South America

Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has expressed his confidence that Curitiba is on course to avoid being dropped as a host venue for the 2014 Fifa World Cup national football team tournament.

The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 26, following the cancellation of the planned event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Lima 2019 has set its budget for the Pan American Games at $712m (€523.5m) and is targeting the completion of its major sports facilities before 2016.

Organisers of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer Olympics announced today (Tuesday) that a budget of R$5.6bn (€1.7bn/$2.3bn) has been set aside for Games-specific infrastructure projects.

The operating budget for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer Olympic and Paralympic Games has increased to R7bn (€2.2bn/$3bn), organisers announced yesterday (Thursday) evening.

Deputy Sports Minister Luis Fernandes has said the Brazilian government has implemented emergency measures to avoid the threat of Curitiba being dropped as a venue for the 2014 Fifa World Cup football tournament.

Golf governing bodies the R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), along with organisers of the Masters, have furthered their efforts to promote the development of the sport in Latin America by unveiling a new amateur tournament that will debut in Argentina in 2015.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has underlined that Rio de Janeiro’s preparation schedule for the 2016 Olympic Games is “incredibly tight” after staging a meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Curitiba has been warned that it will be dropped as a host venue for the 2014 Fifa World Cup national team football tournament unless there is significant progress in the Brazilian city's stadium construction project.

Local organisers have said that Sao Paulo’s stadium for the opening game of the 2014 Fifa World Cup is almost complete, despite work having yet to be restarted on the collapsed roof that resulted in the death of two workers in November.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced that the Argentina Pampas will participate in its revamped Pacific Rugby Cup in 2014.

Rio de Janeiro’s budget for hosting the 2016 summer Olympic Games will finally be announced at the end of January, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards, due to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have been officially cancelled following a row over payments.

Major General Fernando Azevedo e Silva, the army general responsible for co-ordinating preparations for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, has admitted that organisers are facing “very short” deadlines ahead of the event.

The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards, sport’s multi-million dollar answer to The Oscars, is in doubt due to a row over missing payments from the Rio de Janeiro state government in Brazil.

The Rio de Janeiro state government has formed a special police force to help control violent demonstrations during the 2014 Fifa World Cup and other large sporting and cultural events held in public venues.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has said Brazil’s struggles in delivering their World Cup venues on time are a consequence of beginning their preparations too late.

A special 10,000-strong riot force is to be established for the 2014 Fifa World Cup in an effort to support police control during the tournament in Brazil.