Budapest Awarded 2023 World Athletics Championships -- Federation Focus

(ATR) The decision this week to keep the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) in place was not the only action taken by the IAAF Council.

Budapest was awarded the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2023. A key component of the bid is the construction of a new stadium that will serve primarily as an athletics facility.

"In the past 30 years Hungary has organized every single world and European Championships, indoor and out - on the road, cross country – available to us except for the World Athletics Championships, and we are incredibly proud that this collection will be complete in just under five years’ time," said Marton Gyulai, CEO of the Bid Committee for Budapest 2023.

Budapest is the first world championship host to be named under the new IAAF bidding process announced in February 2017.

Also this week, the IAAF Council voted to allow national teams, for the first time, to display the logo of the national sponsor on their kit at the IAAF World Athletics Championship in Doha later this year.

The decision means all World Athletics Series events will be treated in the same manner for next year, allowing member federations to use the same kit for all the events, should they choose to do so.

FINA Convention Opens Saturday

The FINA World Aquatics Convention opens in Hangzhou, China on Saturday. The three-day event will feature a total of nine conference sessions.

FINA says the program is designed to help national federations "embrace innovation, use practical tools to reach new audiences, generate new types of revenue, and promote our sport worldwide."

"Our Conference features the most respected minds within Aquatics and provides an idyllic learning platform for all Aquatics leaders and experts," Julio Maglione, FINA President, said in a statement.

The FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) will follow the convention, running from December 11-16.

The main 25m competition pool and a warm-up pool for training purposes have been built on top of an existing tennis center at the Hangzhou Olympic and International Expo Center. The temporary pools will be dismantled after the event and permanently re-installed in other locations to be used by local communities, schools and sports clubs.

ITTF Promoting Health Through Table Tennis

The ITTF, through the ITTF Foundation, is creating and supporting the first ever ITTF Parkinson’s World Table Tennis Championships.

The event, aimed at raising awareness of Parkinson’s Disease and improving the lives of those diagnosed with it, is the first in the ITTF Foundation’s effort to promote health through table tennis.

The ITTF Parkinson’s World Table Tennis Championships will be held between 11-13 October 2019 at the Westchester Table Tennis Centre in Pleasantville, New York, in collaboration with Ping Pong Parkinson.

International music composer Nenad Bach is the founder and board member of Ping Pong Parkinson. He says playing table tennis was the key to recovering abilities that had been lost.

"I stopped playing the guitar five years after I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but then I started playing table tennis and I felt 50% better. Now I am playing the guitar again," Bach says.

"The idea behind this Championship is to help as many people around the world as possible to continue living with Parkinson’s Disease and to be happy, productive members of the society. We are also engaging the scientific community to look deeper into the health benefits of table tennis."

"Since we were so touched by our meeting with Mr. Nenad Bach, a true believer of the cause with his own personal story to tell, we felt that the first event should be connected to Parkinson’s Disease," said ITTF President Thomas Weikert in a statement.

"We are really excited with this project and the direction of the ITTF Foundation, which can lead to amazing results, which in turn will hopefully help many patients and people in need around the world."

World Floorball Championships Reaches Quarterfinals

The 12th World Floorball Championships is at the quarterfinal stage in Prague.

The Czech Republic and Switzerland from Group A along with Sweden and Finland from Group B advanced directly to the final eight as the top two teams in each group. These four countries have won all but one medal in the previous 11 world championships.

The other four quarterfinal teams were determined by playoff games on Wednesday. Latvia, Denmark, Norway, and Germany were the playoff winners and move on to the quarterfinals.

The tournament concludes on Sunday with the final. Only Sweden and Finland have ever won the event.

An opening day attendance record was established in the Czech capital, with 31,073 spectators attending six matches split between the 17,500-capacity O2 Arena and the substantially smaller Arena Sparta.

Forty-three of the 48 games in Prague will be broadcast, with 19 of them being shown on the Olympic Channel.

Written by Gerard Farek

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