Commonwealth Games England has appointed Ian Metcalfe, the Chair of the Professional Game Board of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), as their new Chairman.

He succeeds Sir Andrew Foster who has held the position since 2007 and led the organisation through the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 and Glasgow in 2014, where Team England topped the medal table for the first time in 28 years.

Metcalfe, a double Cambridge Rugby Blue, is the former managing partner of Wragge & Co, one of the UK’s leading law firms.  He previously played rugby for Sale and Moseley, captaining the latter between 1985 and 1987. He toured New Zealand with England in 1985, playing three times on that tour and also represented the Barbarians four times.

Metcalfe joined the RFU Council in 2006 and has held senior roles since 2007, serving on the Boards of the RFU and of ER 2015, the organising body for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He has a wide interest in a variety of sports and served on the Committee of Warwickshire County Cricket Club for 23 years, before being made an Honorary Life Member in 2013. He is also a Vice President of Moseley Rugby Club.

Sir Andrew Foster, Chair of Commonwealth Games England, said: “We are delighted to appoint Ian Metcalfe as the new Chair of Commonwealth Games England. Throughout the rigorous selection process he impressed with his passion for sport, business acumen and clear ideas about how to build our strategy for the coming years.

“I am confident that Ian will continue to create opportunities for our athletes to make their best contribution at the Commonwealth Games as we have just seen in Glasgow, and to build excellent relationships with Sport England, our major partner, who are ensuring that we are well supported at every stage of our development.”

Ian Metcalfe, Chair designate of Commonwealth Games England, added: “I am honoured to succeed Sir Andrew as Chairman of Commonwealth Games England. I was lucky enough to attend the Glasgow Games in person and saw first-hand the passion that Team England embodies.

“I look forward to leading CGE to the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa in 2015 and St Lucia in 2017, and the next Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018.”

Ian’s priorities will include participating in the organisation’s Glasgow 2014 review and playing an active role in the appointment of an Interim Chief Executive Officer to succeed Adam Paker who is moving to be Chief Executive at the Amateur Swimming Association in the autumn.

The Ukraine Triathlon Federation have continued to back that the ETU Sprint European Cup in Dnepropetrovsk will go ahead as planned on 24th May 2014.

Political uncertainty has engulfed Ukraine in recent months, order however, Panarin has assured all athletes, coaches, and National Federations preparing for the race that it is completely safe to travel to Ukraine and compete.

The Secretary General of the Ukraine Triathlon Federation, Eduard Panarin said in a statement: “As per our agreement with the LOC in Dnepropertrovsk and the Ukrainian National Federation we will do our best to make this event a success.

“We’d like to assure everyone that all the efforts needed to ensure a safe and successful race are well underway.

“We are sure our European Cup will provide the ultimate sporting emotion and a wonderful experience in one of the biggest cities in Ukraine.

“We look forward to welcoming the triathlon family to our City and I look forward to meeting you all there.”

The race in Dnepropetrovsk will be an historic moment as the first ever ETU European Cup race to be held in the country.

ETU President Renato Bertrandi said: “We are in constant contact with the Ukraine Federation in order to have news regarding the race in Dnipropetrovsk.

“The National Federations is working hard to make it happen and the ETU will do everything in its power to keep the race on the due date.”

Milan’s world-famous Stadio Giuseppe Meazza San Siro will host the Heineken Cup final in 2015.

The Board of the European Rugby Cup (ERC) has confirmed the iconic 80,000-capacity stadium as the venue for the 2015 final of the world’s most competitive club rugby tournament provided agreement on a new European club rugby Accord for the 2014/15 season and beyond can be reached.

Speaking at the event, the President of the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR), Alfredo Gavazzi, said: “We are especially proud that a Heineken Cup final could be staged in Italy as this is a tournament which plays a key role in the continued development of our top clubs, and which also is critical for the progress of our national team.”

The possible event may be halted after Anglo-French team revealed they would create a breakaway league called the Rugby Champions Cup.

Addressing the issue of the current negotiations towards the formulation of a new Accord, Gavazzi added: “Regarding the future, I do not believe that an Anglo-French competition would be in any way suitable. The six unions have stated that they wish to keep the Heineken Cup and they are absolutely united on this point of view.

“The Italian Federation also believes that it is crucial to keep four of our clubs in the Amlin Challenge Cup to allow our young players to develop. Overall, I am confident that an agreement can be reached.”

ERC Chairman, Jean-Pierre Lux, said: “We in are in a difficult period for European club rugby, and I too hope that a solution can be found and then we can look forward to 2015 and a celebration of 20 years of European club rugby in Milan. It would be a shame if Italian rugby lost such a major opportunity to promote the game in their country.”

Protective Life Insurance Company has announced it has activated its sponsorship of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team with their new Ultimate Fan Experience sweepstakes.

The new marketing campaign featured four tickets to the Alabama versus LSU football game on Nov. 9, symptoms the sweepstakes also includes four pre-game sideline passes, pills hospitality passes and University of Alabama fan packs.

