Governing Bodies
BACH TO BE RETURNED UNOPPOSED AS IOC PRESIDENT
Thomas Bach will be re-elected unopposed for a second term as Olympic chief this week, just five months before the opening ceremony of the coronavirus-delayed Tokyo Games and less than a year from the increasingly scrutinised 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 67-year-old German’s second mandate as president of the International Olympic Committee promises to be as eventful, or turbulent, as his first.
The most pressing agenda item at the start of his new four-year term, after an opening eight years that saw him deal with, among other things, the problem-laden 2014 Sochi and 2016 Rio Games, state-sponsored Russian doping and the deadly wave of coronavirus, is the Tokyo Olympics.
The IOC took the decision to postpone the 2020 Games for a year to July 23-August 8 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The question is now how they will go ahead.
Bach, who won Olympic fencing gold for West Germany in the team foil in 1976 and has been an International Olympic Committee member since 1991, should have been reinstalled as IOC president in the Greek capital Athens which was the site of the first Modern Olympics in 1896.
But the Covid-19 pandemic quickly put paid to that.
The 137th IOC Session will instead take place with Bach at Lausanne headquarters and members connecting through video-conferencing from Wednesday to Friday (March 10-12) , with the executive board meeting Monday seen as preparation for the main event.
Before reinstalling Bach, the executive board is scheduled to receive updates on the activities of the IOC administration and reports from the Organising Committees for the upcoming Olympic Games.
Among them will be the “Agenda 2020”, which has sought to streamline the candidacy process for bidding Olympic cities in a bid to cut costs.
It saw Paris granted the 2024 Olympics and Los Angeles the 2028 Games back in 2017, and the IOC last month accorded preferred candidate status accorded to Brisbane for 2032.
What most eyes will be on, however, is Tokyo. There still lies a degree of unpredictability.
A cancellation of the Tokyo Games is not out of the realms of imagination despite the race to contain the coronavirus and press ahead with a Games contained in a bio-secure bubble.
Bach has been at pains to reiterate that the IOC remains committed to holding a “successful and safe” Tokyo Games this year, dismissing cancellation talk as “speculation”.
Overseas spectators, however, are likely to be shut out, Japanese media reported last week after organisers said that public safety would be the “top priority” at the Games.
The Japanese government, Tokyo metropolitan government and Tokyo 2020 organising committee are leaning towards holding the massive event in front of a domestic audience only, the Yomiuri Shimbun and other outlets said.
Officials fear that an influx of visitors from abroad will endanger the Japanese public, with Tokyo currently under a Covid-19 state of emergency that limits capacity at sporting events to 5,000.
Columnist David Owen of the respected insidethegames.biz website called Bach “an unlucky president” of the IOC.
“It is sobering to reflect that, having completed a full term, he has still to preside over a truly unblemished Games – and given the darkening political shadows hanging over Beijing, Paris 2024 might represent his final chance to do so,” Owen said in reference to threats to boycott the 2022 Winter Games over alleged human rights abuses by the Chinese government.
-AFP
The president of the Confédération of African Football, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, has announced five new CAF Vice Presidents. They are:
- CAF First Vice President: Mr Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco)
- CAF Second Vice President: Mr Kurt Okraku (Ghana)
- CAF Third Vice President: Mr Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
- CAF Fourth Vice President: Ms Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Democratic Republic of Congo)
- CAF Fifth Vice President: Mr Feizal Sidat (Mozambique)
In addition, the CAF President has co-opted Yacine Idriss Diallo, President of Fédération Ivoirienne de football, into the CAF Executive Committee.
The CAF Executive Committee also approved the names to fill vacant positions on several CAF Committees.
Organising Committee for the African Nations Championship (CHAN)
- President: Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
CAF Technical and Development Committee
- President: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- Vice President: Malouche Belhassen (Tunisia)
CAF Medical Committee:
- President: Dr. Mohammed Bouya (Mauritania)
- Vice President: Dr. Thulani Ngwenya (South Africa)
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Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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