Thailand teen golf sensations Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn are now both taking their games to the professional ranks and have signed with IMG, medic the world’s leading sports, view fashion and media company, viagra for worldwide management and marketing representation.

Moriya Jutanugarn turned professional earlier this year, and her younger sister, Ariya, joined her as a pro last month. The Jutanugarn sisters gave golf fans an idea of the impact they can have in women’s professional golf as Moriya finished tied for first place last month at LPGA Tour qualifying school, securing her card for the 2013 season, while Ariya won qualifying school for the Ladies European Tour by an impressive five-shot margin.

“Playing golf professionally on the LPGA Tour has been a lifelong dream for me, and I can’t wait to get started,” said Moriya. “Many of my golf heroes growing up were represented by IMG, and as a company with such a strong presence in golf around the world, my family and I knew that they were the right fit for us.”

“It’s a very exciting time for my sister and me,” said Ariya. “We look at how many strong young players, from all parts of the world, are helping make women’s golf so popular, and we will be thrilled to be a part of it. We know that IMG will play a very important role in helping us become the best professional players we can be.”

Moriya, 18, created history in 2008, at 14 years of age, when she became the first female to win the British Junior Open.  She earned low amateur honors at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open where she finished tied for 33rd.

Ariya, 17, won her second consecutive AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors last year. In 2011 she earned low amateur honors at the Kraft Nabisco Championship when she tied for 25th place.

“Moriya and Ariya have been generating excitement for years at the amateur and junior levels, and golf fans around the world are eagerly looking forward to seeing them compete as professionals,” said Grant Slack, Senior Vice President, IMG Golf. “They will both be global superstars in women’s golf, and we’re sure will inspire many other future stars of the game. IMG is thrilled to represent the Jutanugarn sisters and help them become the most successful professionals they can be.”

Perform at St George’s Park, the world-class sports and exercise medicine, human performance and rehabilitation centre at the heart of The Football Association’s (The FA) new national training home has unveiled it’s opening.

The centre is part of Spire Healthcare’s growing sports medicine portfolio.  It will play an important role in the preparation of England football teams at all levels.  Visitors to St George’s Park, be they elite sports people or the general public, are offered access to superb, state-of the-art  sports science and training facilities, with the aim of helping them reach their physical and mental potential. 

St George’s Park is the FA’s £100m development in Burton-upon-Trent, England, which will be the national centre for coach education.  A multi-sports facility, it will act as the training home for Club England and its 24 representative teams, as well as a number of other world-class teams and individual athletes as they prepare for major competitions.   

The Perform centre at St George’s Park combines the latest cutting-edge technologies and leading sports physicians. It is designed for elite athletes but accessible to anyone, including corporate groups, individuals, schools and sports teams.  Whether it’s helping people achieve and maintain optimal performance, rehabilitate from injury, improving overall levels of health and fitness, or encouraging behavioural change in the workplace, the team at Perform can create a personalised programme to suit the needs of any visitor.   

Included amongst the centre’s cutting-edge facilities are: An anti-gravity treadmill, An altitude centre, An under-water treadmill and dedicated hydrotherapy suite, Biomechanical assessments and Applied GPS and heart-rate monitors.

Commenting on the opening of Perform at St George’s Park, David Sheepshanks, Chairman, St George’s Park, said: “Perform at St George’s Park combines elite medical expertise with the latest cutting-edge technologies with the aim of enabling anyone to perform at their very best.  The centre will be home to the England medical teams and I have no doubt that it will help England football teams of all age groups maximise their performance, both on and off the pitch.”   

“I look forward to Perform becoming an internationally renowned centre of excellence and a hub for sports performance experts, innovation and thought leadership.” 

Perform at St George’s Park is centrally located near Burton-upon-Trent, which makes it easily accessible from anywhere in the UK.  40% of the UK’s population live within a two hour drive of the centre, which is also only 90 minutes away from London by train.   

Ruth Paulin, Business Director, Perform at St George’s Park, said: “Perform at St George’s Park can offer a complete service to any visitor, with state-of-the-art facilities all available under one roof.   Whilst the centre is designed with elite athletes in mind, any client can have access to our elite level sports physicians, therapists, trainers, sports scientists and of course, our advanced exercise equipment, allowing us to create a specialised, personalised programme to help everyone maximise performance or recover from injury or surgery.”   

Perform at St George’s Park is part of Spire Healthcare’s growing network of elite sports medicine centres and clinicians.

The ABC consortium have submitted a revised bid for financially striken Bradford Bulls.

The Rugby Football League rejected the initial bid from the ABC consortium because of the strings attached, but revealed that the same group had re-submitted a modified offer and it was being considered.