“In celebration of our second year of sponsorship of the National Champion Crimson Tide football team, we wanted to give fans the opportunity to get up close at one of the most exciting games of the year,” said John D. Johns, chairman, president and CEO of Protective. “For two years running, the Alabama versus LSU game has been a key game in the run up to the SEC Championship, and ultimately the National Championship. We’re confident this will be the ultimate fan experience for anyone who loves Alabama football.”

The sweepstakes, which began Aug. 26 and runs through Oct. 13, can be entered by visiting and ‘liking’ Protective’s Facebook page, then completing the sweepstakes entry form.

Johns said, “Protective’s brand promise is ‘Protect Tomorrow, Embrace Today.’ And while we are passionate about helping our customers protect their family’s tomorrows, we can think of no better way to embrace today than a Fall football Saturday and our Ultimate Fan Experience.”

The SPEED EuroSeries will be one of the WTCC support races in three events during the 2013 season: at Monza, medic Slovakia Ring and Salzburgring.

The agreement signed between the promoter companies – Eurosport Events (WTCC) and World Sportscar Organisation SPEEDEuroSeries) – marks the start of a long term relationship with future broadcast opportunities discussed.

An official international series since the start of 2012, ed viagra the SPEEDEuroSeries is based on the FIA’s CN sports prototype race formula and benefits from important support from Honda Motor Europe which manufacturers the racing engines.

Jean-Louis Dauger, Eurosport Events Director of Operations: “We are delighted to welcome the SPEED EuroSeries in three WTCC events. It is a professional championship, very well organised and delivering exciting competition on the track. It suits very well our aim to offer motorsport fans a variegated and competitive range of different categories at our race meetings.”

Oli McCrudden, SPEED EuroSeries Organiser: “The potential in the CN sports prototype formula is immense; over 400 chassis have been built by manufacturers over the last decade and the quality of the engineering is superb. The chassis are excellent race machines which test drivers and develop talent at limited cost. By racing at the WTCC events in 2013 we are taking SPEED to a higher level and, in establishing the important relationship with a major international motorsport broadcaster such as Eurosport, we are taking another step towards creating an achievable global race formula.”

The SPEED EuroSeries will run in a 2-hour race at Monza and in two 90-minute races at both Slovakia Ring and Salzburgring.

FIA official Charlie Whiting declared Austin’s new Circuit of the Americas ready to host its inaugural US grand prix in November.

“Everything I’ve seen has been absolutely first class,” Whiting is quoted by the Austin American Statesman newspaper. “Progress since last time I was here has been amazing.”

Asked how the F1 world will react to the venue, he said: “I think they’ll all be really stunned.”

Walking the entire layout on Tuesday, it was Whiting’s third inspection of the Austin venue, with the last to take place on the Monday before the race.

“It’s not supposed to be totally ready now,” he explained, “but we can see quite clearly that it will be (ready) without any problem at all.”

He said the best feature of the layout is turn 1; a sharp corner after a steep climb.

“Awesome is the only word I can find to describe it. Drivers and teams alike coming here for the first time are saying the same thing,” said Whiting.

Industry insiders say Li Ning will spend between 1.5 and 2 billion RMB (us $235m to $315m) sponsoring the China Basketball Association (CBA).

The company announced in Juneit would renew its sponsorship for five years and that it was impressed by the sports “massive market capacity”.

Some insiders have said the deal is structured so that Li Ning will provide 50 million RMB ($7.9m) in equipment and other contra and 250 million RMB ($39m) in cash each year. Others say the deal is a one-off 2 billion RMB ($315m) payment.

Analysts have said that deal is ten times than what the previous CBA apparel partner, store Anta, paid in 2009.{jcomments on}

The Sri Lanka Cricket board (SLC) has opened the floor for invitations to bid for their Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) franchises, a statement said on Monday.

The SLC said it will lease out seven teams for a period of seven years and has set in motion the process of identifying franchises for the Sri Lanka Premier League. Bids are invited for the T20 league which has been formed on the lines of cash rich Indian Premier League.

The last day to submit bids is 25 June, while the names of successful bidders will be announced the same day. Interested entities can bid for a maximum of three franchises.

The first edition of SLPL Twenty20 will feature seven provincial teams who will play a total of 24 matches at two venues Colombo and Pallekele. The SLPL will be played from 10-31 August before the ICC Twenty20 World Cup which will be held in Sri Lanka.

Each team will be allowed to have only 18 players in their squad with a compulsory ruling of no more than six overseas players in each squad.

However, teams can field only four overseas players in the playing eleven, while the remaining seven players will be Sri Lankan’s with one player mandatorily being an under-21 cricketer.

The players will be selected through draft process with players being divided into two groups. The first group will consist of players from Sri Lanka while the second group will include foreign players.

It was the Indian cricket board’s reluctance to allow Indian players in the SLPL that led to the postponement of the league last year.

However, the SLC has made it clear that it will go ahead with the league even without Indian players. “We will go ahead with the tournament with or without Indian players,” SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said.

The Sri Lankan board has got the commitment of most full member countries, who have committed to release their players for the tournament, he added.

Somerset Entertainment Ventures is commercial rights holder for the tournament.

All the matches of SLPL will be televised live by Carlton Sports in Sri Lanka. CSN is owned by family members of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa which has caused a stur in the country.