Cycling Fed Adopts BMX Discipline -- Federations Focus

(ATR) The International Cycling Union plans to integrate BMX freestyle park into its competition disciplines.

UCI will hold the inaugural BMX Freestyle Park World Cup in 2016, as part of the International Festival of Extreme Sports world series. The competition will include at least three rounds, and act as a predecessor for the Urban Cycling World Championships in 2017.

"The integration of BMX Freestyle Park is excellent news for cycling, the UCI, its national federations and for fans of our sport," UCI president Brian Cookson said in a statement.

"The UCI’s strategy is to target cities for the organisation of major events where our own events will benefit from the conditions necessary to ensure their popular, media and economic success. The UCI will offer the discipline a high level of recognition, and will thus pursue the development of our sport by meeting the expectations of BMX fans."

Thanks to this initiative, BMX freestyle park and cycling take another step in their continued globalization," he concluded.

New Global Tournament for Baseball/Softball

As federations begin the application and bidding process for their sport to gain a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic program, the World Baseball Softball Confederation announces a new tournament to showcase the top teams in the sport.

World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) will present the Premier12 tournament this November featuring the top 12 teams in the WBSC world rankings.

The 12 teams – in order of WBSC rankings – include: Japan, United States of America, Cuba, Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, Dominican Republic, Canada, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Italy and Mexico. The teams will be split into two groups of six for the opening round of play.

The tournament will be co-hosted by Nippon Professional Baseball (Japan) and the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association.

The announcement came during a press conference from WBSC president Riccardo Fraccari in Seoul.

"The Premier12 platform provides another key opportunity for players to represent, promote and honour their countries, and build on the wave of continued globalization and excitement within our sport, particularly during this time when our sport is under Olympic observation for potential inclusion at the 2020 Games in Tokyo," Fraccari said during the conference.

Fraccari also announced the tournament will utilize the Sapporo Dome in Japan to host Group B play during the opening round. The Sapporo Dome is scheduled to be used during the Tokyo 2020 Games, further adding to baseball’s attempt to be included in the 2020 program.

The tournament will take place November 8-21 in Japan and Taiwan.

AIBA Selects New Comms Director

The communications director for the 2015 Baku Games has been named the public relations and communications director for the international boxing association (AIBA).

According to AIBA, William Louis-Marie "has extensive experience in world-class event and sport communications, media relations and promotions" as a result of his involvement with the European Games.

Prior to Louis-Marie’s Baku experience, he worked as a communications manager for Coca-Cola France. During his time with the company, Louis-Marie worked on campaigns for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as well as the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

William Louis-Marie tells AIBA he is ready to aid in the development and spread of boxing.

"The noble art [of boxing] is gaining massive attraction all over the world and the coming months will reinforce boxing’s amazing appeal with numerous high-profile continental events and the AIBA World Boxing Championships Doha 2015 leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," Louis-Marie said following the announcement.

Written by Kevin NutleyandAndrew Murrell

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