Coca-Cola has unveiled its “Move to the Beat” campaign for the London 2012 Games that will be led by renowned music producer Mark Ronson.

The campaign is designed to promote the Olympics and sport generally to teenagers by focussing on teenagers’ love of music. Ronson, together with chart-topping singer Katy B, will create a new song by that will feature a fusion of sounds of Olympic sport.

London-born Ronson travelled around the World in search of inspiration for the song. He met young athletes and recorded the sounds of them competing to provide the beat for the tune.

The single will be available worldwide next year and will provide feature in television commercials, mobile and digital platforms and Coca-Cola events throughout the 2012 Games.

Ronson said: “I’ve been able to do something really unique, meeting these remarkable people and recording their sounds to use in this song. It’s exciting to be working with Coca-Cola on the Move to the beat Campaign for London 2012.”

Five of the athletes who were recorded for the song  will feature in the Coca-Cola advertising campaign and act as ambassadors for Move to the Beat. The young athletes involved will be: British table tennis player Darius Knight, United States sprint hurdler David Oliver, Russian 400 metre runner Kseniya Vdovina Singaporean archer Dayyan Jaffar, and Mexican taekwondo star Maria Espinoza.

Coca-Cola spokesman Shay Drohan said: “The number one passion point for teens is music. Through Move to the Beat, Coca-Cola is inspiring teens around the world to move to the beat of London and come together in the biggest Olympic Games activation in our 84-year partnership. As the longest continuous support of the Olympic Games, Coca-Cola is committed to using our Olympic Games sponsorship to be a part of the Olympic experience and become more active.”

Coca-Cola has been involved in the Olympic since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam and has extended the relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to 2020.

South Africa’s Sam Ramsamy had been elected to succeed Mustapha Larfaoui as the President of the Confederation of African Swimming (CANA), sale following the Algerian’s decision to step down from the post that he had held since the birth of the organisaton, generic in 1972.

Ramsany steps up from his previous position of CANA Vice-President after beating Nigeria’s Chief Thomas Olatokunbo by 14 votes to six at the Congress that took place during the African Championships in Nairobi.

Considered to be one of the most influent individuals in the recent history of the Olympic Movement, doctor Ramsamy also occupies the position of Vice-President of Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) and is the former President of Swimming South Africa.

As Chairman of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC), from 1976 to 1990, he protested against discrimination in sport and was an outspoken campaigner against a white-only South African teams in international sporting events.

Perform Group plc , the global market leader in the distribution and commercialisation of sports content across connected digital platforms, has announced the acquisition of German sports media company Sportal Gmbh (“Sportal”).

Sportal owns Sportal.de, a leading sports portal in the German market and also provides a range of content, production and technology services for clients such as Spiegel, Süddeutsche, RTL/sport.de, Motain, Sportal Media gruppe Switzerland. The business has been acquired from private investors and in the year to 31 December 2011 Sportal reported revenues of €1.4 million. Gross assets at 31 December 2011 were €0.4 million.

The acquisition builds on Perform’s presence in the German market, having acquired Spox.com and mediasports at the end of 2011. Sportal.de has an average of 800k unique sports fans visiting the site every month and will be integrated into the mediasports advertising network which includes sites such as Spox.com, Goal.com, Comunio.de, Kicktipp.de and Formel1.de, taking its reach to over 8m unique sports fans every month.

Perform’s Joint-CEO, Oliver Slipper commented: “This is another positive acquisition for Perform. We are very committed to the German market and see some great opportunities in what is one of the largest digital economies in Europe. Sportal has a heritage of providing great content to German fans and the acquisition takes us a step closer to consolidating our position as the leading digital sports advertising platform in market.”

Brighton & Hove Albion have received permission from Brighton & Hove City Council to expand the Amex stadium adding over 8000 seats and build a large temporary car park serving the ground.

The twin planning applications were both granted this afternoon with the capacity increasing at the stadium by 8250 – from 22,500 to 30,750.

Crucial to expanding the ground was a separate application to turn land from the former Falmer High School into car parking. Councillors granted permission for four years, subject to a number of conditions aimed at reducing the impact of vehicles and minimising disturbance to neighbours.

The consent also requires the Albion to build a replacement for the nearby Bridge Community Centre, to be opened before the car park is constructed.

A condition of installing more seats would be a requirement for the Albion to provide a residents’ parking scheme on match and event days. This would aim to prevent current problems caused by fans’ cars being left on streets in Coldean and Moulsecoomb.

The club has also agreed to improve the capacity of Platform 1 at Falmer station to handle crowds.

Chair of the planning committee Cllr Phelim MacCafferty said: “This is a triple win for the city. The club get their seats, the community centre is replaced and nearby residents get their streets back.

“We’re keen to help the football club and we’ve been creative in ensuring local people are looked after as well.”

Brighton’s chief executive, Martin Perry, said: “We have put pride back into the city, we have put a spring in the step of the city,” said Perry.

“This takes the club forward and we urge you to approve it.”

Only drivers with pre-paid parking tickets will be able to use the car park. It will be available for a limit of 50 matches or events a year. Hours of use are restricted to between 7am and 11.30pm.

