An annual collaboration between McDonald’s and the Olympic Council of Malaysia, the 10th Olympic Day Run will take place at 7.00 a.m. at Dataran Merdeka on Sunday, 23 June 2013.

The deadline for participation will be on 9 June 2013 or when the level of 15,000 participants is reached, whichever is earlier.

• 15,000 participants expected to take part this year

• 13 categories with cash prizes worth RM17,975 to be won

• 10 km distance introduced to offer a more challenging experience

• 10th time that McDonald’s and OCM are collaborating on this event

• More fun activities for the family as the event continues to grow

Entry forms are available at McDonald’s restaurants in the Klang Valley and the Federal Territory Amateur Athletic Association’s (FTAAA) headquarters, as well as at www.mcdonalds.com.my and www.olympic.org.my where more information about the event is also available.

All participants will receive an exclusive Olympic Day Run t-shirt and McDonald’s coupons, while winners will also take home attractive prizes including cash prizes worth RM17,975 medals, certificates, McDonald’s gift vouchers and hampers.

There’s also a special surprise this year for participants who come and collect their t-shirts and numbers at Wisma OCM on the first collection day which is Thursday , 20 June.

“The annual Olympic Day Run is an event that reminds us of the athletic ideal behind the Olympic Games, which is a healthy mind in a healthy body. As Malaysians, we owe it to ourselves to build a mentally and physically healthy nation, so events such as this are a great way to achieve that and it’s wonderful to see the participation grow each year,” said OCM Honorary Secretary Dato’ Sieh Kok Chi.

McDonald’s, which was the Official Restaurant of the London 2012 Olympic Games, works with National Olympic Councils around the world for this annual global event. In Malaysia, the company has been working with OCM since 2004 to encourage Malaysians to pursue an active, healthy lifestyle.

“We are delighted to reach a milestone with the 10th Olympic Day Run through this strategic partnership with OCM. At McDonald’s, we have always believed in promoting balanced, active lifestyles – and have introduced even more family activities this year. We are definitely looking forward to bringing Malaysians together to celebrate the Olympic spirit in a fun and memorable way!” said Director of Corporate Communications for McDonald’s Malaysia, Raja Zamilia Datuk Seri Mansur.

The 2013 Olympic Day Run is divided into 13 categories – Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Junior Veteran, Men’s Senior Veteran, Women’s Veteran, Men’s Junior, Women’s Junior, Men’s Senior Citizen, Women’s Senior Citizen, Primary School Boys, Primary School Girls, Group (for 4 participants aged 15 years and above, at least one member of the group must be female) and Family (for 2 adults and up to 3 children aged 7-14 years, where one child must be aged 12 years and below).

The distances for the Olympic Day Run this year will range from 3 km to 10 km, depending on the category; with the new 10 km distance being introduced to offer a greater challenge for participants in the Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Men’s Junior Veteran categories.

A minimal participation fee of RM15 is charged for individual runners, while students with school stamps on their registration forms will only pay RM7 each. The fee for the Group and Family categories is RM50 per team.

About the Olympic Day Run

The Olympic Day Run began in 1987 to commemorate the foundation of the IOC on June 23, 1894 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. The event continues to grow in popularity internationally, from 45 participating National Olympic Committees in its first year to more than 100 at present. More than ten million people, including those with disabilities, have participated in the Olympic Day Run around the world.

About McDonald’s and the Olympic Games

McDonald’s commitment to the Olympic Movement began in 1968, when the company airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for American food. McDonald’s has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, their coaches, families and fans.

The DPR Korean pair of KIM Hyok Bong & KIM Jong were too good for Korean Republic LEE Sangsu & PARK Youngsook, winning 11-6, 11-8, 11-3, 6-11,8-11,11-7, to claim an emotional gold medal.

DPR Korea started the match strongly and raced to a 3-0 lead. The nerves then kicked in and they lost the next two games to the very determined Korean Republic pair. To their relief, they managed to get that crucial fourth game, to secure the 65 year old Heydusek Cup for DPR Korea for the very first time.

