Hockey Progress for Rio 2016; Triathlon World Champions; FIBA Awards U.S. TV Rights

Hockey Progress in Rio 2016 Venue Talks

International Hockey Federation CEO Kelly Fairweather tells Around the Rings the FIH is "moving in the right direction" in attempts to broker a solution with Rio 2016 over the Olympic venue.

FIH leaders met with Rio 2016 officials in Lausanne last Thursday to discuss their concerns over a possible venue change to the bid book pledge. The federation was angered by a relocation plan presented as a fait accompli during the IOC Session in London in July.

"We did have a really positive meeting and things seem to be moving in the right direction," Fairweather told ATR.

"We are both committed to finding solutions."

Rio 2016 had appeared to renege on a bid book promise by relocating the Olympic Hockey Center from the Olympic Park to the outskirts of Rio, a journey of up to 40 minutes from the Olympic Village that the FIH feels would marginalize the sport.

Fairweather and a colleague cancelled their October trip to Brazil to give 2016 Olympic chiefs more time to refine proposals ahead of last week’s meeting. No trip to Rio is now planned before the end of the year.

"There are no firm deadlines. I am going to be in touch with them now on a weekly basis," Fairweather added. "It is a question of looking at different options."

The London 2012 debrief in Rio next month may spur 2016 officials to try and hammer out a hockey solution to generate positive news around the Olympic project. The IOC watchdog led by Nawal El Moutawakel was heavily critical of the pace of preparations at the Session in London.

ITU Crowns World Champs, Readies for Elections

Voting for president, secretary general and the Executive Board top the agenda Tuesday at the 25th Congress of the International Triathlon Union.

The elections – pitting incumbent Marisol Casado of Spain against Korean challenger Kyung-Sun Yu for triathlon’s top job – cap off a busy four days in Auckland, New Zealand.

Over the weekend, Olympic silver medalist Lisa Norden of Sweden and bronze medalist Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain were crowned 2012 world champions as the ITU World Triathlon Series came to a close.

Norden took fourth in the Grand Final to edge winner Anne Haug of Germany in the overall standings, while Brownlee’s runner-up finish to Javier Gomez proved just enough to stave off the Spaniard and keep the ITU title in the family. Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee was last year’s world champ.

Also in Auckland, the ITU announced its schedule for the 2013 World Triathlon Series.

For its fifth season, triathlon’s showcase tour features eight stops, beginning April 6-7 back in New Zealand before hitting San Diego, California; Yokohama, Japan; Madrid; Kitzbühel, Austria; Hamburg, Germany; and Stockholm en route to Grand Final scheduled for Sept. 11-16 at Hyde Park, the venue for London 2012.

Volleyball Hall of Fame Inductions

Olympic champions from four countries are among the Volleyball Hall of Fame’s latest inductees.

Men’s indoor players Peter Blangé of the Netherlands, Mauricio Lima of Brazil, Georgy Mondzolevskiy of Russia and Jeff Stork of USA; men’s beach player Mike Dodd of USA; and women’s indoor player Lyudmila Buldakova of Russia, who died in 2006, boast eight Olympic gold medals among them as well as various FIVB World Championships.

"The six legends enshrined tonight represent a sampling of some of the best players to have ever stepped foot on a volleyball court," VHOF executive director George Mulry said Saturday at a ceremony in Holyoke, Massachusetts, home of the Volleyball Hall of Fame.

A vote of the VHOF’s current inductees determined the Class of 2012.

FIBA Awards U.S. TV Rights

ESPN will enjoy the rights to more than 400 games across six tournaments from 2013 to 2015, the International Basketball Federation announced Monday.

"Following a great collaboration over the past three years, we are delighted to announce that ESPN have once again decided to partner with us and our events," said FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann, "including the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, which is set to be the biggest basketball event of all time."

FIBA Americas Championships (2013, 2015), the EuroBaskets (2013, 2015) and the FIBA World Championship for Women (2014) are also included.

The multi-platform agreement provides for nationwide TV broadcasts in both English and Spanish, including live coverage of all gold medal games as well as every time Team USA takes the floor.

Squash Claims New World Record

Leaders of the World Squash Federation say the sport set a world record Saturday on the occasion of World Squash Day.

"Clubs are currently uploading their results, and the total is already close to 25,000 players, so we feel justified in claiming the record for the world’s biggest competitive sports match on that figure alone," said WSF CEO Andrew Shelley.

More than 40,000 players from 800+ clubs in 72 countries registered for the so-called World 2020 Challenge organized on behalf of squash’s Olympic bid.

Clubs were invited to field two teams of 20 players, each of whom competed against his or her opposite number in one game up to 20 points. The scores from every club in the world will count towards an overall global result now being calculated between Team Squash and Team 2020.

"These 2020 figures really illustrate how much players of all abilities care about seeing squash in the Olympic Games," said Shelley.

"Our sport cares about promoting itself. It cares deeply about our Olympic aspirations and developing and innovating," added WSF president N Ramachandran.

"World Squash Day is a superb illustration of this."

Squash is among eight sports shortlisted by the IOC for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics.

Reported by Mark Bisson and Matthew Grayson

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.