Asia

Engineering design firm AECOM has been appointed as advisor to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the development of venues and infrastructure for the 2020 event.

The fallout from the 2011 Fifa presidential election scandal has resumed with world football’s governing body today (Wednesday) banning Mongolian Football Federation president Ganbold Buyannemekh for five years for taking bribes from Mohamed bin Hammam.

The Korean government has backtracked on a controversial proposal to stage the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 winter Olympic Games outside of PyeongChang.

The Women’s Tennis Association has announced that the Chinese city of Zhuhai will host the first edition of its new Elite Trophy singles and doubles event, which will replace and revamp its Tournament of Champions for those players who fail to qualify for the WTA Finals.

Japan is poised to be awarded a Super Rugby expansion franchise after agreeing a hosting deal with rival bidder Singapore, according to reports.

Baseball’s 2014 Asia Series, which was due to take place in Chinese Taipei in November, has been cancelled.

The Arup designing, planning and engineering consultancy has been appointed to serve as the lead adviser of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Badminton will make its Paralympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020, while para-cycling has been provisionally omitted from the sports programme after the International Cycling Union (UCI) failed to meet the bid deadline.

India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has agreed a deal to become a co-owner of Chennaiyin FC in the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) football competition.

The Japan Sport Council (JSC) has confirmed the construction of a new Olympic Stadium for Tokyo’s hosting of the 2020 summer Games is to be delayed until at least mid-December.

The head of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has criticised leading cricket officials for a fixation with money that he believes is hindering the sport’s prospects of global development.

Tour de France organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) has moved to deny claims from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) that the two parties are in talks for the Southeast Asian nation to host part of the cycling showpiece.

STAR India and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) believe they can take hockey “to the next level” when their broadcast deal kicks in from 2015.

The Women’s Tennis Association has engaged Li Na as an ambassador for its revamped WTA Finals following the recent decision of the Chinese superstar to retire from the sport.

Mohammad Ashraful will be able to resume playing competitive cricket in 2016 after the former Bangladesh captain had his suspension for match-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 competition reduced on appeal.

Incheon’s Asian Games organisers have stated their approach to the 2014 edition of the multi-sport event should be a role model for the continent, amid criticism over poor attendances and meagre ticket sales.

The Infront Sports & Media agency has announced that Winston Zheng has stepped down as managing director of its Infront China arm after just over six months in the role.

Kyodo News has announced that it has been appointed as the host national news agency for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.