The significance of the victory was portrayed when the DPR Korea national anthem started and KIM Jong burst into tears, which touched the hearts of the 12,000 fans at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy .

KIM Jong stated during the press conference: “These were tears of pleasure as we were able to live up to everyone’s expectations.”

Her doubles partner KIM Hyok Bong, who was equally emotional, added: “This is a great surprise; we have always dreamed about this, and are so glad it is now a reality.”

Both countries may have their differences off the table tennis table, but these two pairs showed the power of sport to break barriers and form friendships.

“We came here as table tennis players we don’t know anything about the politics. We were happy to be able to play against our North Korean brothers. Congratulations to them for winning gold”, stated the Vice President of the Korea Table Tennis Association PARK Docheon.

The ITTF will find out in 2 weeks whether or not the IOC accepts the application to have the mixed doubles event added to the table tennis Olympic program in Rio 2016. The success of the mixed doubles at the 5th World Championships event will only strengthen the bid to get the exciting event played in Rio. —- Photo by An Sungho/ITTF

In an enthralling and tense final, the New Zealanders beat a highly spirited Canadian side 33-24 in a game that only saw New Zealand edge out victory in the last few minutes.

Sean Horan’s side had earlier beaten Spain 14-5 in the Cup quarter finals to ensure they would lift the inaugural World Series title as well, finishing the Series with 74 points, ahead of England, Canada, and USA.

And there was even better news for New Zealand’s women, as Portia Woodman ended the season as both the top points scorer (105) and top try scorer (21), which included a crucial touchdown in the final.

“It’s just been an awesome year,” said New Zealand captain Huriana Manuel after the final whistle in Amsterdam.

“We’ve worked very hard for it and I’m very happy for the girls. We are always striving to do our best and I am just really proud. We work very hard for each other and to take both trophies away is amazing and I couldn’t ask for more.”

New Zealand coach Sean Horan was delighted with the win, after a hard fought victory over the impressive Canadians.

“It is pretty special. We have some really special girls on this team and we’ve just come to learn.”

“We are just getting better and better and that is the idea. We are proud of the girls, a good bunch and we’re just enjoying the experiences of the Women’s Sevens World Series.”

The weather cleared in Amsterdam on Saturday with massive crowds turning out for the final round of what has been a remarkable IRB Women’s Seven’s World Series.

“The final between New Zealand and Canada was absolutely brilliant, and it demonstrated all that is good about Women’s Rugby,” said IRB Head of Competition and Performance Mark Egan, who was on hand to present the winning trophy.

“The inaugural Women’s Sevens World Series has achieved its aim of providing these elite athletes with top class competition around the world, and they’ve really prospered from it.”

“Along with the other events in Dubai, Houston and Guangzhou, it’s been a major building block for these girls on the road to the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow next month, but also towards the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016,” he said.

Earlier in this afternoon’s action, Canada came from 7 points behind to beat England 12-7 in their semi final thanks to tries from Bianca Farella and Kelly Russell to reach their first Cup final of the season having earlier beaten North American rivals USA 19-5 with Kayla Moleschi, Mandy Marchak and former Canadian netball star Brittany Waters scoring their tries.

The USA won the Plate, while there was also celebration for hosts Netherlands who beat South Africa to win the Bowl.

Women’s Rugby is one of the fastest-growing team sports in the world and, in 2016, the finest female players will take their place alongside their male counterparts in Rio de Janeiro when Rugby returns to the Olympic Games.

