Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has held his firm belief that the Bahrain Grand Prix will continue for many years and Formula One will grow in stature in that part of the world.

The race had made damning headline news all week as protesters have clashed with police, anti-government and anti-F1 rallies have been staged, and ultimately one demonstrator was killed, so the dissidents claim, by riot police, but the race itself passed without incident.

This had cast an ugly shadow over F1 and Bahrain for not keeping their political affairs away from sport.

Ecclestone, however, has insisted Bahrain and the Middle East remain important for F1 as he said: “It’s growing all the time, and other places are interested.

“I think it will grow here for sure. You know what they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

The Bahrain International Circuit claimed there were 28,000 paying customers inside the circuit, a surprise given the main grandstand – which appeared to be the only one in use – was only half-full.

But after staging a race many felt should have been cancelled, chairman Zayed Al Zayani was able to finally smile.

“Hosting such a big event would not be possible without the enormous hard work of all involved,” said Al Zayani.

“That includes the marshals, other volunteers and my team at the BIC, and I would like to thank all of them for their efforts.I’m pleased to say we have had a great level of support for this race weekend.

“An independent survey released this week showed that 77% of Bahrainis support the race. In addition to this, there are very few countries that can claim that almost 10% of its population attends its grand prix.

“Given these facts, and the incredible atmosphere at the track today, there can be no doubt in my mind of what Bahrain thinks about F1.”

by Ismail Uddin

Gloucestershire County Cricket club have appealed against the decision to reject planning permission to develop their Bristol home.

The county have also expressed interest in building a new international ground north of the city as they refuse to relinquish their ambitions to stage regular international cricket.

The county’s hopes of undertaking a £10 million development of their Nevil Road ground were dealt a blow when Bristol City Council rejected their plans by six votes to four on January 10. That verdict will now be adjudicated over by an inspector who will report to the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

Should this appeal also be rejected, Gloucestershire insist they will press ahead with plans to relocate outside of Bristol. Tuffley Avenue in Gloucester is one potential location but now a site at Filton Airfield, three miles north of Nevil Road, could also be explored.

South Gloucestershire council are keen to secure the future of Filton Airfield and the Labour-led council have already given their backing to the idea of building a 20,000-seat stadium to become Gloucestershire’s new home.

Gloucestershire are the poor relations among England’s 10 international grounds, receiving less international cricket than any of their rivals. But despite suggestions that too many international grounds have led to rising debt among the test counties and contributed to a surfeit of international cricket, their appetite for expansion has not been dampened.

The club were awarded an ODI against New Zealand in 2013 but this match is expected to be reallocated.

by Ismail Uddin

The chief executive of Adidas, the world’s second largest sportswear company, is looking for the return of Basketball following the end of the NBA lockout to give a year-end boost to its basketball business.

Over the weekend, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its players reached a tentative deal on a new collective bargaining agreement, which paves the way for a shortened 66-game season to start on Christmas Day.

For sports apparel companies such as Adidas and Nike as well as retailers like Finish Line and Footlocker, it was important for the season to start up before Christmas to avoid losing sales in the busiest shopping weeks of the year.

Analysts had said Adidas could face losing up to half of its sales of licensed NBA apparel should the lockout drag on and the company had admitted at its third-quarter results in November it expected licensed apparel sales to be hit.

“Without any doubt, the start of the season in December will help us to continue our growth momentum and finish the year strong in the largest basketball markets, North America and Greater China,” Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said in comments emailed to Reuters.

Adidas said its overall sales of basketball products in North America were up 21 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with an 11 percent rise for the division on a global basis.

Footlocker, which sells branded shoes of Nike and Adidas, saw its shares rise 9 percent on Monday after the news.

Adidas shares were up 0.4 percent late Tuesday.

National Football League (NFL) players have asked a U.S. judge to award them damages for team owners’ decision to trade their top price for television broadcast rights for US$4bn in payments during a labor lockout.

Jeffrey Kessler, cough a lawyer for the players, told U.S. District Judge David Doty: “The NFL illegally obtained a $4 billion war chest to fund the lockout. They did so without good faith.”

Attorneys for the players asked Doty for an order barring the owners from accessing those funds and are also seeking as much as $700m in damages, Kessler’s co-counsel, Thomas J. Heiden, told reporters outside the court in Minneapolis.

The hearing comes while the U.S. Court of Appeals weighs up a separate case as to whether to uphold an order by a federal judge in favour of the players, forcing the NFL to end the lockout it imposed March 12.

On March 1, Doty ruled that the 32-team league violated the terms of a settlement agreement, first created in 1993, that obligated the owners to make their best effort to maximize total revenue for the league and its players in 2009 and 2010.

The NFL extended broadcast contracts and altered lockout provisions with DirecTV, CBS Corp. (CBS), News Corp. (NWSA)’s Fox, Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBC and Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ESPN Inc.

In that ruling, Doty stated: “The NFL renegotiated the broadcast contracts to benefit its exclusive interest at the expense of, and contrary to, the joint interests of the NFL and the players. Broadcast contracts are an enormous source of shared revenue for the players and the NFL.”

The Indian Government has hit back at countries demanding late payment for work carried out by their companies for last year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, claiming that they will not be pressurised.

