Lapasset: Rugby World Cup Too Big to Miss -- Federations Focus

(ATR) World Rugby chief Bernard Lapasset says the support of host country England has made the 2015 Rugby World Cup the best to date.

"England 2015 has already been confirmed as the biggest Rugby World Cup to date and we believe that it is well on track to be the best, inspiring and engaging audiences around the world," said Lapasset.

Only a third of the way through the tournament, World Rugby has sold 97 percent of the available 2.4 million tickets to the event, confirming Lapasset’s assertion of this year’s edition being the biggest in history.

Another historical mark was set during the tournament when England’s team was knocked out of the tournament before the quarterfinal round, making them the first host country to not advance to at least that point in the tournament.

Lapasset says despite their team’s early exit, fans of England are still showing support for the other teams in the tournament.

"There has been huge domestic and international support for all the teams and they have responded by delivering some incredible rugby, unforgettable moments and what is already the most compelling and competitive Rugby World Cup to date. Irrespective of who reaches the knock-out stages, the fans will be there in vocal and festive support - England 2015 really is proving to be too big to miss," Lapasset concluded.

Coe Helping Establish Athletics Excellence Center

At the conclusion of a two-day visit to New Delhi, India, newly elected IAAF president Seb Coe signed a letter of intent with the Sports Authority and Athletics Federation of India to establish a national athletics center.

The center will be established in Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium Complex in the Indian capital and will focus on speed, power and technical events training. On top of training benefits, the center will seek to provide athletes with coaching, support services and education.

The Sport Authority of India will be responsible for funding the center. The IAAF’s responsibilities include educating top-level coaches and arranging specialists to visit the center to provide additional support to the coaches.

"Coaching sits at the heart of national ambition in athletics. You can invest in all the talent spotting, athletics grass roots and development programmes you like but if you don’t have good coaching and good coach education, it’s just a happy accident if anything happens," said Coe.

"I therefore have found it so encouraging that of all things I have been asked during my visit to India it has been to support coaching and I’m pleased that the IAAF can offer that support."

WBSC Awards Premier 12 Broadcast Rights

South Korea based broadcasting company SBS has the exclusive rights to broadcast the inaugural WBSC Premier 12 baseball tournament.

WBSC has given SBS the rights to broadcast across all media platforms including television, social media and online.

The Premier 12 tournament marks the first time the top-12 ranked teams in the world will face off head-to-head in a tournament for the highest prize purse WBSC offers.

Baseball is the number one spectator sport in South Korea and fans will be able to watch their eighth-ranked team national team compete against the world’s best throughout the 14-day tournament.

"Through SBS’s leading multi-platform network, millions of passionate fans in this great baseball nation will be able to follow all the action of some of their heroes competing in their country’s name on the WBSC Premier12 global stage. The SBS-WBSC partnership on Premier12 is another major milestone that highlights the appeal of this new flagship event," said WBSC president Riccardo Fraccari.

Written by KevinNutley

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