Federations Update - Lato to Head PZPN, Germany to Appeal Ahlmann Decision

Grzegorz Lato the new leader of the Polish football federation. (Getty Images)Lato Assumes Leadership of Troubled Poland Federation

Grzegorz Lato was elected as the new leader of the Polish football federation on Thursday. He assumes the role from Michal Listkiewicz who resigned amid a corruption investigation.

One hundred and thirteen delegates voted after hours of heated debate at a meeting in Warsaw. The other candidates were Zbigniew Boniek, a former Polish footballer and coach, and Zdzislaw Krecina, the current federation secretary general who has also been implicated in the corruption scandal.

The PZPN election comes after a recent dispute between FIFA, UEFA and Poland's Sports Ministry over the Polish government's suspension of PZPN officials. FIFA warned Poland that they could be in danger of losing their upcoming World Cup qualifying games as well as the right to co-host Euro 2012 unless the officials were reinstated.

FIFA later withdrew its warning after further evaluation.

German Federation to Appeal FEI Decision on Ahlmann

The German National Equestrian Federation announced its intentions to appeal the decision of the independent FEI Tribunal and call for stronger sanctions in the doping case against equestrian Christian Ahlmann at a press conference on Wednesday. The German National Equestrian Federation is calling for stronger sanctions against German rider Christian Ahlmann. (MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)

Ahlmann was suspended four months by the FEI Tribunal for giving the drug capsaicin to his horse Coster during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with the suspension beginning Aug. 18 and continuing until Dec. 18.

The German Federation is seeking stronger sanctions against Ahlmann, stating that capsaicin is a doping substance instead of a Medication Class A substance as was concluded by the FEI Tribunal.

FIBA Officials Meet with 2014 Championship Bid Cities

FIBA President Bob Elphinston and FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann are meeting with the five interested candidate cities to answer questions about the bid process and the requirements to host the competition.

The cities which have expressed interest in hosting are Beijing, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Copenhagen.

The potential hosts must confirm their bid on Dec. 5 in Geneva during a formal presentation for FIBA.

FIBA's top executives will visit Beijing, Paris, Madrid and Rome this week, with a visit to Copenhagen scheduled for a later date.

Former ICF President Sergio Orsi 1918-2008

Former International Canoe Federation President Sergio Orsi died last Wednesday at the age of 90.

Orsi served as ICF president from 1981-1998 and was also the organization's secretary general from 1972-1981.

He was a member of the ICF's Flatwater Technical Committee from 1958-1966 and was the Flatwater Technical Committee's chairman from 1966-1972.

After his retirement from ICF, Orsi was honored by the ICF Congress with the title of ICF honorary president and was decorated by the IOC with the OIympic Order for his work on behalf of canoeing. FIFA President Joseph Blatter, pictured with Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin-Hammam (left), visited the Palestinian Territories for the first international soccer match played there by the Palestinian national team. (MUSA-AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty Images)

…Briefs

FIFA President Joseph Blatter attended the first international soccer match played by Palestine in the Palestinian territories since the Palestinian Football Association joined the international soccer organization in 1998. The match last Sunday at Al-Husseni Stadium against Jordan was played to a 1-1 draw. Blatter inaugurated the FIFA-funded stadium in Ramallah along with the Palestinian prime minister and the Asian Football Confederation president.

…FIFA and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB) have reached an agreement for the handling of over-the-air television and radio rights for the sub-Saharan region of Africa for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The agreement provides for the distribution and broadcaster of all 64 World Cup matches live on free-to-air television and radio in 41 territories in English, French and Portuguese.

FIFA selected AUB as the partner for the sub-Saharan region based on its capacity to reach the largest possible audience as well as its commitment to broadcasting development in that region.

…The World Taekwondo Federation will introduce an athlete ranking system as early as 2009 in an attempt to make Taekwondo more exciting to the public. In the new ranking system, a quarter of the athletes participating in the WTF tournaments will be seeded in every category and may serve as a platform for the creation of a professional taekwondo league. The federation also plans to launch an invitational tournament based on the ranking system as early as 2009

…The International Ski Federation launched a “fan Web site” for the Alpine World Cup. The Web site is available at http://www.fisalpineworldcup.com. The site has information about skiers and all upcoming and completed events for the season.

…Korean Tourism officials are using the sport of Taekwondo to attract visitors to Korea. The Korean Tourism Organization placed a quarter-page ad in the New York Times earlier this week for the Seoul Taekwondo Program. While the tour package focuses exclusively on the sport, there does not seem to be any involvement from the World Taekwondo Federation.

… Australian coaches are considering banning race suits. The coaches will study the effects of the suits, the most widely-used being the Speedo LZR, and make their recommendations to the Australian swimming federation. While there are members who would like to follow the U.S. decision and ban the suits for swimmers under 12, there are also those who would like to see the suits banned from all competitive use.

This comes as a growing number have urged FINA to rule the suits illegal based on times set in Beijing.

Written by Greg Oshust.