Meanwhile, Brendan Guilfoyle, the joint administrator in charge of the Bulls, said he would extend Friday’s deadline to find a buyer if the RFL agree to find the money to pay the next monthly wages, thought to be in excess of £200,000.

Guilfoyle, who was appointed on June 26, originally gave himself a fortnight to avoid liquidating the club but put the deadline back to July 10. After receiving firm interest from the ABC consortium, Guilfoyle then agreed to set a new deadline of July 27 on condition that the RFL agreed to advance money to cover the monthly wage bill which they did.

Guilfoyle, partner at Leeds-based P&A Partnership, said: “The only way I can take the Bulls into next month is if the RFL help by paying the wages bill. Today is the administrators’ deadline to save the Bulls and I don’t have an offer for the club which is acceptable to the RFL. If the RFL can help me to buy a little more time then I can try to bring an acceptable deal to the table.”

The RFL have yet to consider the latest request but have consistently said they would do all in their power to ensure the club see out the rest of the Super League season.

However, they have also maintained they are not in a position to guarantee the Bulls’ place in Super League from 2013 and have not agreed to sell back the lease to the Odsal Stadium – the two conditions laid down by the ABC consortium. A statement issued by the RFL on Friday afternoon hinted at a relaxation of the stance adopted by the consortium.

The statement read: “Whilst the RFL remains hopeful that new owners for the club can be found and is receptive to constructive approaches from interested parties, the governing body is still unable to consider conditional offers.

“The RFL will continue to work with the administrator to achieve our shared aim of finding new owners for Bradford Bulls and will continue to be flexible in its approach to discussions with prospective owners.”

The RFL have yet to receive details of a rival bid fronted by Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, a former sports minister.

iSportconnect, herbal the world’s leading sports business networking platform is delighted to announce the London 2012 Networking Tool is now live. 

iSportconnect members attending the event across London will be able to log in to dev.isportconnect.com/london2012 and see who else is attending what event and arrange meetings with them. Members will also be able to keep up to date with all the latest business news coming from the global event and also the latest discussions. 

Chairman of UK Athletics Ed Warner said “This is a great idea and tool, and having a place to connect the businesses attending the prestigious London Olympics will be invaluable to sports business executives across the globe” 

If you are lucky enough to be attending this year’s Olympics in any capacity then why not log in to your iSportconnect account and join the London 2012 Networking Tool. 

If you are not yet signed up to iSportconnect then get on board for around the clock news, discussions, job listings, business events listings and of course fantastic networking

Lucozade are looking to exploit possibly one of the most watched sporting events this season by launching a new TV spot, allergist advertising the latest phase of its ‘Faster. Stronger For Longer’ marketing campaign during tonight’s Premier League title decider between Manchester United and Manchester City.

The advertisement will be starring England and Manchester United forward Ashley Young talking about what drives him to train and the mentality needed to succeed as a top athlete.

Lucozade aims to capitalise on the mounting interest around tonight’s match, pill which is being billed as one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The English Premier League predict that the showdown between the intercity rivals will attract more than 650 million viewers in over 190 countries when it kicks off at 8.00pm.

The TV spot is the first in the series to promote the brand as official sports and energy drink supplier to the England team. Other adverts in the series have starred Team GB athletes Mo Farah, Phillips Idowu and Louis Smith as Lucozade owner GlaxoSmithKline looks to promote its sponsorship of this year’s Olympic Games.

by Ismail Uddin

The PGA event at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor will be looking for a new title sponsor next year after Transitions Optical informed the PGA it will not renew its four-year contract when it expires after the 2012 tournament in March.

Tour spokesman Ty Votaw, said: “We are in discussions with several prospects as a replacement sponsor. We have a number of companies we talk to about opportunities all the time. We are in those discussions now. We are fully sponsored for 2012 and we anticipate that to be the case in 2013 and beyond.”

Innisbrook has had a revolving door of sponsors since it became a PGA event in 2000. The PGA Tour sponsored the 2000 and 2002 tournaments (2001 was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks). Chrysler was the title sponsor from 2003-07. Then PODS stepped in for 2008 but exercised an option to back out after one year. Transitions signed a four-year agreement at the last moment and took over in 2009.

Now the search begins for yet another sponsor. Transitions Championship tournament director Kevin Krisle said they will look locally and nationally to secure a title sponsor. The title sponsorship for the tournament has been reported to be worth $7 million per year.

“We’ll work in synch with the PGA Tour to try to find a title sponsor,” Krisle said. “The search process has begun. In coordination with the PGA Tour, we are in discussions with prospects at this time.”

