Asia

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has launched a process to find a new host for the 2017 edition of its Asian Youth Games after withdrawing the event from Sri Lanka due to ongoing problems regarding preparations in the country.

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) president Dmitry Chernyshenko has said the pan-European ice hockey competition is in talks to add a Shanghai team and is targeting hosting a 2015-16 regular season game in China.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has added Sapporo as a new host city for the inaugural edition of its Premier12 baseball competition, which will be staged in Japan and Chinese Taipei from November 8-21.

Advertising and public relations giant WPP is launching a new sports marketing agency through GroupM, its global media investment management company.

Japan's Sports Minister, Hakubun Shimomura, has called for the installation of temporary seating and for the installation of a retractable roof to be postponed for Tokyo’s new National Stadium, the venue intended to be the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympic Games and Japan’s staging of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has awarded the hosting rights for forthcoming flagship events to Spain, Indonesia and India.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts series has reached an agreement to stage its maiden event in South Korea.

The Japanese government has passed a bill to create a new agency that will seek to coordinate sports administration ahead of Tokyo’s staging of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

US college sport conference the Pac-12 has announced it is to host a first-of-its-kind, regular season basketball game in China as part of its Globalisation Initiative programme.

World football’s governing body Fifa has today (Wednesday) issued an eight-year ban to former vice-president Reynald Temarii, while the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has suspended general secretary Alex Soosay amid further fallout from corruption scandals revolving around Qatari powerbroker Mohamed bin Hammam.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has said it is hopeful of resurrecting its Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 competition for a third edition later this year.

The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) has awarded its 2016 3x3 World Championships to Guangzhou, the third-largest city in China.

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has appointed Hoss Rafaty as its new secretary general and has awarded the 2017 World Championships to Muju in South Korea.

The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee has opened the application process for additional events bidding to be added to the sporting programme for the 2020 summer Olympic Games.

Indian business conglomerate the Essel Group has confirmed plans to establish a rival city-based Twenty20 cricket league in India.

The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), the global umbrella group for players’ representative organisations, has cautioned against international teams playing in Pakistan after it was announced last week that Zimbabwe would become the first nation to tour the Asian country for six years.