THE PROPOSED World Boxing Council (WBC) Youth Amateur Pro League convention will take place in March 2016, according to popular boxing official and matchmaker Boxu Potts. This disclosure was made during a media conference at Alicia’s Guest House, St Ann’s yesterday.

Potts also revealed that the Youth Boxing World Cup will be staged next year, with the venue and date to be confirmed during the convention.

It is expected that all 165 countries in the WBC will take part in the World Cup.

“I have spoken to, and gotten approval of nearly all of the Caribbean members and other affiliate nations,” Potts noted.

As far as the World Cup is concerned, the former Trinidad and Tobago Boxing Board of Control (TT BBC) special advisor said a number of the sport’s greats, including Floyd “Money” Mayweather, George Foreman, Oscar De La Hoya and promoter Don King have endorsed the proposal, and also indicated their desire to be in the twin-island republic for the convention.

“There are 19,000 boxers looking for an avenue to box,” said Potts, with regards to both ventures.

“We want to develop boxing in all forms.” He also said that the convention will feature a number of activities geared at assisting the young boxers, including anti-bullying and social development programmes.

Also at the media briefing, Potts stated that he will serve as chairman of the WBC-sanctioned Central America and Caribbean region.

“This decision was made after a meeting last year in Mexico, with the WBC, WBA (World Boxing Association) and the IBF (International Boxing Federation),” said Potts. “The meeting was to decide on a way to deal with the sport of boxing, since it was dying due to the IABA new system, which was making the sport watered-down, and as a result, providing less boxers of world championship quality.” At the meeting, Potts recommended that the WBC stage boxing nurseries across the globe to help amateur fighters enhance the amateur development of the sport.

He made reference to a scenario involving Mayweather, the world light middleweight champ, who was defeated by Bulgaria’s Serafim Todoroy at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, United States.

According to Potts, while Mayweather is one of sport’s wealthiest performers, Todoroy is currently a pauper who currently resides in one of Bulgaria’s poorest cities.

“Thank God and everyone for helping me to promote the sport of boxing in this region,” Potts commented.

“The World Boxing Council considers me to be an integral part of boxing and I have been appointed as a chairman.” He called on the new Government, led by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, to “appoint the right people so they can take this initiative and run with it.” He said this has nothing to do with the Boxing Board and, for him, as chairman, it is a way of giving back to the country, and the sport, for what they have done for him.

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International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has confirmed that Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome are the five cities bidding to host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

It was well known that all five would be putting themselves forward and there have been no surprise late entries to the contest ahead of today's announcement.

Paris, the French capital, will seek to host the Games exactly 100 years after they last did so in 1924, while Italian capital Rome also held the Summer Olympics previously, in 1960.

If Los Angeles is successful the American city will become a three-time host after staging the Games in both 1932 and 1984, while Hamburg is seeking to become the first German host since the Munich Olympics of 1972.

Hungarian capital Budapest has never been a host.

"The IOC welcomes five outstanding cities to this strong competition to host the Olympic Games in 2024," said Bach.

"We are delighted to see that all five have really embraced Olympic Agenda 2020.

"Olympic Agenda 2020 has shaped the Candidature Process more as an invitation and the cities have responded by engaging with the IOC through dialogue and cooperation.

"We look forward to a fascinating and fair competition.

"It is a diverse and creative field."

The IOC have also confirmed that they will pay $1.7billion (£1.1billion/€1.5billion) in cash and services to the organising committee of the winning city.

A deadline for cities to submit applications expired at midnight.

Canada's largest city Toronto had been mulling over a bid, but its Mayor John Tory confirmed they wouldn't be entering yesterday.

Azerbaijan's capital Baku was also a contender to enter the race but have not done so on this occasion.

When asked if he expected more than five entrants, Bach said: "I didn’t expect more.

"This competition is about quality and not about quantity."

