A "ground-breaking study" of concussion in park and elite Australian Football League players "has revealed that their on-field head clashes are just as damaging" as those experienced in the NFL. Deakin University School of Psychology neuroscientist Dr. Alan Pearce "has uncovered major concerns through comparing 40 footballers," including players from the '80s and '90s, against 20 healthy people of the same age. Pearce: ''It's logical to think that the AFL was not the same as the NFL and the impact is not the same as the NFL. But what we are seeing is an impact to the head is the same and that there are some long-term changes in the brain that we are seeing'' (THE AGE, 12/17). ... The next Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner "will be decided upon after the start of the new year." The support to name former prosecuter Katsuhiko Kumazaki to the post "has been growing from teams -- with the exception of some Pacific League clubs" (KYODO, 12/16). ... In a relief to India's National Congress Party CEO Sharad Pawar, the Bombay High Court "quashed and set aside an order passed by a city civil court temporarily restraining him" from functioning as the Mumbai Cricket Association president (PTI, 12/16). ... Spanish Motorcyclists Federation (RFME) President Ángel Viladoms "introduced two additions ahead of 2014 at the organization's AGM in Valencia." The organization "will launch a Copa de España motocross race." The most important change, however, was "without a doubt the creation of a Women's Commission, intended for the promotion and development of the sport for women" (AS, 12/16).
