World Briefs-- Martial Arts Games for Beijing; Boxing Honors for 2008; USA Track & Field Sets Olympic Goals

Leaders of martial arts federations meet Saturday in Moscow to plan the first Martial Arts and Combat Games. (ATR) Martial Arts Games Headed to Beijing

The first-ever Martial Arts Games are headed to Beijing. The tentative dates are set for Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, 2010.

Plans for the games moved ahead following a meeting Saturday in Moscow of leaders of the martial art and combat sports, chaired by Hein Verbruggen, president of the General Association of International Sports Federations. GAISF, which includes the 13 martial arts and combat sports, plus another 90 other international federations, holds the franchise for the games.

Around the Rings is told that GAISF will receive a $2 million fee from the Beijing organizing committee in exchange for all the marketing and TV rights.

About 1000 athletes and officials will take part in the eight-day competition, with a limit of 80 athletes for each of the 13 sports, plus 40 officials. Sumo did not participate in the Moscow meeting and may not be included in the program for the games unless it submits a proposal to GAISF.

AIBA Honors 2008 Stars, But Not Without Incident

Athletes from Mongolia and Ireland are named male and female boxers of the year by the International Boxing Association. The awards were handed out in Moscow where AIBA is resurrecting its World Cup event, finals set this weekend.

Male boxer of the year is Badar-Uugan Enkhbat of Mongolia. He won the bantamweight division at the Beijing Olympics to become Mongolia's first boxing gold-medal winner and the second Mongolian overall to win gold.

Enkhbat was not the first choice of the voters, the AIBA technical delegates for the Beijing Olympics. Until Thursday, the day prior to the award ceremony in Moscow, Vasyl Lomachenko, Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine, was to receive boxer of the year honor. But the AIBA Executive Committee stripped the award after he was a no-show at the weigh-in for his bout at the AIBA World Cup. AIBA award winners in Moscow, with President C.K. Wu, center. (ATR)

AIBA officials say Lomachenko had agreed to come to Moscow to fight as well as to accept his award and he did come, using the ticket supplied by AIBA to travel. While injury is believed to be the reason Lomachenko chose to duck the weigh-in and forfeit a quarter round seeding, AIBA President C.K. Wu took action when neither the boxer or his coach offered any explanation for the failure to appear. And then after promising to visit Wu to explain, Lomachenko was again a no-show. That insult to injury led Wu to convene the AIBA EC which voted to cancel the award for Lomachenko.

On the women's side, Katie Taylor of Ireland was the 2008 Boxer of the Year. She successfully defended her lightweight title at the AIBA Women's World Championship in China last month.

Other AIBA award winners were Li Qingsheng of China, named Referee and Judge of the Year and Pedro Roque Otano of Cuba as Coach of the Year. Terry Smith of Wales received an award for his performance as the head technical delegate at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Johnson, Jeter to Lead U.S. in World Baseball Classic

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and 2008 U.S. Olympic team manager Davey Johnson were named to the American squad for the 2009 World Baseball Classic in March. U.S. Olympic baseball team manager Davey Johnson will head the American squad for the 2009 World Baseball Classic.(Getty Images)

Johnson will manage the team, comprised of Major League Baseball stars, while Jeter will be the shortstop for a U.S. team that will try to improve on its performance in the inaugural edition of the event in 2006, when the Americans were eliminated in the second round.

"It seems like there's much more interest (from U.S. players) this time, more interest in being on that team," Johnson said. "There's payback to do."

Adds Jeter, "I think everyone is pretty excited about this. When the Classic started, there was a lot of skepticism. No one knew if it was going to work."

"When we got on the field, we were excited to represent our country. There's a lot of pride here."

Johnson and Jeter will be among the U.S. contingent that will open the tournament March 5 in a first-round group in Toronto, along with Canada, Italy and Venezuela.

Other first-round groupings are China, Japan,Taiwan and South Korea in Tokyo; Australia, South Africa, Mexico and Cuba in Mexico City and Panama, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Second-round games will be in San Diego and Miami, with the semifinal and championship games to be held Mar. 21-23 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

USATrack and Field Aims for 30 Medals in 2012

USA Track & Field CEO Doug Logan says 30 medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is the target for the U.S. after a disappointing performance at the 2008 Games in Beijing. USA Track & Field is aiming for 30 medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.(Getty Images)

"We now will announce to the world that we are going to take our A game to London in 2012. Our goal: 30 clean medals," said Logan at the USTAF Annual Meeting in Indianapolis last weekend.

Logan's announcement is a response to the United States showing in Beijing, where the U.S. won 23 medals, but only one gold medal in the sprint events.

The U.S. hasn't won more than 30 medals in track and field at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics since winning 31 at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Logan also stated his goal to grow USATF from a $16 million to a $30 million business over the next four years.

Other goals outlined by Logan at the USATF annual meeting are winning the right to host the 2015 world track and field championship in the U.S., attracting more long-distance runners in order to grow membership by 30 percent in 2012 and moving marketing and communications employees from Indianapolis to New York.

Canadian Rowing Coach Bent Jensen, 60

Canadian Olympic lightweight rowing men's coach Bent Jensen died Wednesday of cancer in his native Denmark. He was 60.

Jensen, who became the Olympic lightweight rowing men's coach for Canada in 2006, led the Canadian lightweight four to a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Jensen coached rowing for more than three decades, leading the Danish lightweight fours to the gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2004 Games in Athens as well as a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He was also named the World Rowing Federation coach of the year in 1998.

Mexico City Gold Medal Swimmer Don McKenzie, 61

Don McKenzie, who won two gold medals in swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, died last week of cancer. He was 61.

McKenzie, who was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1989, claimed Olympic titles in the 100-meter breaststroke and as part of the U.S. 400-meter relay team at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

He was a six-time All-American during his college career at Indiana University in the late 1960s under legendary coach Doc Counsilman, winning the NCAA title in the 100-yard breaststroke. He set a world record and five American records during his swimming career.

FIVB Awards Serbia World League Finals

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has awarded Serbia the final round of the 2009 FIVB World League July 22-26.

The World League final round will be held at Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia, which held the competition previously in 2005.

Serbia edged out the United States and China to host the event.

"Serbia faced tough competition from USA and China in the bidding process for this prestigious event and it is of enormous credit to the Serbian Volleyball Federation that they were the ones chosen," FIVB World League Council President Francesco Franchi said.

Nations scheduled to compete in the Final Round are the defending champion U.S. squad as well as Argentina, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Poland, Finland, Venezuela, China, Russia, Japan, Cuba, Bulgaria, France and South Korea.

...Briefs…

...Japanese Olympic gold medal swimmer Ai Shibata has announced her retirement, citing the toll that numerous injuries over the years have taken on her body. The 26-year old Shibata became the first swimmer from Japan to win a women's Olympic freestyle gold medal when she won the 800-meter freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Written by Greg Oshust.