The President also played down the merits of continental rotation for Olympic hosts with the three Winter and Summer Games after Rio 2016 all taking place in Asia and four of the 2024 candidates coming from Europe.

"I do not think that this will play a major role," he said.

"We have now three Olympic Games in a row in Asia, this shows that this informal rotation which we always saw in the past is losing importance in a more globalised world.

"This continental rotation is losing importance."

A final decision will be made by the IOC at their session in Lima, Peru, in September 2017.

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Trinidad-based regional sporting network, WI Sports has upped the ante on its involvement with the Secondary Schools’ Football League (SSFL) for the newly commenced 2015 – 2016 season.

Founded in 2010, WI Sports is the only local network dedicated solely to the promotion of local and regional sports and airs on Flow Channel 14.

In addition to filming and broadcasting two games per week live on wisportstv.com and providing ambulance services at the games to be broadcasted, WI Sports will also provide significant advertising of the league on its channel and on popular Flow channels every week.

Now visible in neighbouring islands such as Curacao, Barbados, St Vincent and St Lucia, WI Sports has also partnered with the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to provide bus transportation to visiting schools throughout the season.

The main sponsors of the Secondary Schools’ Football League are BGTT and First Citizens.

WI Sports’ Founder and Managing Director, Peter C Lewis extended best wishes to all the players and teams in the SSFL, thanked Flow for their continued support and reiterated the network’s commitment to promoting the sporting talents of the nation – and by extension, the region.

“WI Sports has been working closely with the SSFL since our inception,” he explained, “but coming into the new season we really wanted to do more to impact upon the lives of these young and talented student-athletes… So we thought about various ways in which we could add to the efficiency and the promotion and the allure of the tournament.

We came up with a number of initiatives and incentives for the players, the longstanding sponsors, as well as for the viewing audience and the host of family members and friends who support the league.

“We look forward to working with Flow, the SSFL and all the sponsors who support the development of our next generation of student-athletes.” PTSC’s General Manager, Carl Ramdeo said the corporation is delighted to be associated with the SSFL. “We have been involved with sport across TT but this is a new addition,” said Ramdeo.

“We have been associated with cricket and we have been the transportation supplier for the National Football Team. We have also helped with tennis, chess, volleyball and basketball and today we are thrilled to be associated with the Secondary Schools’ Football League, as we get on the road with our young people aiming for the next World Cup and for several World Cups to come.”

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Britain will host the 2016 International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) Congress, it has been announced.

The decision was made following the recent Congress in the Belgian city Ghent and the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association are hoping to stage the event in London in June.

At the Congress, the venue for the 2020 IBSF World Championships will be decided and the race calendar for the 2017 season will be confirmed and announced.

Around 150 delegates from approximately 38 nations are set to descend on London for the Congress, which will mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the sport’s governing body in Britain.

“Bobsleigh and skeleton are Britain's most successful winter sports and we are immensely proud to have been selected to host the Congress of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation,” British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association chairman Christoper Rodrigues said.

“Welcoming colleagues and competitors to Great Britain in our 90th year is a particular honour and will be a centrepiece of our anniversary celebrations.”

It is only the second time since 2007 that Britain has played host to the world’s largest gathering of delegates in the sport and the announcement comes off the back of a successful year for bobsleigh and skeleton for the nation.

Lizzy Yarnold won skeleton gold at the FIBT World Championships in Winterberg, Germany, to add to the Olympic title she claimed at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Britain’s four-man bobsleigh team have also enjoyed a reasonably successful year, however, they have made a habit of agonisingly finishing fifth.

They have managed the feat at the last three major championships, including Sochi 2014.

At the 2015 Congress in Ghent, members of the IBSF unanimously approved a change in the organisation’s name.

The world governing body had previously been called the FIBT - Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing - but they will now be known as IBSF.

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Olympic track gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis has become the latest sprinter to move into bobsleigh.

