FIBA Investigating World Cup Brawl -- Federation Focus

(ATR) The basketball federation opened "disciplinary proceedings" against Australia and the Philippines following a World Cup qualifying match which featured 13 ejections.

With the Philippines down 31 points towards the end of the third quarter, the result seemed inevitable. Away from the ball Roger Pogoy of the Philippines lifted his elbow into the chin of opposing player Christopher Goulding, knocking him to the ground.

Whistles blew immediately, but Aussie Daniel Kickert was not satisfied. He then struck Pogoy with an elbow of his own. What began as shoving quickly turned into punches. Both benches cleared. Chairs flew through the air. Australia’s Thon Maker kicked at opponents on multiple occasions.

A HUGE brawl broke out between the Philippines and Australia teams in a FIBA World Cup qualifier. pic.twitter.com/4jWWZAhVHb

The incident left the Philippines with three players. Two more quickly fouled out, forcing the Philippines to forfeit.

Russia Expulsion Possible at IAAF Council Meeting

RusAF’s progress since the last council meeting will decide their fate later this month.

In March, the world athletics governing body said it will consider expelling the Russian federation if the country fails to make "dramatic progress" in meeting conditions for its reinstatement. Russia’s suspension, implemented in November 2015, remains in place.

RUSADA is still recovering from its recent doping scandal.

Rune Andersen is the chair of the IAAF taskforce working towards RusAF’s statement. He warned that if progress was not made by the time of the next council meeting in July "further measures should be discussed including withdrawing permission for Russian athletes to compete as neutrals at international competitions."

IAAF convenes from July 26 to 27 in Buenos Aires.

New Weightlifting Categories

The International Weightlifting Federation is expected to approve new weight categories for the Olympic Games later this week. The IOC is forcing the changes in response to chronic doping cases at the Olympics and world championships.

For Tokyo the IOC has reduced the weightlifting classes from eight to seven and cut the number of athletes by 25 percent to 196, men and women.

Delegates to the IWF Congress in Tashkent July 6 will vote on the seven new Olympic weight classes. The congress will also okay a new formula to calculate how to best match weightlifters to the new Olympic classes. The change in formula is necessary because the IWF will maintain 10 weight classes for its world championships, which are part of Olympic qualifying.

The congress will be followed by the IWF Junior World Championships, running to July 14. The Uzbek capital was tapped less than a year ago to handle the event after originally awarding it to Pyongyang, North Korea.

In 2017, amid rising tensions over missile tests and the travel difficulties faced by athletes, the IWF switched to Tashkent, a frequent host of IWF championships.

ITTF is Going Pro

The federation is creating a professional platform for its World Tour by 2021.

Sportsmaster is assisting with the creation of the new structure. Table tennis will become one of the only sports to regulate world championship, professional, and Olympic qualifying competitions.

ITTF president Thomas Weikert said in a statement, "This is potentially one of the most significant steps that we have taken as a federation. It is a great step for us as we professionalize the sport and create a brand new proposition for the players and fans together with the ITTF family."

Multiple competitions will be unified under this platform, including the World Veterans Tour, TTX, and T2APAC League. A new commercial rights deal will start with the new professional structure.

Homepage photo: FIBA

Written by Jeffrey Farekand Mark Bisson

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