Fiji

A Fiji-based team will enter Australia’s National Rugby Championship (NRC) in 2017 through a World Rugby-backed initiative that has been branded a major milestone for the growth of the sport in the Pacific Islands nation.

Golf’s Fiji International tournament is set to be given a boost in prominence this year after a co-sanctioning agreement was reached between the PGA Tour of Australasia and the European Tour.

The International Surfing Association (ISA) has awarded hosting rights to its World StandUp Paddle (SUP) and Paddleboard Championship to Fiji in its latest effort to enhance the sport’s global profile.

New Zealand Super Rugby franchise the Waikato Chiefs will continue the rugby union competition’s overseas expansion by taking a regular season game to Fiji in July.

The Fiji Rugby Union, the country’s governing body of rugby union, has pledged to resolve administration issues that have led to a suspension in central financial support from the International Rugby Board (IRB), the sport’s global governing body.

Organisers have confirmed the inaugural Fiji International golf tournament will take place on August 14-17.

Golf’s OneAsia series has added Fiji to its stopovers with a $1 million tournament beginning next year under a five-year deal.

Austrian public broadcaster ORF and pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland, which covers Germany and Austria, have renewed the television rights for Austria’s domestic football league the Bundesliga in a three-year deal from 2010-11 to 2012-13.

The Fiji Sports Council is expected to name a new sponsor of the National Stadium in Suva next week, with telecoms company, Vodafone Fiji, which already sponsors the Vodafone Arena at the National Stadium complex in Laucala is thought to be among those short-listed.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced another year of record TV broadcast figures for the popular IRB Sevens World Series.

Nimbus Sport has reached agreement with leading broadcast platforms in the USA, Canada, Carribean, UK and the Middle East for live television coverage of Indian cricket.

A new Pacific Five Nations rugby tournament involving teams from tier two unions Fiji, Japan, Samoa, and Tonga plus a NZ representative side will kick off in June 2006.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) will make the biggest investment in high performance rugby in its 120-year history, after pledging £30million to the sport.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge says the two sports axed from the Olympics and the five new sports rejected for 2012 should look towards 2009, the next time a programme change will be considered.

An International Rugby Board (IRB) sponsored meeting in Brisbane has resulted in broad agreement on the way forward for an Asia-Pacific Rugby tournament.

Editorial Director reviews the issues of the past seven days.

The football associations of Brunei Darussalam, Denmark and New Zealand are set to receive their first Goal projects under a programme drawn up by FIFA.

New Zealand's determination to stage the 2011 Rugby World Cup may lead the NZRU to seek a partnership with Australia.