Hayatou Wins Backing; Triathlon Visits Middle East; Zambia Lifts Cup of Nations

Another Term for Hayatou?

Recently reprimanded IOC member Issa Hayatou gets a green light to serve another four years atop the Confederation of African Football.

All six CAF regions backed the Cameroonian at Friday’s general assembly in Gabon to stand unopposed at next year’s elections in Morocco.

"I have not achieved this alone," he said in Libreville. "We have worked together and are looking forward to achieve more for African football."

The backing comes just two months after Hayatou, 65, was sanctioned by the Executive Board in line with recommendations of the IOC Ethics Commission.

According to the EB, both Hayatou and international athletics boss Lamine Diack of the IAAF took payments from former FIFA marketing agency ISL prior to their IOC membership.

The reprimand from did little to dissuade CAF constituents, who also passed a motion apparently critical of the IOC.

"The general assembly denounces the strategy by which the African sports movement and its officials are used as scapegoats by those who seek by all means to cover their tracks," reads the resolution.

"We note the president of CAF has in the past been the target of an unpleasant campaign."

A vice president of FIFA since 1992 and IOC member since 2001, Hayatou took over as CAF president in 1988 and hinted Friday he plans to step down in 2017 following a presumptive final term in office.

Middle East Meetings for Triathlon

Triathlon president Marisol Casado is taking an unlikely route to her latest speaking engagement,Around the Ringsis told.

Casado, who presides over the International Triathlon Union from an office in Madrid, is due to present at a sustainable responsibility session of the IOC’s 5th World Conference on Women and Sport beginning Thursday in Los Angeles.

In the meantime, she’s making rounds in the Middle East alongside newly elected ITU executive board member Ahmed Nasser of Egypt.

Their tour began in Beirut with a weekend visit to the proposed site for triathlon’s Arab Gamesdebut in 2015 as well as meetings with the Lebanese vice minister of sport, Lebanese Olympic Committee and Lebanese triathlon federation.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is next on the itinerary for a talk with Union of Arab National Olympic Committees president Prince Nawaf bin Faisal Bin Fahd Fin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud.

"Triathlon's recent acceptance into the Arab Games, along with the mixed relay, was a significant step forward for the sport and we wanted to act immediately and begin discussions on future opportunities to further advance the sport for Arab athletes and federations," Casado tells ATR.

"This visit to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia with Ahmed Nasser, member of the ITU Executive Board and himself an Arab sports legend, is proving to be very productive and will lay the ground work for future ITU events and development projects.

Triathlon won inclusion to Beirut 2015 last December during the Doha Arab Games.

Ice Hockey Entries for Sochi 2014

A total of 33 countrieswill want to compete in the Olympic ice hockey tournaments at Sochi 2014.

That’s 32 on the men’s side and 24 on the women’s side with China only submitting an entry application for the latter.

Click here to view the International Ice Hockey Federation’s complete list of countries that applied.

Bittersweet Win for Zambia

Zambia tops Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalty kicks for a first-ever Africa Cup of Nations.

Sunday’s win in Libreville, Gabon came 19 years after a plane crash off the capital’s shore killed Zambia’s coach and 18 members of its national team.

The match also brought back memories of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba missing a penalty in Ivory Coast’s finals loss to Egypt in 2006, just as he did Sunday in the second half.

The favored Elephants fell despite never giving up a regulation goal throughout the three-week tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Written by Matthew Grayson.