The inception of the Women’s Sevens World Series is a key milestone in the ongoing development of both the competitive standards and the professionalism of the Women’s Game. —- IRB/Photo: Martin Seras Lima

President – Poul-Erik Hoyer (Denmark) *

Deputy President – Gustavo Salazar Delgado (Peru)

Confederation Vice Presidents

Africa – Dagmawit Berhane

Asia – Liu Fengyan

Europe – Gregory Verpoorten

Oceania – Geraldine Brown

Pan America – Vishnu Tolan

Paul Kurzo – Vice President Para-Badminton

Emma Mason – Chair of BWF Athletes’ Commission

The 17 persons below were elected by the BWF membership today. They are listed by name, country and number of votes polled (highest total first).

Akhilesh Das Gupta – India – 259

Etienne Thobois – France – 255

Sergey Shakhray – Russia – 254

Li Ling Wei – China – 253

Mehdi Karbasian – Iran – 244

Lim Teong Kiat – Malaysia – 233

David Cabello – Spain – 171

Peter Tarcala – Slovakia – 168

Raj Gaya – Mauritius – 168

Jassem Kanso – Lebanon – 166

Nigel Skelt – New Zealand – 164

Nora Perry – England – 164

Ranjit De Silva – Sri Lanka – 164

Chipo Zumburani – Zimbabwe – 162

Lawrence Chew – Switzerland – 162

Wayne Somers – Canada – 157

Ng Yoke Weng – Singapore – 156

With 46 of the 51 member Federations present, Justin Ogleby, Chairman of Basketball Wales took to the floor first to welcome the delegates.

He was followed by guest speaker FIBA President Yvan Mainini, who spoke about the need of a strong, united Europe with all its competitions.

“Our sport is quite clearly in danger. Together we have to lead Europe towards progress and development,” said Mainini.

“Our product is the National Teams [competitions] and we must focus on them; by no means would we want to push the clubs aside but a strong new national team competition system will benefit all, including the clubs.”

He reiterated FIBA’s goal to have 3×3 introduced as a new Olympic discipline by 2016 or 2020 at the latest. Speaking about women’s basketball he added that the basketball community must identify ways to help it grow.

Mainini also stressed that FIBA has taken notice of Europe’s stance towards the calendar and the proposal about the windows. “We will do our best to accommodate them as much as possible,” he said.

FIBA Europe President Olafur Rafnsson spoke in similar fashion in his remarks, pointing out that Europe should be the leading force in the world towards uniting basketball, not dividing it.

He reminded the delegates of the need to respect the current bye-laws structure as it was approved unanimously. He said that several difficult decisions have been made but they were all democratic, including the rejection of a request by a number of member Federations for an extraordinary General Assembly and elections.

“This process against our own basketball family was not celebrated. We would have preferred that the resources used by all parties in that dispute were used instead to invest back on basketball,” said Rafnsson.

“Our big countries are the drivers to our success; this why I initiated a fist forum with their participation to discuss the issues that matter to them the most.

“We understand the frustration of some big countries to not be represented at the Board [of FIBA Europe]; but we expect them to work towards a compromise for the General Assembly next year which is also election year.

Finally, Rafnsson outlined some short term objectives and long term vision for FIBA Europe. Those included:

Completing the comprehensive review of the bye-laws and respective governance reforms in close cooperation with the member Federations.

A development programme, to give support and contributions to our National Federations – both for services and finances.

Simplifying the complicated club competitions landscape and increasing cooperation and solutions with ULEB and Euroleague.

Development of the models of the National Team competitions – both EuroBaskets and Youth competitions – but also analyse all views on developing new competitions where needs of the member Federations are calling for this. This project also includes FIBA Europe’s 3×3 programme.

Developing a Communications Plan, including improvement of the role and respect of FIBA Europe towards the global stakeholders, and a proposal of a new Commission in the future.

Rafnsson’s remarks were followed by the reports of the FIBA Europe Secretary General Kamil Novak and the various FIBA Europe Commissions.

In his presentation, Novak said that his main goal in his first six months in the office is to set a trategy for the coming years and work towards delivering a successful EuroBasket Women and EuroBasket 2013.

