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World Sports News Roundup
Scotland
-
John Scott resigns as
Glasgow 2014 chief
The chief executive officer of the Glasgow
2014 Commonwealth Games organising
committee John Scott has resigned after
admitting breaking rules over accepting gifts
and hospitality from a potential supplier.
Chief Operating Officer David Grevemberg
will take charge of the organising committee
until a permanent CEO is appointment.
A statement from the organising committee
said that Mr Scott deeply regretted his
mistake.
Lord Smith, chairman of Glasgow 2014,
said: ‘John Scott has made an important
contribution to the planning of what we
believe will be an outstanding Games’.
‘The board has accepted his resignation
today for an error of judgement he made in
accepting, and not declaring, an offer from
one of Glasgow 2014’s potential suppliers,
in breach of the organising committee’s
strict Gifts and Gratuities policy’.
‘I know he deeply regrets this mistake and
this was a job that he loved. It is a measure
of the man that he has put the values and
reputation of the OC ahead of his own at
this time’.
Bulgaria
-
WTA champions
tournament moves to Bulgaria
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
has announced that the Tournament of
Champions, the annual season-ending
event for the WTA’s top International
tournament winners, will take place in
Sofia, Bulgaria in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The tournament will be staged at the brand
new state-of-the-art Arena Sofia, to be
unveiled in July, and features existing and
next generation stars competing for a share
of nearly £500,000 in prize money.
The top six highest-ranked players who
have won an International tournament
during the regular WTA season and who are
not participating in singles for the year-end
TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships in
Istanbul, Turkey, will compete in the single-
elimination format event.
Additionally, two wildcards will have the
opportunity to compete in the event.
Stefan Tzvetkov, president of the Bulgarian
Tennis Federation and Tournament director
of the Tournament of Champions, said:
‘We are very happy and proud that the
WTA chose Bulgaria and Sofia as host of
one of the most prestigious events - the
Tournament of Champions’.
‘This will be the biggest tennis event
ever organized in our country. It will be a
very good opportunity for promoting our
wonderful city and country as a first class
tourist, event and business destination’.
The Netherlands
- Dutch FC
Twente Stadium roof collapse kills
workers
Part of a stadium roof of Dutch football
club FC Twente has collapsed killing two
people and injuring more than a dozen.
The accident happened on 7 July during
building work at the ground. The victims
are all construction workers.
The stadium was under renovation at the
time of the roof collapse. Twente wanted
to increase the stadium capacity to 32,
500 from its current 24,000 capacity. Two
support beams at the De Grolsch Veste
Stadion apparently collapsed. Workers
were adding a second tier to an already
existing stand in the area that collapsed.
Twente are one of the most prominent
sides in Dutch football, having won the
league two seasons back and finished
second last season. They are based in the
city of Enschede and were also involved
in the Champions League last season
against the likes of Inter, Tottenham and
Werder Bremen.
USA
-
Baseball bat manufacturer
liable for death
An aluminium baseball bat manufacturer
is liable for the death of an 18-year-old
pitcher who was struck in the head by a
batted ball, the Montana Supreme Court
has ruled in affirming an $850,000 jury
verdict.
The plaintiffs’ son died from head injuries
sustained in an American Legion baseball
game when he was struck by a ball hit by
a player using a Model CB-13 Louisville
Slugger aluminium bat.
The plaintiffs filed a strict liability claim for
failure to warn against the manufacturer.
According to the plaintiffs, the manufac-
turer’s aluminium bat increased the
dangers of baseball because in-fielders
have less time to react due to the
increased velocity of a batted ball.
The manufacturer argued that state law
allows only actual users of a product to
bring a failure-to-warn claim and that the
company owed no duty to “bystanders”
like pitchers and fielders.
The court disagreed, saying, “Awarning of
the bat’s risks to only the batter standing
at the plate inadequately communicates
the potential risk of harm posed by
the bat’s increased exit speed. In this
context, all of the players, including [the
plaintiffs’ son,] were users or consumers
placed at risk by the increased exit speed
caused by [the manufacturer’s] bat. [The
manufacturer] is subject to liability to all
players in the game ... for the physical
harm caused by its bat’s increased exit
speed.”
Montana Supreme Court. Patch v. Hillerich & Bradsby
Co., No. DA 10-0051. July 21, 2011. Lawyers USA
No. 993-3108.
(c) 2011 ProQuest Information and
Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.
UK
-
London 2012 ready to go!!
With just under a year to go it has been
announced that all of the permanent
Olympic venues are ready and that the
whole construction project is on budget.
International Olympic Committee president
Jacques Rogge has hailed London’s
Olympic progress. Rogge joined London
2012 chairman Seb Coe in a series of
public events watching the first action at
the newly-completed aquatic centre and
attending a celebration event in Trafalgar
Square.
Olympic Delivery Authority officials, who are
responsible for building the Olympic Park,
have reported all six permanent venues
have now been completed and 90 percent
of construction work is finished.
Public transport links to and from the London
Olympic Park have also been completed -
according to the Olympic Delivery Authority.
Meanwhile, the sale of London’s Olympic
Village has been completed for £557m to a
joint venture between Delancey and Qatari
Diar - the property arm of Qatar’s sovereign
wealth fund.
Delancey & Qatari Diar will now manage
the 1,400 homes and six development plots
in the area.
The homes will become private housing,
while the six adjacent plots have the
potential for a further 2,000 new homes to
be built.
The other half of the village, comprising
1,379 homes, has already been purchased
for £268m and will be operated by Triathlon
Homes.
The Village, which cost £1.1bn to build, will
be transformed into a new neighbourhood
- offering high-quality new homes, many of
them affordable, as well as education and
healthcare facilities, new parklands and
public squares, once the Games are over.
Qatar
to host Tour de France?
Media reports suggest that Qatar is
interested in hosting the start of the 2016
Tour de France. This follows on from its
successful bid for the 2022 FIFAWorld Cup.
However, Qatar would come with logistical
and meteorological challenges – with a mid-
summer July heat posing problems for the
riders, almost guaranteeing a short stage or
time trial should Qatar win the stage.
Next year’s race will depart from Liege,
Belgium, while Corsica is due to begin the
100th Tour de France in 2013.
Florence
is bidding to become the first Italian city
to host the Grand Depart in 2014 and
Barcelona, Edinburgh and cities in England,
Netherlands, Germany and Austria have
all expressed an interest in hosting future
starts.