Federations Roundup -- U.S. Tops Russia on Ice in New IIHF Tournament

New York Ranger Ryan Callahan scores the winning goal in the first Victoria Cup. (Getty Images) New Ice Hockey Tournament, UEFA Model

The North American ice hockey champion New York Rangers walk away with $1 million for topping their European counterparts from Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4-3 in the inaugural Victoria Cup on Oct. 1 in Bern, Switzerland.

But the exhibition matchup, the first between a Russian and U.S. club team in 17 years, is just a small part of a new schedule of European tournaments that begin Oct. 8.

Next week begins the European Champions Hockey League, the successor of the International Ice Hockey Federation European Champions Cup.

It's a venture among the IIHF, private investors plus Ovation AG, the marketing company behind the UEFA Champions League.

If all goes to the marketing plan, Wednesday nights in Europe will be CHL night from September to January. And there's a substantial purse for the winning team, nearly $1.4 million. The other nine-tenths of the total $14 million prize money is divvied up among the other teams.

IIHF president Rene Fasel has called the funding one of the keys to the League's success and drawn comparisons between the development of club soccer teams and subsequent improvement of national teams and programs.

"With the enormous popularity of hockey in many European countries, there is no reason why hockey should be the only sport without a sustainable pan-European club competition," says Fasel.

There's also a CHL anthem, by the same composer who wrote the UEFA Champions League anthem.

The private investors seeding the ice hockey League are led by Russian energy behemoth Gazprom. Reebok is the League's first sponsor.

The League was only announced in Jan. 2008, so the first tournament is slightly truncated. For the 2008-2009 season, seven countries – the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland – will send their best clubs to the 12-team tournament. The IIHF plans to expand the tournament to 30 teams from 24 countries the following season.

In the future, the ECH Champion will play an NHL challenger every year for the Victoria Cup title.

"This is a milestone for international hockey and for the relationship between the IIHF and the National Hockey League," says Fasel.

The very first Victoria Cup came as the IIHF and NHL meet to work on a replacement for their expired player transfer agreement.

USA Swimming Rejects High-tech suits for 12-and-unders

The national governing body for swimming in the High-tech suits for the pros are custom-made. (Getty Images)United States has banned the high-tech swimsuits that extend past the neck, shoulders and knees for athletes 12 years old and younger.

USA Swimming believes the move will boost participation among children whose parents may have been discouraged by the high cost of suits, which retail for about $500. The suits are also thought to hinder stroke development because they cover up flaws and enhance body position in the water.

USA Swimming is the first major governing body to restrict use of the suits. According to Speedo, athletes in the LZR suit, most notably Michael Phelps, won 91 percent of the swimming gold medals in Beijing.

Most of the younger age-group swimmers don't use the LZR suits anyway since Speedo hasn't made them in the smaller sizes.

European Swimming Elects New Leaders

Members of the European Aquatic Sports Movement elected a new LEN Bureau – the leaders of swimming's European governing body – in voting that will have repercussions on FINA's 2009 elections.

At the FINA Congress in Rome next year, Mustapha Larfaoui of Algeria, who has been FINA president since 1988, is expected to face opposition for another term from current treasurer Julio Maglione of Uruguay.

Nory Kruchten of Luxembourg became the new LEN president, replacing Bartolo Consolo of Italy, who stepped down after 18 years.

In other results from the LEN Congress in Zurich, Kruchten, who had been LEN treasurer, defeated Gennady Aleshin of Russia, who remains a vice president, 49-45. Christa Thiel of Germany became the new treasurer and Sven Folvik of Norway is secretary. They will remain in office until 2013.

Kruchten, Paolo Barelli of Italy, Tamas Gyarfas of Hungary and Dimitri Diathesopoulos of Greece were selected by the Congress as European representatives for the next FINA Bureau. Thiel and Folvik will have to be elected from the "world at large" to enter the FINA Bureau.

‘Lewd’ Boxer Fined $500

Billy Joe Saunders, the British welterweight Billy Joe Saunders (in blue) was eliminated in the Olympic round of 16. (Getty Images)boxer sent home from the Beijing Games in disgrace for his “lewd behavior” in a video broadcast on a social networking site, has been fined $500 by England’s Amateur Boxing Association.

Saunders, 19, who was rated as a strong medal chance at the Olympics, will now be allowed to compete in November's European Championships in Liverpool.

Despite the lenient punishment for the use of a four-letter word in the video, which was recorded months before the Games, Saunders is thought to be angry at his treatment and is considering turning professional immediately.

Federation Briefs

The largely flat city of Moscow will host an unprecedented skiing event on January 2, 2009. A specially constructed 60m tall ramp for parallel slalom will be built in the Vorobyovy Mountains and then transported to the campus of Moscow State University for the competition. The International Ski Federation announced that Moscow would host the parallel slalom event to promote the FIS Alpine World Cup and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The International Fencing Federation announces cash support and official status for the new Aphrodite Cup, an epee event for men and women from small countries. The event illustrates the vitality and dynamism of federations which may be too small to compete in or host large events, according to a federation statement. FIE is setting up three pistes and providing some $18,000 cash for the Oct. 25-26 event in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Klaus Scharioth, the German Ambassador to the United States, will host a reception for the 2009 Athletics World Championships at the German Embassy in Washington D.C. on Friday. The reception for the Berlin event will also mark the Day of German Reunification. Joining Scharioth will be the President of the organizing committee for the championships and several U.S. Olympians in athletics.

The International Sailing Federation's quadrennial revision of equipment rules is now online. The biggest changes to the Equipment Rules of Sailing are in more definitions of rig and spar types plus definitions of new equipment like the canting keel (which improves maneuverability on keelboats) or the kite-board (the snowboard-like equipment used in conjunction with a large kite for one- person seafaring).

The International Basketball Federation is looking at Lausanne property, in consideration of a move from Geneva, according to the International Table Tennis Federation. The ITTF Lausanne headquarters hosted a visit from FIBA president Bob Elphinston and some of his colleagues this week; the basketballers are checking out several Lausanne federation headquarters for inspiration, according to a news item on the ITTF website.

Athletes of a contemplative kind compete in their first multi-sport games as the World Mind Sports Games open in Beijing on Oct. 3. The 15-day event brings together the IOC- or GAISF-recognized federations for bridge, chess, draughts, and go plus the federation for xiangqi, a Chinese game. The venue is the Beijing International Convention Center, site of Olympic and Paralympic fencing and media operations.

The International Canoe Federation-endorsed World Dragon Boat Championships wrapped up in Poznan, Poland this week. ICF-affiliated clubs only were invited; most teams were from Europe. The rival International Dragonboat Federation organizes a separate championship.

The IAAF World Half Marathon takes place in Rio on Oct. 12. Defending their titles in the non-Olympic event are Zersenay Tadese (also Eritrea's first Olympic medallist) on the men's side and Dutch runner Lornah Kiplagat on the women's.

Written by Maggie Lee and Karen Rosen

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