The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has appointed Hoss Rafaty as its new Secretary General.

The announcement was made during the WTF Council meeting in Russia, ambulance ahead of the 2015 WTF World Taekwondo Championships.

More info HERE.

Non-profit peace-building organisation Generation for Peace has been ranked 32nd in Swiss media outlet Global Geneva’s ‘Top 500 NGOs in the World’ list for 2015.

This makes Generations For Peace the second-highest ranked peace-building organisation in the list.

Read more HERE.

Super Rugby will officially expand to 18 teams from 2016 after SANZAR confirmed participation of teams from Japan and Argentina at an Executive Committee meeting in London today.

Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) and Union Argentina de Rugby (UAR) will compete in the tournament with confirmation in the final stages of formalities.

SANZAR Chief Executive Greg Peters said: “It gives us great pleasure to welcome the JRFU and UAR who will join the Kings from South Africa as Super Rugby prepares to expand into a bold and exciting new era.

“As Top 10 ranked rugby nations with established high performance level leagues and over 100,000 players each, there is no doubt as to Japan and Argentina’s rugby readiness and passion for the sport.

“With a heritage stretching back some 115 years, Japan also offers tremendous infrastructure and an active fan base that we view as pivotal to the ongoing sustainability of the team.

“Japan has also been the focus of strategic investment by the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) and we view the region as a high growth, high potential sports and economic market with the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2020 Olympic Games and now Super Rugby on the imminent horizon.”

Tatsuzo Yabe, Chairman of the JRFU commented: “It is a great pleasure and honour to be able to announce the historical decision of Japan’s entry to Super Rugby.

“It is absolutely essential for us to participate in the competition as we move toward a successful Rugby World Cup here in 2019.

“Joining the world’s highest international league is a challenge that will require significant transformation and tremendous efforts by us. However, it will certainly bring innovation to not only Japan, but also the Asian region as a whole.

“We are also convinced that participating in Super Rugby will encourage greater interest in our domestic rugby and it will become a big dream and goal for those who play rugby in Japan – especially younger generations – to compete at this level.

“We believe that such positive development will be a driving force for Japan rugby to move forward on the world stage and we will continue to make every endeavour to be successful at this level as we look toward Super Rugby in 2016, the 2019 Rugby World Cup and beyond.”

Carlos Araujo, President of UAR added: “The entry of an Argentine franchise to Super Rugby will allow our sport to continue its growth, underpinned by participation in this great tournament which is something that fills us with joy and pride.

“We now face a huge challenge both on the sporting and organisational fronts. Ahead of us we have six very enjoyable years, first with Rugby World Cup and then this opportunity to enjoy our teams in the Southern Hemisphere elite, playing in Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship.

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The Turkish Olympic Committee (TOC) has reflected on a successful SportAccord Convention and said they hoped it highlighted the country’s ability to host major sporting events.

The SportAccord Convention in Belek, medicine Turkey hosted 1636 delegates from international sport organisations for high-level meetings from 6-11 April.

Istanbul failed in their bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games after making it to the final three, buy but ultimately losing out to Tokyo.

Now, anabolics members of the TOC hope last week’s Convention could lead to more events in Turkey.

Ne?e Gündo?an, Secretary General of the Turkish Olympic Committee said: “The SportAccord Convention 2014 has been a fantastic success. We are so thankful to SportAccord President, Marius Vizer, for trusting us and our country to deliver the Convention this year – and we are delighted with how the event has gone.

“We hope that we have proven Turkey’s passion for sport and ability to host major international sporting events and we look forward to having the opportunity to do this again in the near future.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has warned Jamaica it could be expelled from the next Olympic Games and other major competitions if they do not address their failings.

Renee Anne Shirley, doctor former executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) claimed the drug testing programme in the country was inadequate.

Shirley said politicians and administrators ignored her warnings that positive tests from Asafa Powell and four other Jamaican athletes were a ‘disaster’ waiting to happen and instead believed that ‘Jamaica does not have a problem.’

