Special Olympics have announced a new Global Ambassador, Elena Delle Donne.

The professional basketball player who plays for the Chicago Sky in the Women’s National Basketball Association is the latest Global Ambassador to join the Special Olympics. 

Donne will join a list of high profile and prestigious Global Ambassadors including Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco, Nadia Comaneci, Scott Hamilton, Padraig Harrington, Yuna Kim, Yang Lan, Yang Yang, Yao Ming, Ricardo Montaner, Dikembe Mutombo, Hannah Teter, Apolo Anton Ohno, Michael Phelps, Vanessa Williams and Zhang Ziyi. 

As Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics Done’s roles will include helping people with intellectual disabilities by helping promote awareness inclusion and acceptance. 

Donne will begin her new role as Global Ambassador with a special assembly at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School in Flossmoor, Illinois. 

Done commented on receiving her recent position: “I’m so proud to serve as a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics given their mission is so important to me…My sister Lizzie has an intellectual disability and I’ve always loved working with Special Olympics and being able to get on the court and see young people with and without intellectual disabilities passing the ball and playing together.” 

Janet Froetscher, CEO of Special Olympics International congratulated the basketball player: “Elena Delle Donne is a great addition to our Special Olympics family.  Our goal is to raise awareness about the abilities of people with intellectual disabilities.  Through sports, we showcase the skills and dignity of our athletes.  Elena is a powerful force that will help us deliver this mission around the world.  Not only is she a highly skilled athlete, but her passion for our organization shines and I know she will help us reach many more athletes.”

Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil has been announced as the feature act for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games opening ceremony in Toronto.

The Montreal-based company will perform a one-night-only original production, complete with stagecraft, acrobatic athleticism and colourful cultural pageantry.

“Cirque du Soleil has an unmatched international reputation for staging some of the most imaginative and mesmerizing shows ever performed,” said Ian Troop, CEO of TO2015.

Cirque’s act will also showcase Ontario artists and volunteers, who organizers said will be recruited from local schools and community organizations.

“Cirque du Soleil is proud and deeply honoured to join TO2015 as a sponsor and Official Creative Partner for the Opening Ceremony of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games,” said Yasmine Khalil, director of Cirque du Soleil’s events and special projects division. “We are excited to create an original production for this special occasion.”

Organizers said Cirque “personifies many of the values of the Games” with its employees representing 50 nationalities, and able to speak 25 different languages.

The Pan Am Games opening ceremonies in July 2015 will be broadcast to hundreds of millions of homes across the Americas and Caribbean.

The Pan Am Games run from July 10 to 26, 2015. The Parapan Am Games are slated for Aug. 7-14.

Bath Rugby owner Bruce Craig has suggested that the club’s new redeveloped stadium will be “world-class” and “well worth waiting for” and could open by 2015.

The club is confident it can overcome the complex legal hurdles of upgrading its cramped and outdated 18, viagra 000 capacity ground at The Rec in the centre of the historic city.

Owner Bruce Craig told the Bath Chronicle: “The current rugby ground, anabolics especially the West Stand by the river, herbal does not do justice to the city or the rugby club and we are really keen to improve it for everyone. We want to provide a world-class facility and buildings that the city and club can be proud of, are appropriate and add to the beauty and splendour of Bath.

“It is a tough challenge but it is critical that we get it right,” he added. “What we do needs to complement this unique and historic setting, and is for everyone in Bath, both now and for future generations.”

Bath Rugby are proposing a lease swap deal that will see the club’s one-time training ground at Lambridge come under public ownership in return for a larger slice of The Rec so their stadium plans can be realised. However due to the unique charitable status of The Rec, the Charity Commission will need to make a ruling on the offer in April.

Tide will showcase their first-ever partnership with the NFL with a new marketing campaign.

The first will be the “Show Us Your Colors” campaign which officially launches on September 9^th when Tide takes over Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, to “color out” the season opening game against the San Francisco 49ers.

All fans who attend the game on September 9th will find a free, Tide-branded Packers t-shirt on their seat. Donning the tees between the National Anthem and kickoff, the sea of fans at Lambeau Field will be united in the beloved Packers Green and Gold in a stunning display of the team’s pride for their colors. F

“A full-stadium color out is the ultimate visual of a team’s fans uniting as one to rally their team to victory,” said Kandi Goltz, Game & Fan Development Manager for the Green Bay Packers. “We’re thrilled that Tide, a trusted product of the NFL, is giving this exciting opportunity to Green Bay Packers fans when pride is at an all-time high, as they usher in the start of their season at Lambeau Field.

Throughout the regular season, the “Show Us Your Colors” campaign will feature a number of activities that allow fans to join Tide in expressing the passion they have for their team and their beloved colors.

“NFL fans are life long fans, sporting their team’s colors and cheering them on from as early as they can remember,” said Alex Keith, Vice President P&G Fabric Care, North America. “We’re excited to give them the opportunity to celebrate this dedication in a variety of ways all season long while also showing them that Tide can help keep their team’s colors as vibrant as their passion.”

