Honorary IOC Member, 88
Former IOC member and FIFA vice president Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah is being remembered as a Malaysian sports icon and hero to the Asian Football Confederation.
The longtime sports administrator and civil servant died Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur at the age of 88.
"It was his passion for physical activity that led to his decades-long career serving sport within the Olympic Movement at home and abroad," the IOC said Wednesday in a statement.
"It's a very sad day for Asian football as we have lost one of our biggest heroes," added AFC acting president Zhang Jilong.
Abu Samah won election to the IOC in 1978 and served until 2004, after which he was an honorary member.
He also headed the the Malaysian Cricket Association from 1969 to 1990, theOlympic Council of Malaysia from 1976 to 1998, the Football Association of Malaysia from 1976 to 1983, the AFC from 1978 to 1994 and the Malaysia Taekwondo Association from 1987 to 1999.
Japan PM Thanks FIFA for Support
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda thanks FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the support of world football’s governing body in the wake of the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
"To host the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup gave hope and courage in the various venues where the competition was held," Noda told the Swiss as he arrived in Tokyo ahead of Saturday’s final between USA and Germany.
"Unfortunately, Japan didn’t make it to the final, but it has still been important to help aid the recovery of the Japanese people," the PM added.
"It is important for Japan to continue to host international events, and Tokyo is currently bidding to host the Olympic Games in 2020."
Six matches during the three-week tournament were staged in Miyagi Prefecture, an especially hard hit area last year.
"I’m happy that Miyagi was used as a venue, with the government and Japan Football Association putting a lot of effort and energy into rebuilding the affected area," Blatter told Noda on Wednesday, according to FIFA.com.
"Football connects people and it was good that they could be unified around football."
Taekwondo Leaders Eye 2020 Paralympics
The World Taekwondo Federation is pushing for Paralympic inclusion on the heels of World Taekwondo Day.
WTF leaders, continental chiefs and other members of the Olympic Movement gathered Tuesday in Seoul to commemorate the annual occasion marking their sport’s acceptance into the Summer Games at the 1994 IOC Session.
This time around, however, the WTF’s focus was not about looking back at the milestone but instead peering ahead to the 2012 WTF World Para Taekwondo Championships in Aruba – and to the 2020 Paralympics.
"Each year the number of our para-athletes is increasing as the WTF continues to provide everyone with the greatest opportunity to participate in taekwondo, regardless of a disability," WTF secretary general Jean-Marie Ayer said in a statement.
Entries are expected from Pan America, Europe, Africa and Asia for November’s world championships, the WTF’s third to date.
Para taekwondo missed out on joining the Games ahead of Rio 2016 when the International Paralympic Committee chose para-canoe and para-triathlon instead in 2010. A decision on 2020 is expected in 2014.
NBC Veteran Heads to Fox
Olympics veteran and longtime NBC executive David Neal will head Fox’s coverage of FIFA World Cup soccer beginning in 2015, the Associated Press reports.
Neal left NBC in 2010 to start his own production company after producing the network’s Olympics broadcasts for nearly 30 years, including as an executive vice president of NBC Olympics and executive producer of NBC Sports.
Fox outbid both NBC and ESPN last year for English-language U.S. media rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as well as the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups.
Written by Matthew Grayson.
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