Olympic Newsdesk-- AIPS Conference, Equestrian Presidency Race, New FINA Website

Princess Haya Faces Election Competition

International Equestrian Federation President Princess Haya bint Al Hussein will face two candidates in her bid for a second four-year term.

Sven Holmberg of Sweden and Henk Rottinghuis of the Netherlands will run against Haya. Elections will take place at the 2010 FEI General Assembly in Chinese Taipei on Nov. 5. The election will determine the face of the federation at the London 2012 Games.

Haya became FEI president in 2006 and an IOC member in 2007. Holmberg is the first vice president of FEI. Rottinghuis became an FEI member in 2009 and sits on the FEI Audit and Compliance Committee.

This is second consecutive FEI election that three candidates posted credentials. In 2006, Haya won the presidency against Princess Benedikte of Denmark and then first vice president Freddy Serpieri of Germany.

FEI has 133 national federations and a candidate needs a two-thirds majority to win the election.

AIPS Congress in Turkey: New Organization Structure, Olympic Bid Talk

The president of the Turkish Parliament tells delegates at the just-ended AIPS Congress in Turkey that his country will bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Without mentioning Istanbul specifically, Mehmet Ali Sahin said that a 2020 bid was coming. Istanbul has bid three times for the Games in the past 20 years.

The parliamentary leader spoke at the opening of the Congress held in Antalya.

A major development from the three-day meeting is a change in the names for the four continental regions to AIPS Europe, AIPS Asia, AIPS Americas and AIPS Africa.

AIPS President Gianni Merlo says the new names will help build the branding for the organization, which represents sports press around the world, the only one recognized by the IOC.

"AIPS Europe, AIPS Americas, AIPS Asia and AIPS Africa will give all the brands better exposure," he says.

"The Continental Sections were born as a branch of our association and I’m happy the AIPS reference is now a part of the references to them."

Each of the four continental leaders will become vice presidents of AIPS and join the Executive Committee beginning in 2013.

The 2011 AIPS Congress is set for Seoul.

In other news about AIPS, the organization is no longer a member of SportAccord, the group that represents 100+ sports federations and related organizations. By mutual consent, AIPS and SportAccord have parted ways.

The agenda for the April 30 SportAccord assembly in Dubai included an item calling for the expulsion of AIPS, but it turns out AIPS notified SportAccord that it would withdraw voluntarily.

At issue was an apparent conflict of interest for AIPS to be a member of an organization representing the sports federations covered by AIPS members.

Boxers Book Tickets for 2010 YOG

The only boxing qualification event for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games concluded Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Athletes from 25 countries booked spots for the inaugural YOG by medaling at the 2010 AIBA Youth Championships. Out of 466 athletes, 22 athletes from 15 countries made the finals.

"We had 25 countries in the semi-finals and today we have 15 countries in the finals. This is proof of the universality of our sport and thepopularity of boxing worldwide," AIBA President C.K Wu said.

The youth championships took place after a five-day postponement due to the travel situation from the volcanic ash cloud over Europe last month. Wu thanked the Azerbaijan Boxing Federation for its flexibility in organizing the championships.

Canada, Mexico and the United States did not send teams to the championships due to the travel situation. The boxers from those teams still have a chance to compete in the YOG.

In addition to youth championship medalists, AIBA will select 20 boxers for the YOG through a tripartite selection process. The Singapore Youth Olympic Games will take place August 14 through 26.

FINA New Website design

FINA refreshed its image on Monday by unveiling a new look website at www.FINA.org.

The design is intended to ease communications for FINA members, media and the general public. There is a new navigation menu and more video features.

Parts of the website are still in development. On May 15, FINA will open an online store. Also FINA intends to launch an online learning program designed by the FINA Coaches Commission.

Honorary Chess Federation President Florencio Campomanes, 83

Former World Chess Federation Honorary President Florencio Campomanes died Monday at the age of 83 in Baguio City, Philippines after a battle with cancer. Campomanes served as FIDE President from 1982 to 1995. He is credited with extending the reach of chess into the Middle East, Africa and Asia. FIDE is an IOC-recognized sports federation.

Written by Ed Hula and Sam Steinberg.