Brief Notes: Sydney Olympic Park, Junior Baseball Championships

Michael Knight was Olympics Minister for the 2000 Games in Sydney. (ATR)Michael Knight Returns to Homebush Bay

The former chief of the Sydney Olympics is the new chairman of the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, the public agency supervising the legacy of the 2000 Games. Michael Knight took over as chair in July with little fanfare.

He succeeds David Richmond, who was head of the Olympic Coordination Authority, which oversaw government operations involving the Sydney Olympics.

Since the Sydney Olympics Knight has worked as a consultant in Athens and Beijing and for a short time was chairman of Sydney Gas until he gave up in the face of shareholder discontent.

Knight served as New South Wales Olympics Minister from 1996 to 2000.

World Junior Baseball Championships Cancelled

The International Baseball Federation has cancelled the World Junior Baseball Championships due to host country Venezuela’s refusal to issue visas to Taiwanese players.

Federation officials said they did not receive assurances that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez or Venezuela’s baseball federation would allow Taiwanese players to participate in the tournament, which was to start on August 17.

"We canceled the event because one of the member federations was discriminated against," John Ostermeyer, acting executive director of IBAF, said. "And that is completely unacceptable.

"We do not stand in the way if these teams play some friendly games, but under no circumstances will it be referred to as a championship," he said. "It will not have any international recognition in terms of ranking."

Members of Venezuela’s baseball federation, however, said Taiwan did not submit visa requests on time.

"We fulfilled our responsibility as organizers of the tournament," said Edwin Zerpa, president of the Venezuelan Baseball Association. "Unfortunately, their request was not made with sufficient time."

Chinese Major Leaguers at Beijing Test Event

Three of the four Chinese-born baseball players signed by Major League Baseball will play for China during the Olympic baseball test event this week.

In June of this year, Liu Kai and Zhang Zhenwang signed with the New York Yankees and Wang Wei and Jia Yubing joined the Seattle Mariners. They are the first Chinese players to be signed to MLB contracts. Wei will not compete; he had an operation and will miss the tournament. The Olympic baseball test event continues through August 23 at Beijng's Wukesong Baseball Field.

International Paralympics Day

The third International Paralympics Day is set for August 23 at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The event will feature competitions in wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, football 5-a-Side, table tennis, long jump and biathlon.

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