Daegu Ready, 2017 Bid Update; 2013 Curling Worlds; New Judo Secretary General

Welcomes a Plenty in Daegu

A total of 1,945 athletes from 202 national teams will arrive in Korea this week for the athletics world championships.

"It is a privilege to welcome you to Daegu," chief organizer Hae Nyoung Cho told IAAF Council members Monday in a final progress report from the LOC.

"We are excited that we are altogether and that the championships will start in five days, but I am also sad that this might be the last time that we are all together."

Cho added that 94 percent of the available tickets have been sold, a figure he hopes will translate into full stadiums and perhaps even an attendance record.

Also Monday, IAAF president Lamine Diack addressed his colleagues on the Council, welcoming them to Daegu and presenting his manifesto for the next four years of track and field.

"Four years ago in Mombasa, when selecting Daegu to take over from Berlin, we were conscious of the need to meet a number of challenges, among the most significant of which was athletics' relatively low standing within Korea," he said.

"Today, many onlookers would agree that we acted in the best interests of our sport when we made this choice, offering it exceptional economic opportunities as well as a decisive inroad into the most populous and dynamic continent in the world."

Before the action starts, the IAAF Council and Congress will meet Wednesday and Thursday to elect officers. Diack is unopposed for another four-year term.

He and IOC president Jacques Rogge will then hold a joint press conference Friday following a meeting of the IOC Executive Board.

Events run Saturday to the following Sunday in Daegu.

Three Cities for IAAF Worlds

Three cities –Barcelona, Doha, and London –remain in the race for the 2017 International Association of Athletics Federations world championships.

On Monday, IAAF announced Budapest had withdrawn from bidding.

No explanation of the decision was offered.

Curling Bound for Baltic

Latvia will stage the 2013 women’s curling world championship.

Riga is the host city, and the 1,000-seat Volvo Sports Center its venue of choice.

"The award of the 2013 World Women's Championship to Riga is a landmark in the history of curling," World Curling Federation president Kate Caithness said Monday in a statement.

"It will be the first time that a World Curling Championship will be staged in the Baltic Region."

The top 12 women's teams will square off from March 16 to 24 with qualifying points for the Sochi 2014 Winter Games up for grabs.

New Judo Secretary General

One-time world champion Jean-Luc Rougé is the International Judo Federation’s new secretary general.

"I have a mission," he said Saturday upon election at the IJF Congress in Paris.

"After several years of strong development, we must now secure the overall IJF structure and modernize the way it works. Sport has been a priority, and it is still the case, but we must now get focused on the administrative development," added Rouge, president of the French Judo Federation since 2005.

Paris is also the site of this week’s world championships in both team and individual competitions.

This is the fourth time France has hosted the event, but reigning men’s champion Japan is the favorite. The Netherlands is the current women’s world champion.

Fights run Tuesday through Sunday at the Palais Omnisports.

Canoe Sprint Champs Close

Germany and Russia are tied atop the medal tally at the close of canoe sprint’s world championships.

Each won 11 on the waters of Szeged with host country Hungary just one behind.

With his C-1 200m win on the final day, Valentin Demyanenko of Ukraine kept alive his streak of medaling at all four world champs in which he’s competed.

Also Monday, home favorites Katalin Kovacs and Danuta Kozak won Hungary its 10th and final medal of the week in the K2 200m event.

Up next for canoe is its slalom world champs running Sept. 6 to 11. Spots at the London Olympics will be up for grabs in Bratislava, Slovakia.

FIS Unsure About 2014 Course Design

The International Ski Federation (FIS) paid a visit to Rosa Khutor, venue for 2014 freestyle skiing, and remains unclear who will design the slopestyle courses and halfpipe.

A report on ESPN.com says the federation met with Sochi 2014 "recently" at the freestyle venue to discuss plans for the new discipline. The IOC approved slopestyle’s Olympic inclusion over the summer.

However, FIS says it's too soon to make any predictions as to how the course will look.

FIS spokesperson Riikka Rakic told ESPN: "It is too early to comment on the details of actual course design at this stage. As for the athletes, there will be a number of test competitions before the Games, from which the feedback from all parties -- athletes, coaches, National Ski Associations, organizers and our own professionals -- will be taken into account."

Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of Sochi 2014, said the organizing committee would defer to FIS for a final design.

"Sochi 2014 will follow the recommendations of FIS experts in the build and design of the slopestyle course," he was quoted.

Aquatics World Champs Come Clean

No news is good news for the international aquatics federation.

All 362 doping samples collected from athletes at last month’s world championships in Shanghai tested negative, FINA announced Monday.

Written by Matthew Grayson.