Ski Chief Honored in Greece -- Federation Focus

(ATR) The Hellenic Olympic Committee honors International Ski Federation (FIS) President Gian Franco Kasper for his longstanding contribution to the Olympic Movement and Sport.

Kasper received the award from HOC president Spyros Capralos in Costa Navarino, Greece, on the sidelines of the 51st FIS International Congress.

Kasper, who is running unopposed for re-election, will win another two-year term on Friday. The Congress will also be voting for the 16 members of the FIS Council during that session.

The election and announcement of the FIS World Championship organizers for 2022 and 2023 is on Thursday.Courcheval-Meribel, France and Saalbach, Austria are the two contenders for the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships while Planica, Slovenia and Trondheim, Norway are the candidates to host the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

Vikersund, Norway is the only candidate for the 2022 FIS Ski Flying World Ski Championships and Bakuriani, Georgia is the only preliminary candidate for the 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski & Snowboard Championships.

More than 1,100 people from more than 80 countries are taking part in the FIS Congress, which began on May 13 and will wrap up on May 19.

Paris 2024 Sailing Regatta Confirmed

A total of 10 sailing events were confirmed for the Paris 2024 Olympic regatta, a mixture of old and new events.

Seven events from past Olympics remained unchanged, with the addition of three new disciplines. The mixed one person dinghy, mixed two person dinghy, and the mixed kite were voted on to the Paris 2024 program during the World Sailing mid-year meeting.

Two events, the Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser and the Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial will be subject to an equipment review from World Sailing.

World Sailing also approved a "slate of events and format," to present to the International paralympic Committee for approval. Sailing was on the Paralympic program from 2000 to 2016, but was dropped from the Tokyo 2020 program.

Sailing will submit four disciplines, one person technical, single person non-technical, male and female, and two person keelboat, to the IPC by July. The IPC will then communicate to all sports that meet its technical criteria if it is part of the Paris 2024 program.

Badminton Embraces Being Uncomfortable

Embracing change and the future of the sport of badminton are the theme for an upcoming meeting of the Badminton World Federation membership.

A two day forum ahead of the badminton world team championship will bring together 189 member federations of the BWF in Bangkok, according to the federation.

BWP President Poul-Erik Høyer will open the forum before Sonja Piontek delivers a keynote presentation entitled Magic Happens outside the Comfort Zone: Managing Change - Challenges, Risks and Possibilities.

The federation will also debate the possibility of a new scoring system, a reduction on on-court coaching, as well as a service-law change, according to a release.

"This will be a very significant meeting with important matters to be decided. The overall aim of these proposals is to make badminton more exciting by creating more peaks in matches," Høyer said in a statement. "We want to increase the entertainment value for fans, while also shortening the length of matches. Time-outs will be a new feature and will mean players will have to rely on their own instincts and ideas more, rather than getting as much coaching as they do now."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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