He informed the delegates that FIBA Europe are in negotiations with Euroleague and ULEB with regards to a new European cups landscape that would involve only two competitions. He also stated that the bidding process for the two 2017 EuroBaskets is expected to start this year.

The delegates voted positively to a series of amendments to the existing FIBA Europe bye-laws while a motion by the F.Y.R. of Macedonia for a series of key amendments to the bye-laws was withdrawn.

The General Assembly concluded with presentations by the hosts of FIBA Europe’s two big events in 2015 – EuroBasket Women (Hungary & Romania) and EuroBasket (Ukraine). —- FibaEurope

Dr. Suhandinata was among the first to congratulate the new president in the presence of all the delegates attending the meeting from more than 150 of the BWF’s 179 Member Associations.

Gustavo Salazar Delgado defeated incumbent Deputy President Paisan Rangsikitpho for that position. The Peruvian amassed 148 votes to Rangsikitpho’s 118. Voting is now ongoing for BWF Council positions. —- BWF

The biggest annual gathering of cricket decision-makers from around the world will take place at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London in 2013 but, from 2014, other destinations will have an opportunity to stage this prestigious event.

The ICC Annual Conference provides hosts with a platform to engage with the global cricket community as well as a chance to demonstrate their capacity to stage a high profile world-class event.

Future hosts will follow in an illustrious line of previous cities including London, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson, said: “The ICC Annual Conference is one of the most important events in the international cricket calendar. It brings together senior delegates from over 50 of our member countries to discuss the promotion and development of the game and make major strategic decisions.

“The ICC Annual Conference has traditionally drawn considerable media attention, which, in turn, provides the host with significant international exposure. This affords fantastic opportunities for profile-building and engagement within the international cricket fraternity as well as the broader sporting community.”

Interested parties will be able to submit proposals to host the ICC Annual Conference in one, two or all three of the 2014-16 events. The deadline for submitting the proposals is Friday 7 June 2013.

The Host Selection Process manual can be obtained by sending an email to meenakshi.sharma@icc-cricket.com. Queries relating to the process should be directed to ICC’s Head of Strategic Management and Support Services, Jon Long, on jon.long@icc-cricket.com or +971 4 382 8881. —- ICC

The APB “Boxer of the Week” campaign was launched on Monday 13 May with Welsh Wonder Andrew Selby. Fans of the WSB “British Lionhearts” celebrity had the opportunity to learn more about him through the AIBA Pro Boxing Official Facebook (facebook.com/APB.Boxing) page and the APB Twitter (@APB_Boxing) account. The main goal of the campaign is to let boxing fans interact with their favourite athletes and let them discover details of the upcoming top-class AIBA Pro Boxing competition.

Answering the questions of his fans, Andrew Selby confessed: “My goal is to become APB World Champion. APB gives me the chance to box professionally, whilst remaining on the GB Team and hopefully represent Britain in the next Olympic Games.”

AIBA is now determined to bring to life the most exciting project in the history of our sport – AIBA Pro Boxing (APB). According to AIBA President and APB Board Chairman Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, the organisation designed this proposal to satisfy a demand from boxers themselves. “We are convinced that it is the right time to provide something different for our top boxers. With APB, we will revolutionize the world of boxing and establish a blueprint for its development. Finally our athletes won’t have to jump into the unknown while embracing a professional career”.

With APB, the World’s best boxers will now be able to turn Pro without taking risks, as within APB they will remain under the patronage of their National Federation and therefore AIBA throughout their entire careers. Moreover they will compete professionally in an innovative competition structure under a transparent ranking system, and still retain their Olympic eligibility. Each signed boxer will have a guaranteed number of bouts at an agreed purse, equal career chances and a fair remuneration package. Boxers will be able to maximize their training programs and fight schedule through the year with regular match calendar.

With an obvious and transparent competition structure, based only on their performance, a doubtless development path, protection and financial stability, APB is the best ever existing proposal for boxers worldwide. This is confirmed by the impressive APB boxers’ roster with the best AIBA Open Boxing (AOB) and WSB athletes and a selection of Pro boxers from around the world.

