Olympic Newsdesk - FIBA President-Apparent, PyeongChang 2018 Infrastructure

Mainini set to Lead FIBA

Frenchman Yvan Mainini is poised to become the next president of the International Basketball Federation.

The FIBA Europe General Assembly selected Mainini as its candidate over George Vassilakopoulos of Greece during weekend meetings in Munich. According to FIBA’s rule of continental rotation, the next president comes from Europe and will serve one four-year term

Mainini will be the only candidate on the ballot when the FIBA Congress meets in Istanbul in September to select a successor to Bob Elphinston of Australia. Mainini needs a simple majority to secure the presidency.

"This election concludes a race between two excellent and very high-profile candidates, who both have the experience and know-how to lead FIBA," Elphinston said. "We have a very solid profile to be put forward to our Congress in Istanbul."

Mainini has been president of the French Basketball Federation since 1992 and is a former top-level referee.

South Korea Looks at Infrastructure for Bid

The South Korean government is working to improve the infrastructure around PyeongChang to help its bid for the 2018 Winter Games.

PyeongChang 2018 bid leaders met with Prime Minister Un-Chan Chung on Monday to discuss ways to improve bid.

Discussions focused on improving the infrastructure including upgrading roads and construction of an express railroad between Wonmju and Gangneung, which would host skating.

"The South Korean government has made our bid to host the Winter Games in 2018 one of its top priorities," Co-Chairman Jin-Sun Kim said. "We are delighted that all levels of government have offered their absolute commitment and support for the PyeongChang 2018 bid."

PyeongChang is making its third consecutive Winter Games bid. It is bidding for the games against Munich and Annecy, France. The IOC will decide a host city in July 2011.

Sydney Olympic Chiefs Honored

Two of the men most responsible for organizing the Sydney Olympics were honored by the Australian Olympic Committee at the organization’s General Meeting on Friday.

Olympics Minister and Sydney organizing committee chief Michael Knight and David Richmond, head of Olympic Coordination Authority were given awards by AOC president John Coates for their service.

"Ten years on Sydney is still recognized as the best Games ever which highlights the vision, hard work and dedication both men showed during what was a frantic and at times stressful time in our lives," Coates said.

"Michael and David both had their critics but the end result and the legacy for all Australians vindicates some tough decisions they made. We needed people who could get the job done and they achieved the ultimate result."

The awards came ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Sydney Olympics.

Russia Advances at Ice Hockey World

Russia, Switzerland and Sweden are on the way to the quarterfinals of the 2010 IIHF World Championships.

The three teams are the first teams to secure places in the quarterfinals. Neither team medaled at the Vancouver 2010 Games in February.

The qualification round ends Tuesday with the playoff round beginning Thursday. Medals games will take place Sunday, May 23 in Cologne Germany.

Trial Set

Jim Armstrong, who skipped Canada to Paralympic wheelchair curling gold in Vancouver, faces a July 6 jury trial in Seattle over charges he trafficked fake erectile dysfunction pills.

Armstrong pleaded not guilty in court May 13. He was busted April 15 in Blaine, Wash. A Food and Drug Administration agent claimed in a court filing that Armstrong had 2,544 pills marked Viagra and 260 pills marked Cialis that were shipped from China.

Written by Ed Hula III and Sam Steinberg.