Prosecutors on Thursday "raided the head office" of South Korea’s professional baseball governing body "as part of their investigation into allegations that several employees embezzled its funds." The employees of the Korea Baseball Organization, including a former secretary general whose identity has been withheld, are under suspicion of siphoning off the government funds worth 713 million won ($667,000) "by cooking the books" (KOREA HERALD, 2/27). ... The Malaysian Hockey Confederation "will face a 30% cut in government funding and the ones set to feel the pinch the most are the two national hockey teams -- junior and senior." MHC VP Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmed said, "This is basically the Government’s exercise to cut down on their expenses. And we will face a 30 percent cut. Of course, it will have an effect on us but it cannot be helped" (THE STAR, 2/27). ... Bamboo Engineering "will not compete in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship after failing to raise the required budget." The team said that "it is treating the year as a sabbatical, and that it intends to return for 2015" (AUTO SPORT, 2/27). ... The Bangladesh Premier League tribunal found Dhaka Gladiators Owner Shihab Chowdhury guilty of "being party to an effort to fix" a match in the second season of the BPL, while six others from the nine accused of on-field corruption were found not guilty by the tribunal (DHAKA TRIBUNE, 2/26). ... The National Human Rights Commissions of Korea ruled that six football coaches who questioned the gender of South Korean footballer Park Eun-seon -- "one of the nation’s top female players -- should be punished." The NHRCK said that the coaches' actions were tantamount to “sexual harassment” (KOREA HERALD, 2/26). ... The seventh edition of Indian Premier League, "likely to be held in South Africa, may witness a shrink in its insurance cover owing to a higher risk in a foreign country." Controversies around the cricketing extravaganza and viewers' fatigue "are only adding to the woes for IPL." A member of the IPL governing council said that the governing council "is anticipating a cut in the cover amount for the mega cricket event as it is likely to take place in South Africa" (Indian BUSINESS STANDARD, 2/27). ... The Australian Football League has "denied anti-doping officials have already decided to issue infraction notices against players over the supplements saga which has rocked Essendon." Asked if ASADA had confirmed player-infraction notices would be sent to Essendon, AFL Football Operations Manager Mark Evans said that "had not been established" (AAP, 2/28).