Whilst the APB competition will officially kick-off in January 2014, a number of exhibition bouts will be organized in the next weeks all around the World. More details to be revealed on Tuesday 21 May. —- AIBA

The organisations will work together to share knowledge and best practice in the fight against match-fixing and betting fraud. This will include the exchange of information, advice and expertise on matters of sport integrity and the prevention of sports betting fraud, the involvement of each others experts as speakers at conferences and workshops, collaboration on research projects related to betting fraud and the distribution of research papers in key journals and publications.

Mohammed Hanzab (President, ICSS) said; “The ICSS recognises the significance and importance of protecting, promoting and maintaining the integrity of sport gambling. This agreement will see our team of world-leading experts work with European Lotteries to share information and techniques aimed at addressing the critical and evolving threat of matching fixing and betting fraud across Europe. With the European Lotteries, the ICSS can rely on the credibility of another highly respected partner in it´s network of international organisations”.

Friedrich Stickler (President, European Lotteries) said; “ EL is the only association of betting operators to argue that match-fixing is probably the greatest threat to the integrity of sport. Together with the ICSS we are setting concrete actions and commitments to fight match-fixing and fraud. With this collaboration we want to strengthen each others responses and initiatives. As the historic partner of sport in the EU Member States, we are actually the strongest defenders of the integrity of sport and daily contribute to important initiatives like the one from ICSS”.

About the European Lotteries (EL)

European Lotteries is the European umbrella organisation of national lotteries operating games of chance for the public benefit. It brings together state-owned and private lottery operators, both profit and non-profit. EL has 81 members from 48 countries including all 27 EU Member States. The association’s EU members contribute more than 25 billion € p.a. to the state budgets from which 2,5 billion € are dedicated to sports . Unlike many commercial online gambling operators, EL members only offer gambling and betting services in the jurisdictions in which they are licensed by the respective national government. —- By: Will Shand

Delegates from more than 150 of BWF’s 179 worldwide Member Associations are in the Malaysian capital for the week-long session which will see the election of a new president and council, the announcement of the 2012 Players of the Year at a glittering awards banquet and various council and committee sessions, including the Women in Badminton Forum on Sunday.

These events will run alongside the biennial Li-Ning BWF Sudirman Cup which kicks off on Sunday at Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, with 30 teams competing and China bidding to defend their title for a record ninth victory in the Mixed Team tournament.

Today’s Member’s Forum opened with a keynote presentation by International Olympic Committee Vice President Sir Craig Reedie who is also a former president of the BWF precursor, the International Badminton Federation (IBF). BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund also addressed the gathering, following on Sir Craig’s Olympic-themed opening.

Both noted that while badminton has been doing increasingly well as part of the Summer Games and “significant improvements” have been made, there is still “lots to do”. Lund said badminton and the BWF must build on a solid performance in London 2012 which saw 98.9 per cent ticket sales; more than 1000 hours of dedicated badminton coverage and great spectator ship.

The Member’s Forum included other presentations on Para-Badminton; Shuttle Time (BWF’s schools-based development programme); Olympic Solidarity; Events Management (bidding for, winning and staging successful tournaments); and Global Media and TV Broadcast.

“This is an important occasion for networking and information sharing with our most important stakeholder – our members,” said outgoing BWF President Dr. Kang Young Joong.

Tomorrow’s AGM will see either Dr. Justian Suhandinata (Indonesia) or Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen (Denmark) succeed Dr. Kang as BWF President for the next four years, as the organisation moves towards the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. A new BWF Council will also be elected.

In the evening, the badminton fraternity will be joined by players in the Li-Ning BWF Sudirman Cup for the All Stars Awards and Welcome Dinner. During the night’s festivities at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel, the Players of the Year for 2012 will be revealed and top administrators saluted for their contributions to the sport. —- BWF