PyeongChang 2018 Logo Launch; MMA Supporting Wrestling; Rio 2016 Talks Security

PyeongChang Logo Launch

POCOG will unveil their logo on May 3.

A statement from the 2018 Olympic orgainzers said the logo launch will take place at a joint ceremony in PyeongChang and Seoul, the country’s capital.

MMA Supporting Wrestling

Mixed Martial Arts is the latest supporter of wrestling’s campaign to re-join the Olympic Program.

The Committee to Preserve Olympic Wrestling announced that Dana White, president of UFC, the leading MMA competition on television offered his support to wrestling.

"I’ve met with a lot of top guys in wrestling. I met with them last Tuesday, and the UFC’s joining the fight to help save Olympic Wrestling," UFC President, Dana White, told MMA Weekly on Tuesday.

A statement from CPOW said it was unclear how UFC will help wrestling. However, CPOW member Tommy Rowlands said: "We know that we will accept whatever assistance is offered and will work with Dana and the UFC to develop a

working partnership going forward."

Rio 2016 Meets Security Officials

Rio 2016 Organizers met with public security officials from Rio de Janeiro.

The meeting, which took place at the municipal government’s Olympic office, was attended by Rio 2016 CEO Sidney Levy, State of Rio de Janeiro Public Security Secretary, José Mariano Beltrame, Head of the Civil Police, Martha Rocha, and Military Police Commander General, Colonel Erir Ribeiro Costa Filho and others.

"They were here in order to get to know the Organizing Committee’s new headquarters and to make strategic adjustments to the operational planning. It was an important visit, aimed at optimising the institutional relations between Rio 2016™ and all the State Public Security Institutions, with the aim of establishing efficient channels of communication and a full understanding of the Games demands", summarised Luis Fernando Corrêa, Rio 2016™ Security Director, who hosted the visitors.

Games-time security is one of the leading concerns for Rio de Janeiro.

Table Tennis Likes Rio Preps

The International Table Tennis Federation says it is happy with work being done on the venue for the 2016 Olympics.

On 11-12 March 2013, ITTF Deputy President Neil Harwood and the ITTF's Olympic Expert Raul Calin met with Rio 2016 officials and inspected Riocentro, where table tennis will be played.

"I am extremely impressed by the efficiency and enthusiasm showed by the Rio 2016 staff, they have really learnt a lot from being observers at London 2012, " Harwood said.

"They have the mentality that the athletes are the most important people of the Games, as without them, there would be no Olympic games. This is the attitude of the ITTF, so it was very refreshing to hear. The ITTF's philosophy is that we want to make each Olympic Games Table Tennis event better than the last and with Brazilians love and passion for sport, we are very confident that this will be the case."

Dumfries Hosting Curling Worlds

Dumfries, Scotland, will host the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles curling world championships in 2014.

A statement from the World Curling Federation on Thursday said all three events will take place at the Dumfries Ice Bowl between April 22-29.

"The South-West of Scotland has a long tradition with curling and it is very fitting that these World Curling Federation championship events will be hosted in a region which has produced so many fine curlers," said World Curling Federation President Kate Caithness.

Ex-Olympic Official in Embezzlement Probe

A criminal investigation has been launched into alleged spending violations by the former vice-president of Russia’s Olympic Committee, investigators announced Wednesday.

According to Russia’s Interior Ministry, Akhmed Bilalov allegedly stole more than $97,000 from Northern Caucasus Resorts, a state-run company that manages holiday resorts and promotes tourism in region, and used it for luxury travel abroad for him and his friends.

He reportedly spent $80,000 between July 26 and August 13, 2012, on London hotel fees during last summer's Olympic Games, and another $28,000 on transportation.

"It’s been established the suspect used the money to unduly offset the cost of business trips," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Bilalov only spent August 4-8 in London.

The beleaguered Bilalov was removed from the Olympic Committee in February after President Vladimir Putin criticized massive construction delays and cost overruns while he was in charge of Krasnaya Polyana, the firm overseeing the RusSki Gorki Olympic ski jump park. Bilalov has since resigned from Northern Caucasus Resorts.

At least for now, he retains his job as president of the Russian Golf Association.

Bilalov has been under investigation for at least a month. In early March, prosecutors claimed he had appropriated about $2.6 million from the company to charter flights to France and England, as well as a helicopter flight from a hotel to an airport in the United Arab Emirates.

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said last month that investigators from the FSB security service, the police and the Rosfinnadzor state audit agency were probing Bilalov.

Bilalov was also fired as chairman of Northern Caucasus Resorts, a state-run which manages holiday resorts in the southern mountain range.

Istanbul Bid Seeks Boost

Istanbul 2020 bid leader Hasan Arat talked up Turkey’s Olympic ambitions at the 16th Eurasian Economic Summit in Istanbul this week.

He was a keynote speaker at the event Wednesday. Other Istanbul 2020 stakeholders involved included the city’s mayor and governor and the CEOs of Turkish Airlines and Turkcell.

Next week, Istanbul 2020 will use the platform at the 76th AIPS Congress in Sochi to boost its bid credentials.

A 15-minute presentation to the Congress on Tuesday will involve bid CEO Ali Kiremitçioğlu, the Turkish NOC’s media director Esat Yilmaer and Murat Ağca, a senior sports journalist and a member of the Istanbul 2020 media team.

The congress takes place at the Radisson Blu Resort from April 15 to 19.

Honour for Hayatou

Issa Hayatou, the IOC member from Cameroon and president of the Confederation of African Football, was awarded the Commander of the Order of Valor in recognition of his services to the development of football on the continent.

The government honor was bestowed on Hayatou by sports minister Adoum Garoua in a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Tuesday.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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