Testing Authority Focus of WADA Board Meeting -- Federations Focus

(ATR) Initiating an independent drug testing authority is expected to be one of the key items of the WADA Foundation Board meeting in Montreal on May 18.

WADA launched a working group on November 20, 2016 investigating the proposal of an independent testing authority, whose findings will be released during the meeting.

The new ITA would work with each individual sporting federation to create testing distribution plans which would include the minimum number of tests athletes would have to undergo before being eligible for World Championships or the Olympic Games.

The full day event will be led with a keynote address by WADA's Director GeneralOlivier Niggli.

Thehost city for the 2019 World Conference on Doping in Sportwill also be selected during the meeting.

Megalicense Entertainment to Head FIFA Retail Program

FIFA has appointed Megalicense Entertainment to manage the retail and licensing program for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

"For FIFA it is very important that Russian citizens and football fans from all over the world have the opportunity to purchase high-quality licensed products" FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer Philippe Le Floc’h said in a statement.

"Such products are like a piece of the action, generating positive emotions and representing great memories of these unique events for a lifetime."

Megalicense will work to produce official licensed products as well as open fan shops in around the host city.

Licensed products for both the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup are available here.

Portugal to Open 2017 ICF World Cup

The International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Cup will begin in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal on May 19.

This will be the first world event the ICF has had since the Rio Games and the final test event for the ICF this year.

Olympians Lisa Carrington of New Zealand, Sebastian Brendel of Germany and Krisztina Fazekas-Zur of Hungary are among competitors of the World Cup.

The second part of the series will be held in Szeged, Hungary on May 26-28 while the third will take place in Belgrade, Serbia from June 2-4.

Montemor-o-Velho will also host the 2018 ICF Sprint Canoe World Championships with over 1000 athletes from 80 countries expected to compete. The ICF have recently partnered with the European Broadcasting Union to stream the event on all its television, radio and digital platforms.

World Cup results will be posted in real time online here.

The 2017 World Cup in Portugal will conclude on May 21.

Host Cities Unveiled for 2018 ITTF World Tour

The International Table Tennis Federation have announced 12 host cities for its events in 2018.

Doha, Incheon, Gold Coast, Budapest and Hong Kong are among the future host cities.

Returning city Hong Kong will be hosting an ITTF event for the first time since 2006.

The World Tour will be split into two tiers - platinum and regular - with platinum events offering more prize money.

"In 2017 we relaunched the ITTF World Tour with a new logo, new branding, new competition structure and better conditions for the players," ITTF Director of Competitions Karl Jindrak

"This has resulted in record prize money for 2017, and we hope to break this record again in 2018 and to keep moving the ITTF World Tour forward to make it the best product possible for our players, fans and members."

Click here for the full calendar.

Homepage photo: Getty Images

Written by Courtney Colquitt

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