The 33-year-old, who triumphed at Athens 2004 with Great Britain's 4x100 metre relay team, has joined British Bobsleigh's squad ahead of the new season of the Winter sport.

He is now aiming to medal again at the next Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018.

"I'm all about challenges, I’ve already won a gold medal in the Summer Olympics and if I can win a medal at the Winter Olympics, I’ll be a happy man,” said Lewis-Francis.

"We’ve got a strong team already, they’ve come fifth at the last two World Championships and the Olympics so if I can slot in there somewhere and help them gain two or three places, it’s job done.

“The success the team have had really excites me.

"I’m definitely not coming just for the ride.

"I don’t just want to help them win medals - I want to be a big part of it.

"I want to put as much work in as the rest of the guys and achieve what they want they want to achieve.

“I’m loving the fact that British Bobsleigh and the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association have given me this opportunity and I’m going to grab it with both hands.”

Americans Lauryn Williams and Lolo Jones are among the other athletes who have competed in both sports.

British Bobsleigh described the acquisition of Lewis-Francis as a "major coup".

“For an Olympic gold medalist to want to come and be a part of the programme shows that we’re on the right track,” said Performance Director Gary Anderson.

“We’ve made the sport attractive to guys like Mark, they know there is a chance of a medal, and that’s what they want.

“Mark is a guy who likes to engage, and that’s something that we like about him.

"He’s extremely confident and has lots of ability.

"He’s won the highest accolade you can in sport and he was part of a team when he won that medal.

"That’s also very important to us because he clearly knows how to interact with the group.

“We know how fast Mark can run and we know his pedigree - that’s a given.

"We’ve been inducting him into the sport down at our push track facility in Bath, and that’s quite a fast process.

"He’s met the athletes and trained with them and he’s working with the coaches to look at transferring his speed into pushing, because that’s what we do - we push a sled.

“I’m fairly certain that Mark will push a sled quickly: he has everything that our research suggests he needs to do that and I’m excited about seeing him out on the ice this winter.”

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The US Attorney General Loretta Lynch has strongly suggested that a further wave of arrests in relation to the FIFA corruption scandal could come about.

Lynch was speaking in Zurich at press conference organised by the International Association of Prosecutors updating the world on the investigation by US authorities alongside Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.

In May, 14 senior FIFA-linked officials were arrested in Zurich and Lynch that day revealed details of the fraud, conspiracy and corruption charges against the charged men just days before Sepp Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president.

However, the impact of the scandal played a decisive role in his decision, only four days later, to announce his intention to stand down. A new president will be elected at an extraordinary congress on February 26.

Lynch said: “In the four months since May our work and the investigation has continued. Thirteen of the 14 defendants have been arrested either by us or by other authorities. Three have been arraigned in a federal court in Brooklyn; 10 others are pending extradition in Switzerland and three other countries.

“Our investigation is ongoing and has expanded since May. On the basis of new evidence we anticipate pursuing additional charges against individuals and entities.”

Lynch refused to comment on whether Blatter was one of those who could be charged in the future and extradited.

She said: “I have no comment on individuals who may or may not be subject to the next round of arrests so I cannot give you any information about Mr Blatter’s travel plans.”

However, she did have a stern warning about the need for urgent reform in the sport.

“The problem of corruption in soccer is global and we will remain vigilant,” Lynch said. “One hallmark has guided our work: all individuals involved in soccer, this beloved sport through which we teach sportsmanship, integrity and fair play, must be committed to reform and compliance with the rule of law.

“To anyone who seeks to live in the past, this global response sends a clear message: You are on the wrong side of progress and do a disservice to the integrity of this wonderful sport.”

Lauber confirmed that as part of the Swiss authorities investigation, which is not directly linked to the US one, assets had been seized including real estate in the Swiss Alps.

However, he would not reveal who they belonged to for “tactical reasons”.

Lauber also revealed that around 11 terabytes of data had been collected.

The investigations continue.

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