Visa agrees to sponsor refugee athletes in Rio Olympics
Reuters report.
No one, not even Woods, can possibly know how the former world number one will fare when he makes his PGA Tour return after an absence that dates back to the Wyndham Championship in August 2015, where he tied for 10th.
Woods, famously, used to say he would never tee it up in a golf tournament unless he thought he was capable of winning and he is clearly being cautious about rushing his return to a game that has since seen a handful of young stars crowd the top of the world rankings.
Woods, who made 11 starts on the PGA Tour last season and just seven the season before, had his first back surgery in early 2014. A second microdisectomy was performed last September with a follow-up procedure six weeks later.
In late February, in an effort to shoot down reports that suggested he endured setbacks during his rehabilitation process, Woods posted a video of himself swinging a golf club in front of an indoor golf simulator, seemingly seeking confirmation of the without discomfort. A week later the 14-times major champion said he was feeling “a lot better” and still had intentions of playing golf “at the highest level.” In mid-May, Woods said he was “progressing nicely” but then hit three balls into the water on a short par-three hole during an exhibition to promote a tournament he hosts.
Last month, Woods indicated that he might not return to competition this year, saying he needed to be patient during his recovery.
A winner of 79 PGA Tour titles, Woods was world number one a record total of 683 weeks but his form has slipped dramatically in recent years due to injuries and the mastering of a new swing, while his ranking has plummeted to a mind-boggling 628th.
“It’s been a long road,” Woods said in April after playing his first stretch of holes since last August, at a golf course opening in Montgomery, Texas.
“To actually be able to play soccer with my kids again, to do something like this, to be able to live life, that’s what’s been nice.” LONDON: Visa Inc, operator of the world’s largest payments network, said on Wednesday it had signed sponsorship deals with all ten members of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) refugee team, essentially becoming their first corporate sponsor.
The IOC introduced its inaugural refugee team in June to draw global attention to the plight of refugees.
The athletes, six men and four women will compete in the sports of swimming, judo and athletics and march with the Olympic flag just before host Brazil at the opening ceremony August 5.
The team includes five athletes from South Sudan, two from Syria, two from Democratic Republic of Congo and one from Ethiopia.
All are required to have official refugee status, according to the United Nations. Chris Curtin, Visa’s chief marketing innovation and brand officer, said sponsoring refugee athletes ties into the concept of acceptance that is one of the creative threads behind the company’s Olympic campaign, and also an idea consumers associate with credit cards. The company can use the refugees in their marketing campaigns if the IOC approves it.
The IOC could not be reached for comment on Visa’s campaign.
Some advocates for refugees have questioned whether it is opportunistic for companies to use refugees in advertising campaigns.
The value of Visa’s deals with refugee athletes, which it brokered directly with them with the help of the IOC, was not disclosed. Curtin said the contracts are “identical, comparable deals,” to the sponsorship agreements Visa has with more well-known athletes.
Visa is working with 60 Olympians and Paralympians ahead of Rio, including US athletes Missy Franklin, beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings and Ashton Eaton, who won the gold medal in decathlon in London.
Visa had previously announced a sponsorship deal with Yusra Mardini, an elite swimmer who left Syria last August.
Mardini and her sister swam for more than three hours in the open sea to get to Greece after the small boat she was on started to capsize.
She helped more than a dozen or so people on the boat survive the journey who could not swim.
Mardini now trains in Germany. Visa posted a photo of Mardini on its Facebook page with the text “Accept me because I’ve swum against the current to get where I belong.”
IOC introduced its inaugural refugee team in June to draw global attention to the plight of refugees.