A maximum of 680 cars will be allowed. Drivers will be forbidden to use Lucraft Roadfor access, instead entering via a tunnel from the A270.

The South Coast club moved to their new £93million home at Falmer at the beginning of the season in time for the club’s return to the Championship following promotion from League One.

Prior to moving into the new stadium, the Seagulls had been without a home since leaving the Goldstone Ground in 1997.

English Rugby Union club Plymouth Albion are in dire straits after the Championship sides shareholders held emergency talks last night in a bid to save the club from bankruptcy.

Chairman Dr Graham Stirling issued a plea for cash to keep the struggling club afloat until the end of the season.

“We need to raise about £200,000 to see us through,” Dr Stirling said at an extraordinary general meeting, called at a few days’ notice.

And he said the members of the board had “made it clear that we will all consider our positions going forward”.

Around 60 of the 130 shareholders met at the Brickfields ground for talks that went on for more than two hours.

Dr Stirling said they had pledged money to help the club, which is understood to have a shortfall of around £500,000. But he added: “We’re not there yet.

“We have had a very positive response. It’s the wish of the shareholders that we do everything possible to stave off administration or liquidation.

“They are making pledges and we will take a look once that’s all added up and see where we stand.”

The club’s financial woes reached crisis point last week after moves to bring in a new investor collapsed.

Businessman Nigel Passmore was brought on board in November, shortly before Albion sacked long-serving chairman of rugby Graham Dawe.

Mr Dawe was replaced by former Exeter boss Peter Drewett and coaching consultant Phil Greening in a deal underwritten by Mr Passmore.

Dr Stirling said Albion bosses knew the club was in a perilous state in November.

“We thought we had a solution seven weeks ago when Nigel came on board, but unfortunately that fell through,” Dr Stirling said.

After Mr Passmore severed his ties with the club just before Christmas, Albion was unable to fund the salaries of Mr Drewett and Mr Greening, and they quit last week.

Mr Dawe attended last night’s meeting. He said afterwards: “There is still a lot of work to do but the meeting was positive.

“The groundswell of opinion is that people want to see the club remain in the Championship.”

Dr Stirling said he hoped to avoid putting the club into administration. Going into administration would mean a points deduction and almost certain relegation.

“That could be a route to go down but it is an absolute last resort.

“For a club like Albion the cost of going [out of the Championship] would far exceed the cost of remaining in and fixing the problem.

“The shortfall is largely attributable to lower gates, lower ground spend, lower sponsorship and lower commercial and non-rugby income.”

Players and staff would not be asked to work without pay as happened at Plymouth Argyle Football Club last year, he said.

“We are not in a similar position to Plymouth Argyle. The magnitude of the problem isn’t on their scale. It’s still serious, but it’s fixable.”

Shareholder Andy Kelland said before the meeting: “I’m here to listen and find out how serious the situation is. It sounds pretty serious.”

One shareholder, who did not want to be named, said: “I would be happy to put in £50 or £60 but not the sums of £5,000 that are being asked for.”

Another who wanted to remain anonymous said the club would probably raise enough money to stay afloat until the summer “but what then?”

Council leader Vivien Pengelly said: “I can’t comment on the Albion situation, but I would fight to keep the Brickfields as a sports facility.”

The World Squash Federation (WSF) have begun a new strategy of branding by launching a new logo, intended, to achieve a clear, consistent visual identity that not only emphasises the position and role of the federation, but also has the flexibility to be used in a variety of ways in respect of the organisation’s programmes and initiatives. 

The new branding uses the lines of the front wall of a squash court to give a visual cue towards squash and features strong lines and colours as part of a full rebranding that will ensure instant recognition of WSF.

N Ramachandran, WSF’s President, said: “We are a bold organisation and want to reflect that in how we look. In simple terms, WSF is a brand and we have to present this effectively to our stakeholders and all to whom we relate.”

Andrew Shelley, chief executive at the WSF, added: “The flexibility of design and colour is important, so that we can give separate identities to all our schemes. We are heartened by positive reaction from those who have seen the designs so far and we hope that the entire world of squash will be similarly upbeat now that it is released.”

The WSF is currently pursuing a bid to get the sport onto the Olympic programme for 2020.

The federation also recently announced that it is opening an office in the Maison Du Sport International in Lausanne to be close to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and has appointed Mike Lee’s company Vero Communications to help raise the profile of the bid.

Newcastle United have announced today the appointment of Lee Charnley as the Club’s new Managing Director. 

Lee, who previously held the position of Football Secretary and has been a director at the Club since 2008, has taken up his new role with immediate effect.

Owner Mike Ashley will also be formally appointed to the Club’s Board of Directors, joining Lee and Finance Director John Irving.

Speaking after his appointment, Lee said: “It is a real honour to be confirmed as Managing Director,” he said.

“I have been with the Club for almost 15 years and have seen a great many changes in my time here.

“The Club has never been in such a stable and healthy financial position, which gives us the best possible platform from which to grow.

“I am confident that with our dedicated, hardworking and loyal employees, together with Alan Pardew and his backroom staff, we will progress the Club, both on and off the field over the coming years.