Rugby World Cup 2021 Milestone -- Federation Focus

(ATR) The dates and tournament brand of Rugby World Cup 2021 are unveiled in host country New Zealand.

The ninth edition of what used to be known as the Women’s Rugby World Cup is being held outside Europe and North America for the first time. World Rugby announced last year that its flagship 15s and sevens RWC properties would no longer include gender in their titles.

RWC 2021 will run from Sept. 18 to Oct. 16. Games will be played at three venues including Eden Park in Auckland which will host the final.

"Women’s rugby is the single-biggest opportunity to grow the global game, and we are confident that New Zealand 2021 will be one of the great Rugby World Cups, attracting a new fan and player base for the sport," World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said in a statement.

The tournament brand, developed by World Rugby and New Zealand Rugby in close consultation with local cultural advisors, features the ‘Ngaru’ – a symbol of the ocean’s waves that surround New Zealand and the many shores that teams will travel from to compete.

New Zealand will enjoy home advantage for the first time at this tournament but given their record playing away from home they may not need it. The Black Ferns have won five of the last six editions.

IMMAF Africa Open Championships Return to South Africa

The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation announced on Wednesday registration is open for the 2020 Africa Open Championships in South Africa.

MMA's elite amateurs from around the globe will compete from April 15-18 in a nation vs. nation tournament at the new EFC Performance Institute in Johannesburg.

The fifth annual continental championship will have some new countries involved. Algeria, Nigeria, Guinea, Ghana and Morocco joined the IMMAF fold last year.

"The 2020 Africa Open is expected to receive a boost from the spike in regional confidence following growth in 2019," IMMAF President Kerrith Brown said in a statement.

"The move of location of the Africa Championships is illustrative of the event’s rising prestige. Africa athletes are demonstrating themselves to be a rising talent force and the competition provides an excellent proving ground for athletes looking to build experience, and gain medals opportunities and ranking points in preparation for the end-of-year World Championships."

Last week, the IMMAF announced the creation of its first area committee in Africa.The committee is the first of a global network of representative bodies to help deliver IMMAF strategy and goals more effectively at national level.

Modern Pentathlon Fed Approves New Formats

Dynamic new formats for Modern Pentathlon and Tetrathlon at future Olympic Games were given the go ahead by the UIPM Executive Board on January 31.

The EB voted unanimously to approve proposals from the New Pentathlon and New Tetrathlon YOG 2022 Working Groups designed to improve the presentation of the two UIPM Sports at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games respectively.

The federation says the New Pentathlon concept, which includes an elimination system, will be subject to a rigorous examination with three or four test events to be scheduled in advance of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The New Tetrathlon format adds fencing to the existing sport of Triathle, which combines swimming with laser run. Tetrathlon will now be fully implemented subject to one final test event.

The EB,meeting at Olympic House, also approved applications from Croatia and North Macedonia to become provisional member federations of UIPM.

In addition, it was decided that Finland would host the 2022 Masters World Championships and Egypt the 2021 Junior World Championships.

Written by Gerard Farek

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