Aquathlon Joins Beach Games; Judo Championships Open -- Federations Focus

(ATR) Aquathlon has been included in the first ever edition of the World Beach Games, which take place in San Diego in October 2019.

The International Triathlon Union is also launching the Aquathlon Ranking, including all athletes competing in this discipline.

"To be able to have aquathlon included in the inaugural edition of the beach games will indeed mean an incredible boost for one of our most recent disciplines, and it will mean a great increase in the number of athletes regularly competing on our events and enjoying the possibility of participating on great multisport events as those Games will be," said International Triathlon Union president Marisol Casado.

A total of 60 athletes will participate in the individual races, 30 men and 30 women. They will compete on a 5km run–2k swim–5k run. For the mixed relay event, each athlete will do a 1.25km run followed by a 500m swim and another 1.25km run.

To be eligible to participate in the ANOC World Beach Games 2019, all athletes must be on the ITU Aquathlon Ranking, with points to be collected at world championships, continental and national championships. The 24 highest ranked athletes as of July 15 2019 will be allocated one quota place for their NOC, with a maximum of two athletes per country per event. Host nation, USA, will have two guaranteed places per gender and event but must comply with the eligibility criteria. The remaining four places per gender will be allocated via invitations.

Judo World Champs Open in Baku

More than 800 judoka from 133 nations begin competition in Baku Sept. 20 at the 2018 IJF Judo World Championships.

The event runs through Sept. 27 at the 5,000 seat National Gymnastics Arena in the Azerbaijan capital.

A new world champ in the men’s 100kg category will be crowned as Teddy Riner of France says he will not compete this year or next ahead of Tokyo 2020. The 29 year old is undefeated in 10 years of competition.

North Korea and South Korea will form a unified team for the mixed team event on the final day of the championships Sept. 27. The unified team continues the efforts of sports diplomacy between North and South Korea after the PyeongChang Olympics.

The International Judo Federation inducted 19 new members to the IJF Hall of Fame at a gala dinner in Baku Sept. 18.

FIFA Evaluates Russia 2018, VARs

Coaches and technical directors from nearly 200 FIFA member associations and all six confederations will take part in the FIFA Football Conference in London on Sunday.

A technical and tactical assessment of the Russia 2018 World Cup is the highlight of the event, which will be opened by FIFA president Gianni Infantino

The success of video assistant referees (VARs), the system which made its debut in Russia, will also be evaluated.

FIFA’s deputy secretary general for football, Zvonimir Boban, says he hopes the conference will allow "a dialogue between those coaches and technical experts who gained valuable experience in Russia and those whose teams didn’t qualify in order to maximise the benefits of the FIFA World Cup and advance technical development at all levels of the football structure".

It’s the first time FIFA has invited the coaches and technical experts of all member associations to gather at a single post-FIFA World Cup football conference.

First Federation Signs Agreement with Beijing 2022

The International Biathlon Union says it signed a "Sport Delivery Plan," with the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee.

The plan was agreed upon during the third IOC Beijing 2022 coordination commission, which newly elected IBU President Olle Dahlin attended. The plan has three parts, a jointly agreed standard principals, and milestones and deliverables sections.

The IBU says the latter two sections serve as "working references in the progress," of the biathlon venue for Beijing 2022. Biathlon is the first federation to finalize a delivery plan with Beijing 2022, the federation added.

Newly elected IBU President Olle Dahlin already busy in his new position, joining the 3rd IOC CoCom meeting for @Beijing2022 and meeting with Commission Chair Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. (r.). pic.twitter.com/Pf14OsXnv0

Bach Visits Rowing Championships

IOC President Thomas Bach attended the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria as part of his trip to the country.

Bach encouraged a Winter Youth Olympic Games bid from Bulgaria during his trip before attending the championships. Bulgaria is also co-hosting the 2018 World Volleyball Championships.

After the world championships World Rowing held an ordinary congress, where new continental representatives were approved, and commission chairs appointed. World Rowing will appoint its 2025 and 2026 World Championships hosts at the 2019 Congress it was decided, according to a statement.

The 2019 World Championships will be held in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria, and the locations for three continental Olympic qualifiers were decided. Africa will hold an Olympic qualifier in Tunis, Tunisia, on 3-6 October 2019. The Asian and Oceania qualifier will be held in Chungju, South Korea in April 2020. The Americas will hold its Olympic qualifier in Rio de Janeiro on April 2-5, 2020.

World Rowing will also debate its proposal for the 2024 Olympic program at an extraordinary congress in 2020.

Written by Aaron Bauer , Mark Bisson , and Ed Hula

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