The US cities of Wellington and Kentucky have confirmed their bids to host the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018 joining the Canadian bid from Bromont/Montreal.

Applicants bidding to host the Games in 2018 had until 15 November to return signed bid applications and questionnaires and both US cities have met the deadline.

The Bromont/Montreal bid had previously submitted the required documentation and did not need to resubmit. Great Britain had initially expressed their interest in bidding but couldn’t stump up the funds for the bid and withdrew. 

Candidate cities for the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018 will be announced on 2 December following review of the applicant questionnaires by FEI Headquarters. The deadline for submission of completed and signed Host Agreements is 31 March 2014.

Candidates will present their final bids to the FEI Bureau at its in-person meeting in June 2014. The host city for the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018 will be announced after that meeting.

“We are delighted that we have Wellington, Kentucky and Bromont/Montreal in the bidding process for our flagship event,” FEI Secretary General Ingmar de Vos said. “All three locations have strong equestrian traditions so it will be fascinating to see which of the bid committees produces the most compelling reasons why they should be allocated the Games in 2018. It’s going to be an interesting process.”

Richard Sterne announced today that he has signed with IMG, anabolics the world’s leading sports, fashion and media company, for worldwide management and marketing representation.

Richard, a six-time winner on the European Tour, is the current leader of the 2013 Race to Dubai and, most recently, winner of the 2013 Joburg Open in his native South Africa. He won the event in fanatic style recording a seven stroke victory over his compatriot, Charl Schwartzel, and a tournament record score of 27 under par. The South African also finished runner-up in the 2013 Dubai Desert Classic and is currently ranked #49 in the world rankings.

Sterne joined the European Tour in 2003, having secured his card at the 2002 Qualifying School, and has been a regular member since. He missed most of the 2010 and 2011 seasons, due to a back injury, but is now fully fit and is finding the sort of form that saw him capture four titles between the years of 2007-2008, most notably the Wales Celtic Manor Open, whilst achieving a career high of #29 in the World Rankings.

Commenting on his decision to join IMG Sterne said, “I am really excited to join IMG because of the wealth of experience that they can offer me as I take the next step in my career. I have got off to a great start this year and I aim to sustain my place in the World’s Top 50 so that I can continue to compete in all of the majors and World Golf Championships. They look after a number of the world’s top players so the advice they can give to me will be very valuable.”

Sterne continued, “Being injured for so long was difficult but I am glad to be back, swinging the club well and happy that IMG are supporting me as I look to chase my next goal.”

Guy Kinnings, Global Head of IMG Golf who also manages fellow South Africans, Branden Grace, Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and Retief Goosen commented, “We are delighted to welcome Richard to IMG. He has proved over the last decade that he has the ability to win the world over and on a variety of courses. He has already posted a great win earlier this year and we are really looking forward to seeing how much he can achieve now his injury worries are behind him.”

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats have confirmed that full outline planning permission has been approved by the Secretary of State for the Newmarket Development.

The development, erectile which will include a 12, health 000 capacity community stadium of which the Wildcats will be anchor tenants, sick had outline planning permission provisionally approved in June following a public inquiry into the development.

Upon the further information requested by the Secretary of State being received, outline planning permission has now been fully approved.

The stadium at junction 30 of the M62 is expected to be complete in time for the Wildcats to take their place as anchor tenants at the beginning on the 2015 season and will be owned by the Wakefield & District Community Trust, also providing much needed sporting facilities for the district.

A planning inquiry into the development took place during December 2011 after the initial application was called in 2010, with ultimately the only opposition coming from Leeds City Council who cited the use of greenbelt land and a possible blurring of the boundaries between Leeds and Wakefield for their opposition.

However, the Local Development Framework report freed the land at the former Silkstone Colliery site from greenbelt status, enabling it to be available for commercial use and also rejected the claims that any development on the site would significantly erode the boundaries between the two cities.

Wildcats Chief Executive James Elston commented: “This is great news and another huge step towards better sporting facilities for the District.

“There has been a lot going on behind the scenes since the planning permission was provisionally passed in June and with this being rubber stamped by the Secretary of State we’re now well placed to take that on further and create a really secure future for this club.

“This news coupled with record membership sales of over 4,000 and going into 2013 on the back of a play-off appearance means that we’re at a really exciting point in the club’s history and everyone associated with the club can look forward with real optimism.”

International Rugby Board Chairman, Bernard Lapasset, is disappointed by China’s failure to qualify for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow and wants to support the nation as they look ahead to the 2016 Olympics, when sevens will be a medal sport for the first time.

“It is disappointing that China’s men’s team failed to qualify. That is the bad news. The good news is that at least we will see the Chinese women’s team in Moscow,” Lapasset said.

The China women’s team qualified for their second World Cup Sevens last month. But the men’s team failed in the fourth and final leg of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series in Singapore on Saturday, losing to Sri Lanka in the Plate competition final.

China coach, Johnny Zhang Zhiqiang, said none of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) players were available as they were not released by the army to play overseas.

China fielded a full-strength team at this season’s Shanghai Sevens and reached the final before losing to Hong Kong.

