The Board of the Champions Hockey League has decided to expand the number of teams for the inaugural 2014-2015 season from 40 to 44. 

As a result, adiposity there will be eleven groups compared to the ten earlier where now the eleven group winners and the five best runners-up will qualify for the 16-team 1/8-finals.

The four new clubs are Briancon Diables Rouge (FRA), shop buy SønderjyskE Vojens (DEN), pills Nottingham Panthers (GBR) and Vålerenga Oslo (NOR).

“It makes me very proud to make this announcement about adding four teams,” said CHL Chairman of the Board Anders Ternbom. “Already during our founding process last summer we made it very clear that although this competition would have six founding leagues, our vision is to involve many countries and to include champions from what we identified as Challenge Leagues. When we realized that we received the maximum twelve B-license clubs, it consequently meant that we only had two Wild Card spots open for these leagues, said Ternbom.”

“As these Wild Cards were quickly distributed to HC Kosice and Stavanger Oilers, we received many calls for participation from the top leagues of France, Denmark and Great Britain. After internal discussions among the board and with our marketing partner Infront, we decided to add the four teams,” added Ternbom. “In our first season we can proudly count in clubs from twelve countries.”

Following the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and International Softball Federation (ISF), ambulance approving the formation of a unified international federation, IBAF and ISF leaders announced the name of the new international federation that will govern both baseball and softball together: the World Baseball Softball Confederation. 

“In addition to the increased visibility, our sports under one banner will provide the footing for clear and consistent messaging,” said Don Porter, WBSC co-President and current ISF President. 

“Our swift agreement on this issue is a good indicator of our ability to work together as a team and of keeping the focus on our primary objectives of further developing baseball and softball and of obtaining results that will help us earn a place on the Olympic Programme,” said WBSC co-President Riccardo Fraccari and current IBAF President. 

The WBSC leaders are in the Olympic capital city of Lausanne, Switzerland for a men’s baseball and women’s softball presentation before the IOC Olympic Programme Commission, in what will be the baseball and softball leaders first official order of business together, as they vie for inclusion on the 2020 Olympic Programme.

India’s boxing franchise, TransStadia is set to discontinue it’s involvement in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) following reports of lack of funds and administration problems.

The Mumbai-based team, which bought the franchise last year, is likely to announce its decision of calling it quits after just one season in the event — a club-based part-professional league with winners in different categories getting direct qualification to the Olympics. The WSB is also sanctioned by the International Boxing Federation (IBF).

The franchise, which was to start its campaign this season against Dynamo Moscow on November 17, did not call up any of the boxers for any traiining, leading to speculation about the team’s future. “They just got fed up with the system which did not support the team one bit,” a boxer who was a part of the team, said.

“This year they did not have enough funds also. The budget had shot up and they were not prepared for that,” added another boxer.

None of the boxers who competed for the team last season have been given any official intimation as their contracts had expired for this year. The Fighters were to recruit new boxers for the upcoming season.

The federation, on its part, claimed ignorance of the pullout and no official came on record to speak on the issue. National coach GS Sandhu was also caught unawares by the development but felt if true, it was bad news for the sport.

“Participating in the WSB and the AIBA Professional Boxing is very important for the overall development of Indian boxers. We definitely need to compete in these events to excel at the world level because a lot of Olympic quota places are at stake here. If the Indian franchise is withdrawing than I would say it is a huge loss for Indian boxing,” he said.

Sports underwear brand Freya Active is launching a campaign to get 2,012 women back into sports during 2012.

Freya Active is a sister brand of Freya Lingerie and this new initiative comes as a response to research carried out by Sport England which suggests that over 338,000 UK women no longer play any sport at all.Despite the fact that Britain is hosting the largest sporting occasion it has ever experienced, it appears many women in the UK have lost their sporting spirit.

The last three years have seen a drop in the number of women participating in sports such as athletics, hockey, running and tennis.Research reveals that confidence is a key factor as many women doubt their ability to play sports well. However, simply not being aware of sporting opportunities locally can be a barrier too. Additionally, some women have suggested they struggle to afford the cost and time needed to play even 30 minutes of sports a few times a week.Interestingly, one of the only sports women have remained loyal to in the UK is netball.

With this in mind, Freya Active has launched a nationwide campaign to re-engage women with sport, and get 2,012 women ‘Back to Netball’ in 2012.

According to England Netball, the sport has seen a 15% rise in women taking part over the past three years. The Back to Netball scheme provides a gentle reintroduction for women of all ages. The programme is perfect for those looking to get fit whilst avoiding high gym fees – with flexible hourly sessions from as little as £2.

