Federations Roundup - 2012 Football Qualifier Update; SportAccord Signs TV Agency

Matildas Won’t Dance in 2012; Men Might

Australia’s appeal to get North Korea out of the London 2012 women’s football competition and the Matildas in is no more.

Melbourne’s Herald Sun reports that the World Anti-Doping Agency won’t contest FIFA’s decision to keep the Koreans eligible for the Olympic tournament.

The ruling follows pleas by the Aussie national team, the Australian Olympic Committee and Football Federation Australia to WADA as well as the IOC and FIFA.

At issue was whether North Korea’s ban from the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup should also apply to the 2012 Olympics.

Five players tested positive for steroids at this year’s finals in Germany and were slapped with bans of up to 18 months by world football’s governing body.

Two months later, Australia finished third in Asia’s continental qualifying tournament for the London Summer Games. Among their losses was a 1-0 opener to runner-up North Korea, who played without its banned footballers and qualified for 2012.

According to FIFA, drug tests were not conducted at the qualifiers in China due to logistical reasons.

"WADA has taken the decision not to appeal bearing in mind the rules that were in place for the event," a WADA spokesman told the Herald Sun, citing a World Anti-Doping Code article that says if three members or more of a team commit anti-doping violations during an event, it’s the organizer – in this case, FIFA – who decides the appropriate sanctions.

Australia’s men’s team, meanwhile, suffered a goalless draw against Iraq on Tuesday in its bid for London 2012.

Asia’s third and final round of qualifiers comes to a close this week with the winners in each of three groups automatically advancing to the Games. The three runner-ups willplay a round-robin in March with the winner to meet its African counterpart in a playoff match with a final Olympic spot on the line.

Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Oman and Qatar play in Pool A; Australia, Uzbekistan, Iraq and United Arab Emirates are in Pool G; and Japan, Syria, Bahrain and Malaysia make up Group C.

SportAccord, IEC Partner

SportAccord will employ IEC in Sports to raise the profile of its growing events portfolio.

The partnership between the global sports TV agency and the umbrella organization for international federations begins with next month’s inauguralSportAccord World Mind Games in Beijing.

IEC will deliver a live world feed, daily highlights, web-streaming and integrated Swiss Timing graphics to both international media platforms and a dedicated YouTube channel as around 170 elite players compete in the five sports on the program - chess, bridge, draughts, go and xiang qi.

"We are extremely happy to appoint IEC in Sports, who are one of the major TV distributors in the world for Olympic sporting disciplines," SportAccord president Hein Verbruggen said in a statement.

''We need to see a wider range of sports attract viewers and participants. This is part of the core mission of SportAccord."

The umbrella organization also organizes the World Combat Games and World Beach Games.

Volleyball Boss: National Federations Crucial

The president of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) argues that the rights of national federations must be guaranteed.

"We need to continue creating unity, not only around an individual, but around the elected leadership team," Jizhong Wei writes in the latest edition of World Volley News, FIVB’s bimonthly bulletin.

"As FIVB President, my wish is to have the power controlled and limited so that the rights of national federations and continental confederations are guaranteed."

Wei’s words come on the heels of four continental general assemblies, all of which he attended. The African Volleyball Confederation meets next month.

Wei also signed a two-year partnership with the United Nations for the FIVB to help promote the Millennium Development Goals.

He signed the agreement with Wilfried Lemke, the U.N.'s special adviser for sport.

"We consider carrying out social responsibility work together with the United Nations to be both an opportunity and a duty," Wei said.

"Volleyball is actively enjoyed by over half a billion people worldwide, which makes it potentially a strong medium for contributing to the work and mission of the UN in the years to come."

Written byMatthew Grayson.

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