While there has been no time frame set to find a sponsor, the next season’s schedules come out every year in the fall. If there is no title sponsor by the fall of 2012, the local tournament may be in trouble.

Votaw would not speculate on when a sponsor needed to be secured.

“That’s too premature and hypothetical to even talk about,” he said.

Krisle said his focus is making sure the 2012 tournament goes off without a hitch. That and finding a sponsor.

“We’re not speculating on the future of any of it,” Krisle said. “Our primary goal right now, in addition to the 2012 tournament, is finding a replacement sponsor to take the place of Transitions.”

Next year’s tournament is March 15-18 at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course.

Bahrain Formula One grand prix organisers have announced that the season-opening race has been called off because of the civil unrest sweeping the country with regards to human rights protesters.

The race was due to kick of the 2011 season and be held on 13 March, had been in doubt for more than a week after violent anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital, Manama, with F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone admitting concerns over the safety and security at the event.

Ecclestone yesterday stated that it would be down to Bahrain Crown Prince Salman to make the decision upon whether the race could go ahead, by today, February 22.

The decision means the Australian grand prix in Melbourne on 27 March will play host to the first round of the 2011 season. The final testing session that had been scheduled for Bahrain from 3-6 March has also been cancelled.

A statement read: “The Bahrain International Circuit today announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain would withdraw from hosting this year’s F1 grand prix race so that the country can focus on its process of national dialogue.”

Several people have been killed and hundreds injured in a crackdown against protesters demanding more say in the running of the Gulf kingdom.

Prince Salman announced his decision to Ecclestone yesterday, February 21, and stated: “At the present time the country’s entire attention is focused on building a new national dialogue for Bahrain. Although Bernie Ecclestone had graciously made clear a decision on the race was entirely Bahrain’s to make and was not yet required, we felt it was important for the country to focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting of Bahrain’s Formula One race to a later date.

“I would like to extend my personal gratitude to Bernie Ecclestone for his support and understanding. After the events of the past week, our nation’s priority is on overcoming tragedy, healing divisions and rediscovering the fabric that draws this country together, reminding the world of the very best that Bahrain is capable of as a nation once again united.”

It is still believed to possible that the Bahrain grand prix could be rescheduled for later in the year as opposed to being scrapped from the calendar entirely, having been a fixture of the F1 season since 2004.

Ecclestone added: “It is sad that Bahrain has had to withdraw from the race, we wish the whole nation well as they begin to heal their country. The hospitality and warmth of the people of Bahrain is a hallmark of the race there, as anyone who has been at a Bahrain grand prix will testify. We look forward to being back in Bahrain soon.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Castrol, symptoms the world’s leading lubricants company, medic announced an agreement that makes Castrol the official performance partner of ICC with a unique presence at all ICC cricket events for the next five years at least.

The agreement awards Castrol a worldwide rights package from 2010 until 2015 and will include the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, ailment which will take place in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, as well as all other ICC tournaments up to and including the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said: “This is fantastic news for our great sport. For us to attract a commercial partner of Castrol’s calibre is another indication of the excellent reputation and healthy state of international cricket. It reconfirms how top brands want to be associated with cricket and its great spirit. Even in these challenging times, cricket’s popularity among spectators, broadcasters and sponsors is as strong as ever.

“As we prepare for what will be a great celebration of the game at our flagship event next year, we are fortunate to have a group of top-class partners whose commitment to the game is unquestioned. Without that commitment we would not be in a position to help our 105 Members grow the game as they do around the world.”

Commenting on the sponsorship, Castrol’s Vice-President, Asia & Pacific Region, Naveen Kshatriya said: “Cricket is a sport that is passionately followed across many parts of the world. While no other game touches the hearts and minds in the Asian sub-continent as cricket does, the game is also very popular in many other important Castrol markets like Australasia, South Africa and the UK.

“We are indeed delighted to partner with the ICC as its ‘performance partner’. Castrol products and services are all about delivering high performance and this association will further strengthen the relationship which we enjoy with all our customers and consumers. We intend leveraging this association to help bring into our fold millions of new consumers in the coming years.”

As the official performance partner of the ICC, Castrol will bring this system to the stadium audience of ICC’s premier cricket events like the ICC Cricket World Cup and ICC World Twenty20 as an index on the match day. By appearing on the stadium replay screens at crucial points of the game, the Castrol Index for match days will fuel the audience’s passion and excitement in the game by updating them real-time on which team is leading and which players are the top performers at that point in the game.

Castrol already has a strong association with cricket and with its global experience and expertise in leveraging sports sponsorships, Castrol is poised to deliver unique insights and experiences for cricket lovers all over the world.