Ann Marie Manley, from Freya Active said, “With so much excitement building up around sport this year, it is surprising that so many women have stopped playing or taking part in sport. We’ve launched the get 2,012 women Back to Netball in 2012 campaign to try and win women’s love of sport back. It’s about the only sport which women haven’t dropped and there is a reason for that.”

Joanna Adams from England Netball said, “Netball is fun and energetic and is the perfect sport to pick up quickly again. People don’t realise how fit netball keeps you, you’ve got to be incredibly quick and just one hour burns off a lot of calories.”

By Paul Freudensprung

With the Opening Ceremony of the first Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) just days away it is worthwhile to take a closer look at the confirmed host cities of the Youth Olympic Games.

The foremost goal of the IOC is to connect with teenagers through the Youth Olympics’ sport, culture and education programs, expanding its demographic reach. However, during the early days of this new idea it also had been communicated that this event would give an opportunity to countries that could not afford to host the Olympic Games.

This latter argument has not been used much anymore in the last years. Not unsurprisingly, looking at the first 4 confirmed host cities. Singapore and Nanjing, China represent two economic powerhouses with the political will and financial depth to organize Youth Olympic Games that do not come second in magnitude in comparison to the Olympic Games.

With Innsbruck and Lillehammer even two former host cities of the Olympic Winter Games have been selected to now host the Winter YOG. As the IOC stipulates that no new venues should be built for the YOG, this is a logical choice considering cost and legacy of venues such as Luge and Ski Jumping.

The question is what this means for cities with aspirations bidding for either YOG or Winter YOG, but that do not have pockets that deep or not enough venue infrastructure. At that moment it seems it is rather the Olympic Games reaching new horizons – geographically speaking – rather than the YOG.

Paul Freudensprung : He has over 15 years of experience in the sport industry and specialises in directing and advising multi-stakeholder working groups at major events where different objectives and interests need to be aligned in order to develop effective event operations and functional venue infrastructure.

Paul has been involved in operations of 4 Olympic Games, 2 FIFA World Cups, and was the Games Plan Director of the 2014 Salzburg Olympic Winter Games Bid. In 2006 Paul set up his own consultancy company offering strategic solutions related to the development of integrated event operations programs, appraising contractual issues around venue agreements and supplier contracts and defining infrastructure development concepts and operational venue designs. He also teaches courses on event management for the MBA program at the European University in Barcelona.

Before joining the event management industry Paul spent 3 years conducting environmental and economic impact assessment of European transport infrastructure projects. Paul holds a Masters degree from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Sydney and a Masters degree from the Institute of Geography of the University of Vienna.

Paul Freudensprung‘s

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It has been revealed that British taxpayers are paying out a monumental £250,000 ($391,502) fee a day on security to protect the Olympic venues

With construction already completed on five of the arenas the cost of providing security for them has dramatically increased. The new figure is more than treble what it cost to look after the venues a year ago.

According to Sky News sources, it cost the Government a total of £35m ($54.8m) to protect the sites in 2011. In September alone it cost a staggering £7.5m ($11.7m).

The money is being spent on security guards, fencing and screening of staff going in and out of the venues.

The cost of securing the venues come as these stunning pictures reveal how work in the nine venues is nearing completion with less than 250 days until the start of the Games.

Designers completed work on the Olympic Stadium in March following an operation that cost £486 million ($761.2m). The Olympic Stadium was the second major venue on the Olympic Park to be finished, after the Velodrome was unveiled in February. The 6,000-seat venue will play host to the main cycling events and reportedly cost Olympic chiefs around £93m ($145m), less than the initial forecast.

Another venue that has been opened by London 2012 officials is the Aquatics Centre, which will welcome the world’s best swimmers, with British hopeful Tom Daley looking to add to his two gold medals which he won at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The £269 million ($421m) wave-shaped venue, was the fifth and final venue to be finalised after more than160,000 tonnes of soil was dug out to make way for the structure.

The iconic stadium which houses two 50 metre pools and a diving pool, can seat 17,500 spectators during the Games but will revert to a 2,500-seat facility after the competition.

Meanwhile, the 12,000-seat basketball arena was completed, a mere 15 months after building work began.

It will host men’s and women’s group matches in the basketball competition, as well as the women’s quarter-finals. The rest of the knockout stages will be held in the O2 Arena in Greenwich. Standing at 35metres high, the venue is set to be dismantled after the Games despite its impressive and unique structure.