This led WADA director general David Howman to urge the government to investigate and he has now warned of their expulsion if they do not comply with the WADA code.

If they do not comply then the country and their athletes – including record breaker Usain Bolt – could be banned from future Olympic Games.

Howman said: “Our normal approach if we have issues falling into the category of either complaint or concern is to try to work with the particular signatory — in this case the Nada [national anti-doping agency] — and remedy it.

“If nothing happens, pills we can ask our board to declare any of the signatories non-compliant and that has implications as to whether teams from the country would be admitted into various events.”

He added: “We were certainly concerned by the comments and would anticipate that the government and the agency itself would be appropriately responding.

“It’s serious. And I think that if responsible people in Jamaica are looking at it then they will address it. I would be disappointed if they didn’t. But, advice certainly, if there’s a lack of response then it’s something that we at Wada would want to take up with the Jamaican government.”

Shirley revealed that JADCO had only conducted one out-of-competition test in the five months before London 2012, which WADA knew about according to Howman.

He said: “We knew that there was a spell in Jamaica where they didn’t have a CEO and there was a spell when they were not conducting testing and we didn’t know the reason for that. But that was certainly something that we became aware of.

“There was a gap where there was nothing because the previous CEO resigned to take up a political appointment or to seek election in the government. We were worried about that.”

Location: Cardiff, pharm UK

Closing date: 14th December 2016

Overview:

Welsh Rowing are looking for up to 3 new Board Members to support the development of the organisation’s vision, herbal mission and strategic aims, as well as to provide entrepreneurial leadership to optimise both the short and long term performance of the company.

The time commitment is approximately 1-2 days per month, which includes meeting time and associated meeting preparation and actions. There are usually six-eight board meetings in a year, and board sub-committees typically meet four-six times per year.

To discuss the opportunity, please visit www.welshrowing.com or call Helen Tan on 07890 992858.

Interviews will be held in the first weeks of January 2017.

Type: Part Time

Contact: Helen Tan on 07890 992858

Application Dates: From Tuesday 15th November 2016 to Wednesday 14th December 2016

Please click here for more information

Countdown has started for The International Sports Convention 2016. 100 days to go.

122 speakers already confirmed for the International Sports Convention 2016, doctor the world’s largest sports business convention taking place December 7-8, 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland.

• 18 sports conferences
• 150+ speakers
• More than 2000 delegates
• 6000sqm exhibition and networking hall
• More than 64 countries to be represented

Early booking opportunities are available until September 30, please register directly:  https://www.regonline.com/register/login.aspx?eventID=1794022&MethodId=0&EventsessionId

Pre-event programme:

http://iscgeneva.com/downloads/ISC-2016-Pre-Event-Programme.pdf

For more information, commercial and marketing opportunities, please contact:

info@iscgeneva.com

00 41 216 016 754 (Delegate enquiries)

00 41 216 016 754 (Exhibitor and commercial enquiries)

 

The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) have announced that all 34 matches in this year’s CPL will be broadcast live on Facebook around the world.

CPL will become the first sports league to supplement its existing broadcast deals and use the Facebook Live platform to ensure that 40 countries around the world, sale including the likes of Pakistan, ed buy South Africa and The Philippines can view the sport live.

It will also be the first time ever an international cricket match has been broadcast using Facebook Live.

Commenting on using Facebook Live, sales CPL Chief Operations Officer Pete Russell said: “We are delighted to announce how we’re using Facebook Live, which we believe has the potential to change the face of cricket broadcasting and enhance the CPL’s ever-increasing international audience.”

“In 2015 the CPL’s global viewership exceeded 93 million and we now have the platform to boost our viewership even further for the forthcoming tournament. Caroline Smith, CPL’s Head of Digital, and her team have done a fantastic job with our social media activity and this deal proves that they have put us ahead of the curve in understanding how best to reach our global fans with live games.”