One of NBA’s hottest teams this season, Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to a 10-year extension of their Staples Center lease.

“We are very excited about our present and our future at STAPLES Center. It is indeed an honor to benefit from the sustained stability that accompanies being part of the greatest venue in the NBA, and we are glad to provide this state of the art backdrop to our deserving and loyal fan base,” said Clippers’ President Andy Roeser.

The Clippers, one of the arena’s original anchor tenants, played its first regular season game at STAPLES Center on November 2, 1999 against the Seattle Supersonics.  Under the new agreement, which becomes effective at end of the current 2012-13 season, the franchise will continue to call the arena their home thru June, 2024, a period of 25 years.

“Donald Sterling, Andy Roeser and the entire Clippers organization have been not just great partners but a huge part of the success of STAPLES Center,” said Timothy J. Leiweke, President & CEO, AEG.  “Their contributions have served to make this unique three team anchor tenant relationship both mutually successful as well as mutually beneficial.  We are happy for their many achievements and are proud to call them our partners and friends.”

The Los Angeles Clippers currently rank first in the NBA’s Pacific Division.  The team’s record of 32-11 is second best in the NBA.

David Beckham is to star in a new Sainsbury’s advert highlighting the retailer’s sponsorship of the Paralympics.

The ad is set to be screened tonight (15 August) and focuses on Paralympics athletes as they prepare for the Games.

“I wanted to become an ambassador for Sainsbury’s Paralympic campaign as I’ve always been blown away by the skill, medicine commitment and discipline of all the athletes,” Beckham said.

“It has been an honour to help tell the stories of the athletes in the advert in preparation of the Paralympic Games. I know there are going to be many inspirational performances in front of a passionate home crowd this summer.”

Jat Sahota, head of sponsorship at Sainsbury’s, added: “As the first ever Paralympics-only sponsor, we are proud to support all Paralympics GB athletes and hope this advert will help makeLondon 2012 the best Games ever.”

Thesan Capital, treat a Spanish investment firm has acquired a controlling share in the Hispania Racing Formula One team, thought to be worth some US$29m. The acquisition is part of a wider deal that has seen them purchase a majority shareholding in the team’s parent company Grupo Inversor.

Hispania made a troubled entrance into the sport last season after Jose Ramon Carabante stepped in to protect his original investment in a project run by former Formula One driver Adrian Campos that collapsed in March 2010.

A team statement said that “the objective of Thesan Capital is, maintaining the current team, to develop its strategy to grow in a market with a lot of potential for the upcoming years.” Thesan Capital was founded in 2008 by the Japanese banking firm Nomura, with the intention of investing in Spanish business.

Hispania has effectively been leasing a race team from team principal Colin Kolles who is based in Germany but his future is unclear with the statement adding, the current team and directors will be retained, although its long-term intention is to “progressively make the team more Spanish and definitively settling the team in Spain.”

The Hispania team have struggled in its short Formula One career and have yet to register a point, the team will have a new driver line-up at this weekend’s British Grand Prix, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo – loaned to the team by Red Bull Racing – making his Formula One debut alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) players’ union have followed their National Football League (NFL) counterparts lead by filing a complaint of ‘unfair labour practices’ against the NBA on Tuesday, May 24, in an effort to prevent a possible lockout when the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires on June 30.

The union has accused the owners of negotiating in bad faith and have filed the complaint with the National Labour Relations Board, alleging that the NBA is “making harsh, inflexible, and grossly regressive ‘takeaway’ demands that the NBA knows are not acceptable to the Union”.

The complaint also claims the NBA is adopting a “classic ‘take it or leave it’ and surface bargaining” stance with the intent of letting the current labour deal expire. The union’s move has come less than a month after the NBA tabled its latest formal proposal.

The NBA issued a statement in response to the complaint, which read: “There is no merit to the charge filed today by the Players Association with the National Labour Relations Board, as we have complied – and will continue to comply – with all of our obligations under the federal labour laws. It will not distract us from our efforts to negotiate in good faith a new collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association.”

The NBA has not had a lockout since the 1998-99 season, when the campaign was reduced to just 50 games. NBA commissioner David Stern has predicted a US$300m loss in the current season, and owners have called for a significantly bigger portion of league revenues in the new collective bargaining agreement.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Executive Board has been requested by the body’s President, Sharad Pawar, to reconsider the composition of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 during the ICC Annual Conference in Hong Kong at the end of June 2011.

The ICC Executive Board meeting in Mumbai on 4 April 2011 saw the decision to allow only the 10 Full Members to participate in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 and the Board also confirmed its previous decision made in October 2010 that the next two World Cups (in 2015 and 2019) would comprise 10 teams.

 

These decisions were part of a strategic restructure of ICC events and the context and content for international cricket. As part of the restructure, a Test play-off for the top four teams was introduced and the ICC World Twenty20 was expanded to 16 teams.

 

The Board had also agreed in Mumbai that the 10 teams for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England would be determined on the basis of qualification.

 

However, after receiving representations from the Associate and Affiliate Members of the ICC, Pawar has decided to request the ICC Executive Board to revisit the issue.

 

Mr Pawar said: “I have given this matter further serious thought and will request the Board to consider this topic once more. I can understand the views of the Associates and Affiliates and ICC will seek to deal with this issue in the best way possible.”

HRH Prince Nawaf Faisal Fahd Abdulaziz has resigned from his position as President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee.

Following this announcement, online his membership with the International Olympic Committee has been terminated as the role was linked to the mebership.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach thanked His Royal Highness for his contribution to the Olympic Movement.

The Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) have approved a proposal that ensures financial support based on the redistribution of revenues from the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015 for participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and European Sport Federations. 

The first meeting of the year was held and opened at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Headquarters in Lausanne hosted by the IOC President, site Thomas Bach. 

The decision was met by a unanimous vote for the approval for a funding model proposed by Chairman of the EOC Coordination Commission for Baku 2015, sickness Spyros Capralos. 

This decision approves that all 49 EOC member NOCs will receive an equal share of 2.5 million Euros to assist them in preparing for the Games. 

Furthermore the EOC also agreed to support the participating European Federations with a participation fee based on the general standing of each sport within the Olympic Movement. 

EOC President Patrick Hickey, order who is also an IOC Executive Board Member, said: “It has been a very important and productive day for the European Olympic Committees. I am particularly grateful to President Bach for continuing the tradition of hosting the first EOC Executive Committee meeting of the year and joining us here at the IOC Headquarters.

Indian squash event, the Maharashtra State Open, has joined the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour.

The event, which is being held this week at the Bombay Gymkhana in Mumbai, is one of the oldest sporting institutions in the country which has been promoting sport since 1875.

“This is the second PSA event in the last three months in India,” said Ritwik Bhattacharya, the recently-appointed PSA South East Asia Representative. “Plans are on to try and do many more including a grand World Championship in 2014/15.

“The Maharashtra State PSA Open is the first long standing event to convert its Open tournament to a PSA 15k Challenger event and we are hoping this trend continues with other clubs also doing at least one PSA event a year in India,” added the five-time Indian champion.

“The SRFI (Squash Rackets Federation of India) has really helped the organisers put up the event and we are in a very exciting period with the 2020 Olympic bid around the corner. The Bombay Gymkhana is doing various promotions including a charity drive ‘squash a mile’ as well as a national junior event so that the whole squash community can come out and support our wonderful sport!”