“We need to talk to the China Rugby Union and see what can be done in the future whereby the national team are able to field their best squad including the army players,” said Lapasset.

“What China must realise is that it is not good for their image when they lose in events like this and fail to qualify [for major international events],” Lapasset said. “We need to change that. The IRB will try to help, and convince the China Rugby Union and other authorities that they have to field their best side at all times at the international level.”

China also failed to qualify for the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.{jcomments on}

Lack of sponsors has cost Madrid Open as they have been removed from the European Tour’s calendar due to a lack of funding.

Tournament spokeswoman Maria Acacia Lopez-Bachiller tells The Associated Press that no sponsors for the Sept. 20-23 event were found to replace Bankia, the bailed-out Spanish bank that sponsored the tournament previously.

Acacia Lopez-Bachiller added: “organizers are hoping to find new sponsorship to bring the tournament back next year. It’s a shame, but the situation in Spain has left it this way.”

The Castellon Masters is another Spanish tournament that has been removed from this year’s schedule.

London 2012 Tier Three sponsor, erectile Heineken has revealed its marketing strategy for the Olympics by generating an online hub with fan-generated content.

Throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Heineken will ask fans to upload photos celebrating the Olympics. The best pictures will be displayed at JCDecaux’s Transvision digital screen at Charing Cross station.

As part of its marketing activity around the games Heineken has booked all faces on the Transvision screen for four weeks.

Heineken is to use homepage takeovers on Yahoo and Eurosport.com websites, geo-targeted mobile ads and the sponsored hashtag #celebratelondon2012 on Twitter to direct people to follow @Heineken_UK and visit the fan hub.

As part of the activity, devised and implemented by MediaVest with creative work by Iris London, digital outdoor screens throughout London Underground and rail stations will display “near-live” content from the Heineken fan hub. 

The online hub will go live next week and will provide a guide to useful information about the Olympic and Paralympic Games including where to find big screens showing footage, a daily blog and pictures and Tweets from fans.

Elsewhere, Heineken is kitting out 150 London pubs with banners, posters, beer taps and Olympic-branded glassware and provided Heineken-green uniforms for staff. It has also taken over Alexander Palace in North London, which will host the Dutch Olympic Committee.

Louise Dennett, UK brand manager for Heineken, said: “Our involvement with the Olympics is very much about the celebratory aspect of watching and enjoying the action whilst enjoying a cold Heineken.

“This exciting activation across online, outdoor and mobile creates a customer journey throughout the day providing near-live celebration updates for the fans.”

Formula One team Hispania Racing is using a 175-mile-per-hour billboard to drum up sponsors ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.

The move has come after the team failed to secure a main corporate backer in its second season in the world’s most-watched racing series. Its cars in the Monaco Grand Prix in two days will feature ‘This Could Be You’ signs to lure support as the economic slump at home makes it harder to find a sponsor.

Team owner Jose Ramon Carabante said he is using his own funds to cover part of its US$71m budget as Spain continues to struggle to emerge from a three-year economic slump, check with a 21 per cent unemployment rate, ambulance the highest in Europe.

Carabante stated: “We’re still alive, which in these times is no small feat. The car’s message is striking but we hope it disappears soon.”

According to Adam Parr, chairman of Grove, England- based Williams, whose main backer is AT&T Inc., many Formula One teams are having difficulty finding sponsors as companies don’t see the series as environmentally friendly.

Carabante claimed his team is in talks with two Spanish companies about sponsorship, without identifying them. He is also steering his Murcia-based real estate company, Grupo Hispania, through the fallout of a housing market collapse.

The governing council of cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has ruled that a minimum of three players per team have to appear in any franchises’ commercial and promotional activities.

The council went on to clarify that if a certain player has no objection to promoting the brands of the teams individually, he can do so by signing a declaration.

However, DNA newspaper reports that the players will have to avail themselves for 10 promotional activities of their franchises. The governing council also came to the decision that the team logo has to be as prominent as the sponsor of the team on each of the franchises shirts.

The ruling has been made after some players had refused to endorse certain brands associated with the franchises arguing that there was a conflict of interest since they were already promoting rival brands.

Prominent players like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra had recently met BCCI president Shashank Manohar to look into the matter.

Money is being raised by a group calling itself the Hornets’ Business Council to buy tickets for National Basketball Association (NBA) side the New Orleans Hornets and encouraged local businesses to do the same.

The efforts are being made in an attempt to prevent the team from moving outside of New Orleans after majority owner George Shinn revealed that he was selling the team to the league. This has sparked fears that the team could be shipped out of New Orleans by prospective buyers.

Michael Hecht, president of Greater New Orleans Inc. stated: “The Hornets franchise is important to economic development, the team is also important to our civic pride and quality of life.”

The group has raised US$250,000 in 48 hours to be used to purchase tickets and boost attendance at games. The ticket sales boost is an attempt to stop the rates falling below an average attendance 14,735 which would spark a clause in the teams lease at the New Orleans Arena that would allow them to leave after this season.

The effort to boost ticket sales began last week when Gov. Bobby Jinidal and Mayor Mitch Landrieu solicited community support to pack the arena and support the team.