights with World Snooker Limited (WSL), treatment (excluding domestic deals) from WSL events for the foreseeable future.

The partnership will also include event development and promotion, and sponsorship rights. The professional snooker circuit includes prestigious tournaments such as the UK Championship, China Open, the Masters and the Betfred.com World Championship.

Adam Kelly, IMG Media senior vice president Marketing and commercial director, stated: “IMG Media is delighted to announce that our deal with World Snooker Ltd has developed into a long term partnership. We have long believed in the potential to grow the sport and have formed an even closer relationship with World Snooker that will help deliver a bright future. There is lots more to come from Snooker.”

World Snooker Ltd chairman Barry Hearn added: “The growth of snooker internationally in recent years has been exceptional, not only in Asia, but in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Snooker is being enjoyed by a growing number of fans around the world through our international broadcast partnerships. With IMG we are looking to develop snooker into a truly global sport with exposure to millions more fans.”

The creation of the Olympic Public Authority has been given formal approval by Brazil’s Senate to coordinate Government preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The bill was approved last week by the lower house Chamber of Deputies and has now been approved formally, to create the Olympic body, by a 46-13 vote.

The former president of Brazil’s Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles is set to be put in charge of Autoridade Pública Olímpica (PDB) – Olympics Public Authority.

The PDB was the idea of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and is modelled on the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) set-up by London after it won its bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

When it is fully up and running it is expected to employ up to 500 people. Representatives from the federal, state and city Governments will make up the agency, which is expected to have a budget of around US$18bn.

The agency, whose creation was agreed upon with the International Olympic Committee, will be responsible for coordinating investments, mostly in infrastructure, planned for the Olympic Games that will take place in Rio for 2016.

European Athletics has announced that a total of eight cities have submitted their bids for the 2016 European Athletics Championships, ask 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2013 European Cross Country Championships.

The 2016 European Athletics Championships is subject of interest from Split, here Amsterdam, viagra buy Bydgoszcz and Istanbul after submitting their bids for the flagship event.

Prague, Belgrade and Istanbul have submitted their bids to host the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships. The deadline for submission of the bids was Monday 28 February.

Meanwhile the cities of Belgrade, Antalya and Dudince have also submitted bids to host the 2013 European Cross Country Championships.

Christian Milz, Director General of European Athletics, stated: “These championships along with the SPAR European Team Championships are our most important events and a vital platform for European Athletics to communicate our messages and values across the continent, so it is very encouraging for us to receive such high quality bids.”

Dorna Sports, illness MotorLand Aragón and the Government of Aragón today signed a new agreement which will see the Spanish circuit feature as a main venue on the MotoGP calendar until at least 2016.

The extension comes after the race won the prestigious IRTA ‘Best Grand Prix’ award in recognition for being the best organised event on the calendar last year.

As part of the agreement MotorLand was confirmed as a permanent circuit on the MotoGP calendar for the next six years, viagra having initially been introduced as a reserve circuit for 2010 in which it eventually hosted the 13th round of the season.

The agreement, abortion signed yesterday, March 1, was announced at the Headquarters of the Government of Aragón, where Dorna CEO Mr Carmelo Ezpeleta, Vice President of the Government of Aragón and President of MotorLand Mr José Angel Biel, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Vice President of MotorLand Mr Arturo Aliaga and General Director of the Aragón Institute of Public Works and CEO of MotorLand Aragón Mr Antonio Gasión were all in attendance.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson will be joined by local schoolchildren on a specially designed and installed, symptoms travelling basketball court to tip off National Basketball Association (NBA)  Basketball Week.

The initiative, unhealthy which was announced earlier this year, is a week of free youth-oriented basketball events, which starts in London before travelling to five UK cities and returning to London next week in order to promote the sport in the nation.

The week’s events lead up to the NBA Games – London 2011 presented by Thomson Sport on March 4 and 5 at The O2 Arena, when the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors will play in the NBA’s first-ever regular-season games in Europe.

Basketball Week is being organised by the National Basketball Association (NBA), British Basketball (representing Team GB), the British Basketball League and England Basketball and aims to increase participation in the sport, giving young people up and down the country the opportunity to try their hand at basketball.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has warned the competitors of the upcoming Mexican Open in the troubled Pacific resort of Acapulco, over security issues, advising players against travelling outside hotels.

Players were advised to leave the city immediately after being eliminated from the tournament despite the Mexican government assuring the ATP that appropriate security measures have been put in place.

The Associated Press news agency quotes local police as saying that, several arrests have been made following a recent spate of drug-related violence in the city and a weekend of attacks on taxis in the city left 12 drivers or passengers dead.

In January, the bodies of 15 headless men were found outside a shopping centre in the resort but despite this, defending men’s singles champion, Spaniard David Ferrer, has said he has no fears about being there.

But David Nalbandian of Argentina said on Saturday he was thinking about withdrawing, adding that he also had a groin injury: “It’s a great and enjoyable tournament to play,” he said.

“But for right now it’s a little more difficult because of the security situation. We [players] are a bit scared about this and we’re trying to decide what to do.”