Asia

The Japan Sport Council (JSC) has announced that Zaha Hadid Architects has won the design contest to redevelop Tokyo’s Kasumigaoka National Stadium, which is set to be a key venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the potential centrepiece of a Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has selected Hanoi as the host city of the 2019 Asian Games, while Samsung has agreed a deal to become a major sponsor of the 2014 edition of the event in Incheon.

News Corporation on Thursday completed a deal to buy out ESPN’s stake in their jointly-owned pan-Asian sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports.

The future of the tournament known as ‘Asia’s Major’, the Singapore Open, has been secured for another five years after the Singapore Golf Association (SGA) and tournament promoters World Sport Group (WSG) signed what they described as a “landmark agreement”.

Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games today announced Japan Airlines (JAL) as its seventh partner.

Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games now has more than 8.5 million supporters in the Japanese capital according to latest figures.

The Tokyo Marathon has become the sixth addition to the elite World Marathon Majors (WMM) and the group’s first member outside Europe and the United States, with the 2012 New York Marathon cancelled in the wake of megastorm Sandy.

The PGA Tour has announced that China’s HSBC-WGC Champions tournament will be elevated to full World Golf Championships (WGC) status from 2013, with HSBC signing a three-year extension through 2015 as title sponsor of the event.

The Japan Sport Council has announced that 11 proposals will enter the final bidding round for the contract to redevelop the Kasumigaoka National Stadium in preparation for the country’s staging of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and role as part of Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Japan's bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games was given a lift by the release of the FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index 2012-2013 in which the country ranked ahead of 2020 bidding rivals Spain and Turkey.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed its intention to launch its own domestic Twenty20 competition in March 2013 in a bid to aid the rehabilitation of the sport in the country.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced that South India-based media conglomerate Sun TV has secured the rights to own and operate a new Indian Premier League (IPL) team in Hyderabad.

Tokyo 2020 has moved to play down the impact that Shintaro Ishihara’s surprise resignation as Governor of Tokyo will have on the city’s bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has agreed a six-year media rights deal with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, with the partnership set to include Beijing’s hosting of the 2015 World Championships.

FC Barcelona has agreed its first major commercial deal with an Indian company by signing a partnership with Nokia India.