IOC President to Davos -- Monday Memo

(ATR) Thomas Bach heads to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for the first time as IOC president.

Bach is scheduled to be in Davos Jan. 20 - 21.On his agenda is a meeting with Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and leadership of the Italian National Olympic Committee. Sure to come up for discussion is the Rome 2024 Olympic bid.

On Jan. 21, Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan will host a dinner. The capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, will host the first European Games this summer.

The World Economic Forum is an annual gathering of the world’s elite thinkers, NGO leaders and business personalities. The forum takes place Jan. 21-24.

ANOC Executive Council

The Executive Council of the Association of National Olympic Committeesis meeting on Jan. 19 in Lausanne.

Developments concerning the inaugural World Beach Games are expected to be the main item on the agenda for the meeting,Around the Rings has learned.A debrief on ANOC's 2014 general assembly in Bangkok will take place with preparations for this year’s annual meeting in Washington D.C. also on the agenda.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of ANOC, will chair the meeting.This marksthe first council meeting at ANOC’s new headquarters in Lausanne.

2024 Olympic Bid Race

On Jan. 20, the Berlin Senate will present a referendum law for a bid for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Berlin and Hamburg turned in their respective bid proposals for the 2024 Games in September of last year. Arepresentative for the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB) tellsAround the Ringsthe DOSB will choose a city to bid for the Games during its session in Frankfurt on Mar. 21.

The French Olympic Committee is also considering a bid from Paris, and the United States Olympic Committee has selected Boston as the U.S. bid for the 2024 Games.

Boston 2024, the private group behind the city's bid, plans to hold monthly public meetings over the next several months--starting Jan. 21, according to Boston.com.Boston Mayor Martin Walsh will hold the city's first public meeting on the Boston 2024 effort on Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. EST at the local Suffolk Law School.

Other bids are expected to join the race for the 2024 Olympics, though only Rome has declared its interest.

COP Votes On President's Resignation

On Jan. 23, Jose Quinones, president of the Peruvian Olympic Committee (COP), faces a vote on his resignation from the COP. He resigned after being accused of misusing Olympic committee funds.

Quinones denies the allocations. A technical delegation from the Pan American Sports Organization also hopes to be in Peru this week to fully understand what implications his resignation might have on the 2019 Pan American Games, taking place in Lima.

2021 World Games

Three candidate cities for the 2021 World Games make their final presentations to the International World Games Association (IWGA) at IOC headquarters in Lausanne on Jan. 21.

Birmingham, Alabama; Lima, Peru and Ufa, Russia are vying to host the World Games in 2021.

The IWGA will announce the host city for the Games on Jan. 22 during a press conference in Lausanne.

Australian Open

The 2015 Australian Open Tennis Championships begins Jan. 19.

The tournament features men's and women's events in singles and doubles, as well as mixed doubles.

Stan Wawrinka is the defending champion in men's singles. Li Na, the defending champion in women's singles, announced her retirement in September of last year.

Melbourne is staging matches for the event at the city's Melbourne Park. Competition ends Feb. 1.

World Men's Handball Championship

The International Handball Federation is staging the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship Qatar.

Competition ends Feb. 1, and IOC president Thomas Bach has plans to attend the final match.

FIFA Africa Cup of Nations

A total of 16 teams are competing in FIFA's 2015 Africa Cup of Nations through Feb. 8.

The 30th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations was originally scheduled to take place in Morocco. Following an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, tournament officials changed the host country toEquatorial Guinea.

KHL All Star Game

Sochi's Bolshoi Arena will host the 2015 Kontinental Hockey League All Star Game on Jan. 25.

This exhibition ice hockey game marks the midway point of the KHL's regular season.The Bolshoi Arena also hosted ice hockey competition during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

European Youth Olympic Festival

The 2015 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival will be held in Vorarlberg, Austria and Liechtenstein Jan. 25-30. This marks the first time that two countries will host the event.

Sports on the program for the festival include alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, nordic combined, ski jumping, and snowboarding.

Asian Cup

Five cities in Australia are staging competition for the Asian Football Confederation's 2015 Asian Nations Cup, Jan. 9-31.

Matches will be held in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne,Newcastle, and Sydney.Sixteen teams will participate in the tournament with six spots reserved for the host country.

Written by Ed Hula III andNicole Bennett

Homepage photo: Getty Images

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