Starting in September, Tide will release a series of documentary-style videos called “Evolution of Colors.” The videos, which were created in conjunction with NFL Films, tell the story behind the colors of each NFL team and how the colors became what they are today. A video will be created for each of the 32 teams, and they will be gradually released throughout the season on Tide.com and NFL.com. This video series will kick-off at the beginning of the regular season.

A month after the Green and Gold Out in Green Bay, Tide will give NFL fans across the country the chance to capture and share their fervent dedication to their team online. Starting in October, Tide will encourage fans to visit the brand’s Facebook page to share a photo documenting a time they were most proud to wear their team’s colors, such as the first time a newborn wore a jersey of his dad’s favorite team or of a family watching their team win the Super Bowl together. Fans can upload their pictures for the chance to win exciting Tide and NFL related prizes.

The partnership between Tide and the NFL will also be brought to life via other marketing channels, including advertising and packaging. New Tide commercials, focusing on the intense devotion that fans feel for their teams and the theme of “They’re Not Just Colors,” will begin airing nationally on September 5th.

Tide will be offering special NFL-themed packaging, featuring a wide range of teams, fans, and players,at retailers across the country starting at the beginning of the regular season. Towards the end of September, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees will be highlighted on the Tide with Febreze Freshness Sport Victory Fresh bottles. Additionally, specially designed bottles of Tide Original featuring team logos will be released in select markets and retailers.

Multi-business conglomerate Sahara India have acquired a 42.5 percent stake in Force India, worth $100 million, with the Formula One Team now being named Sahara Force India.

A media report last Friday had stated that Sahara was in talks to take over from Vijay Mallya and that a “deal is on the verge of being finalised and that an announcement to the effect is expected in a couple of days”. But Mallya denied reports this would occur (read here).

With Sahara Group chairman Subrato Roy present alongside, Mallya announced at a press conference that subsequent to the stake sale, the F1 team was being renamed Sahara Force India. Roy will be the chairman of Sahara Force India.

The Sahara Group and Mallya’s UB Group will each have an equal 42.5 per cent stake in the team, while the remaining 15 per cent will be with the Mol family.

Force India was formed in October 2007 when a consortium (Orange India Holdings) led by Mallya and Dutch businessman Michiel Mol picked up the struggling Spyker F1 team for Euro 88 million.

Speaking about how the deal materialised, Mallya said, “I first approached Sahara only for the purpose of sponsorship. But Roy said he was interested in co-owning the team and that’s how we came to this agreement.”

Mallya said the funds injection would greatly enhance the team’s prospects. “The entire investment will be for the team and none of the existing shareholders are taking any money out. I started this team on a very limited budget and in the super-competitive F1 environment this investment will surely help in the progress of the team.”

The funds will be use for a new air tunnel, better R&D and upgradations of the facilities at the company’s factory based in Silverstone in UK.

Roy added that, “We are very happy to be joining this outfit and now we have to sit together, talk together, and discuss how to make this team the best team.”

A row regarding a Sri Lanka Premier League Twenty-20 tournament starting next month has broken out between cricket authorities in India and Sri Lanka.

The Indian cricket board has refused to let 12 players take part because it says the tournament is run by a private company, an allegation which Sri Lankan cricket officials deny.

The recent decision from the Indian authorities comes after they refused to let Sri Lankan players leave a similar tournament in India early to prepare for the current tour of England.

Reports say that initially India’s cricket board had said it had no problems with its players participating in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) to be played between 19 July and 4 August in Colombo as long as it did not clash with the players’ domestic or international schedule.

However, an announcement by the board on Saturday, June 18, revealed that it would not allow its players to participate in the tournament because it was “being organised by a private party”.

Sri Lanka cricket official Nishanta Ranatunga told Espncricinfo that the Twenty-20 tournament had been approved by the Sri Lankan cricket board and that a Singapore-based company owns the commercial rights of the tournament, having “won it through a tender process”.

Ranatunga added that the Sri Lanka board was “surprised and hurt” by India’s decision, and would meet today, June 20, to look at ways to tackle the situation, saying: “We need to explain the matter to the Indian board and whatever concerns that they have, we need to give them an explanation. It is very important to have them [Indian players] as they add a lot of value and glamour to the tournament.”

In April, Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered the players to return from the Indian Premier League to prepare for the tour of England.

However, he later backtracked, saying his predecessor Gamini Lokuge had made a 10-year-deal allowing the country’s cricketers to play in the Indian Premier League. Mr Lokuge denied the claims.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith met in New York yesterday, 1 February, to discuss the league’s current labour situation. It has been confirmed that both parties agreed to hold a formal bargaining session with both negotiating teams on Saturday in Dallas.

They also agreed to a series of meetings over the next few weeks, both formal bargaining sessions and smaller group meetings, in an effort to reach a new agreement by early March with fears of a potential NFL lockout looming.

In DC, Mark Maske noted the two sides have said that the “last full bargaining session came before Thanksgiving, although they have remained in contact through less formal channels”

N.Y. Daily News reporter Frank Isola said stated that the latest announcement regarding potential discussions was a, “smart PR move by Roger Goodell and the players’ association” in order to “make it look like they’re making progress at the Super Bowl. This way people don’t talk about a strike or a lockout”