An eight-long list of countries have written to Indian authorities demanding that the situation is resolved and warned that it could affect investment there if it is not.

Ajay Maken, India’s Sports Minister who dismissed the Games chief organisers Suresh Kalmadi and Lalit Bhanot under allegations of corruption, said that they will only pay firms that are not under investigation as part of the wider probe linked to the Games.

Maken stated: “Efforts are being made to put pressure through diplomatic channels. It’s not fair. Companies not under the scanner have been paid money.”

Maken warned that any companies being investigated by the Central Beureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Indian tax authorities will not be paid until they have been cleared, stating: “We will not make payment because payment will be made only to companies on which we are 100 per cent satisfied on their work.”

Infostrada Sports, the Dutch company contracted to provide media services during the Games, are the latest high-profile international firm to become caught up in the mess, disputing charges of “non-performance” and demanding immediate payment of US$618,000.

The company’s chief executive Philip Hennemann said in a statement: “Infostrada Sports calls on the Organising Committee and the Indian Government to provide an open and detailed reasoning for the non-payment and demands an end to the inconsistent, incomplete comments that continue to create a negative impression about the services delivered by Infostrada Sports and the integrity of our company.”

Infostrada Sports, which had performed similar roles at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and are due to work on London 2012, was contracted for $1.9m.

But the Organising Committee have since claimed they were overpaid, with Hennemann adding: “Infostrada Sports once again refutes all allegations that it was overpaid, under-performed or under-delivered.

“The amount we were contracted for Delhi was smaller than that we received for large multi-sport events with a full service delivery such as the Olympic Games in Beijing $2.7m or the Asian Games in Doha $4.2m.

“In Delhi, we had more than 130 contracted persons and paid people involved in the operations, of which 76 were foreigners.

“It is the only event in the list with a full scope service that we had to arrange our own hotels and flights. 

“In Beijing, these costs were paid by the Organising Committee. 

“We paid over €250,000 (£217,000/$350,000) for flights and accommodation alone in Delhi.” 

Kalmadi, meanwhile, was questioned for the third time, for nine hours by the CBI in connection with the alleged irregularities during the Games but insisted: “I am ready to come here everyday.

“I have told the CBI that I will fully cooperate with the CBI or any other investigating agency. Accordingly I have come here today and I have given all answers to the best of my satisfaction. I have nothing more to say.”

British Swimming is pushing to regain its funding for its synchronised swimming programme by engaging UK Sport in a legal battle.

Synchronised swimming was initially allocated £4.3million for the four years to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but performance targets were missed, prompting UK Sport to take its punitive action.

British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes said last week, after a challenge to the decision proved fruitless, that the withdrawal of financial support for synchronised swimming “beggars belief” and “highlights a fundamental flaw in the UK Sport funding system”.

Now British Swimming has confirmed it will mount its legal challenge in a bid to have it overturned.

However British Swimming also stated that following independent legal advice it “reluctantly” would no longer fight the decision to withdraw the £4.5m in funding that was afforded to the women’s water polo programme.

Sparkes said: “After careful consideration of the UK Sport decision and having taken into account the whole process we are keen to appeal the case for synchro.

“This matter will now be submitted to an independent hearing through Sport Resolutions (UK).

“However, we still feel the strategy adopted by UK Sport in terms of team sports needs further review and we will be seeking to influence this for water polo and the future of all team sports.”

British Swimming chairman Maurice Watkins said: “This has been an extremely difficult decision for British Swimming to make.

“Based on the narrow criteria of the appeal process and the advice we have received it is with reluctance that we take the decision not to pursue a legal challenge over the withdrawal of funding for water polo.”

Poland’s premier football league, the Ekstraklasa has agreed a partnership with Infront Sports & Media to market a sponsorship rights.

An Official Sponsorship package for the Polish Football League is to be made available with the international sports marketing company offering it exclusively in Germany and Austria. The marketing opportunity includes a continuous brand presence at all 296 league games, logo branding on the right sleeve of all 16 teams and brand integration into TV graphics. Furthermore, additional advertising as well as title rights, merchandising rights and a hospitality contingent are included in the package.

For the 2012/13 season around two million fans visited Ekstraklasa stadiums. As the most popular national competition and with more than 22 million football fans in Poland, the Ekstraklasa offers businesses an excellent platform to prominently position their brand and/or products. The Official Sponsor package is offered for the first time ever – positioned directly after the Titular Sponsor (T-Mobile) on the second level of the sponsorship hierarchy.

Boguslaw Biszof, Chairman of the Management Board at the Ekstraklasa SA, commented: “Parallel to economic growth, Polish football has experienced an upward trend – with its internationally successful players and clubs as well as the infrastructural progress amongst others as a result of the UEFA EURO 2012™. Infront, with its experience in international football marketing and its distribution network, is our preferred partner to source an appropriate company to occupy this package for the first time.”

Reinhardt Weinberger, Managing Director of Infront Germany, said: “The Polish market has become increasingly attractive for foreign companies in recent years and the country is today the most important East-European economic partner for Germany and Austria. With its nationwide and almost year-round presence, the Ekstraklasa offers the Official Sponsor high national visibility and the opportunity to network with its target groups on a regional level.”