LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) has received control of the Olympic Village site from the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) to mark exactly six months until the start of the Games.

The ODA started work on the Village back in June 2008 and has constructed 2, health 818 new apartments on schedule.

The handover of the Village will see the beginning of the vast process to fit-out the new apartments in preparation for the arrival of athletes and officials from around the world this summer.

LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe stated, impotent “Athletes are at the heart of the London 2012 Games and our plans for the Olympic Village will provide them with a home-from-home as they prepare for one of the biggest sporting moments of their lives. With the Village now handed over we are starting the huge process to install essential facilities and services ready to welcome competitors from around the world in 6 months’ time”.

ODA Chairman John Armitt added, ampoule “The Olympic Village has been built by companies from every part of the UK, working together to ensure it was completed on time and overcoming the challenges posed by the credit crunch and economic downturn.

“The apartments are ready but our work is not quite done. We will be finishing the landscaping as winter turns into spring, and then returning after the Games to complete the transformation to create new homes for Londoners”.

The Village site will be home to up to 16,000 thousand athletes and team officials during the Olympic Games and 6,200 thousand athletes and team officials, plus 1000 referees and umpires, during the Paralympic Games.

The fit-out and overlay work includes the installation 16,000 beds, 64,000 bed sheets, 21,000 pillows, 9,000 wardrobes, more than 170,000 coat hangers, 11,000 sofas, 5,000 bins and 5,000 toilet brushes.

The Village will also host the largest peacetime catering operation worldwide with up to 60,000 meals served every day.

Post London 2012, the Village will provide a legacy of 2,818 homes which will be known collectively as “East Village”. 1,379 have been purchased by Triathlon Homes to provide high-quality affordable housing. 1,439 properties will become private housing having been secured by a consortium of UK developer Delancey and the Qatari Diar real estate investment company.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) have revealed that ten companies have bid to become tenants of the Main Press Centre (MPC) and International Broadcast Centre (IBC).

The two giant facilities offer around one million square foot of flexible business space on the Olympic Park in Stratford and will house thousands of the world’s best accredited print and broadcast journalists during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The MPC and IBC are adjacent to the creative district of Hackney Wick and within the newly named East Wick.

The ten competing companies have put forward a variety of bids ranging from the minimum occupation of one floor in either building to the complete take up of each building on long leases.

The shortlist of bidders will be released in the New Year.

General Lassana Palenfo will return for a third and final term as President of the Association of National Olympic committees of Africa (ANOCA) after being elected by an annual elective general assembly.

The assembly also choose long serving Zimbabwean sports administrator Tomas Sithole as the secretary General.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe has disputed claims that the cost of staging the event is already over budget.

Coe moved to insist preparations for the Games remain within budget after a report claimed that costs were already in excess of £12 billion ($19 billion).

The UK government’s public sector budget for the 2012 Olympics is listed as £9.3 billion ($14.6 billion).

Coe commented, “We will maintain a balanced budget to the completion of the project and the infrastructure will be delivered within the budget that has already been agreed by government. Occasionally some things are slightly more than you expect. On a lot of occasions they’re slightly less than you expect, but overall those changes have taken place within that £9.3 billion ($14.6 billion) envelope”.

The figure of £9.3 billion ($14.6 billion), which includes all venue construction and infrastructure projects, is already almost a four-fold rise on the original £2.37 billion ($3.72 billion) sum quoted when London won the right to stage the Games in 2005.

Sky News claims that an additional £2.4 billion ($3.8 billion) has now been added to public sector spending to cater for a number of supplementary services.

These include extra anti-doping control officers, additional funds for workers to prevent a London Underground strike, governmental operational costs and legal bills over the Olympic Stadium tenancy.

Sky also contends that security costs will further swell the £12 billion figure ($19 billion). They claim police are being given £1.1 billion ($1.7 billion) in counter-terrorism funding and a £4.4 billion ($6.9 billion) budget for security and intelligence services.

Sky believe that, overall, these extra costs, together with having 12,000 police officers on duty during the Games and the £6.5 billion ($10.2 billion) sum invested in transport upgrades, could bring the total cost of the Olympics to more than £24 billion ($38 billion).

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has poured scorn on the report and emphasised that it erroneously includes costs, such as policing and transport, which are needed every year in the capital not just in Olympic year.

A DCMS spokesman stated, “It is simply not right to start adding on top of that budgets that would have been in existence regardless of 2012 and claim that as being an Olympic cost.

“We have always been transparent about the cost of the Games and have rigorously managed the budget to ensure the programme remains within the £9.3 billion ($14.6 billion).

“London 2012 is an investment in our country that is already bringing in economic benefits that would otherwise not have been possible. It is an incredible opportunity for the United Kingdom – not a burden”.

Ukraine have assumed pole position to host the Europen Championship of Basketball in 2015 by default.

France, site Germany, anabolics Italy and Croatia withdrew their joint bid earlier this week leaving the eastern Europen country as the sole candidate for the biennial tournament.

The French Basketball Federation made a statement on behalf of all four nations behind the withdrawn bid explaining their move.

“This decision was made unanimously by the four presidents of the bidding countries due to immense doubts regarding the professionalism and the lack of trust in the bidding process conducted by the European Basketball Federation, capsule FIBA Europe”.

The presidents of the French and German Federations, Jean-Pierre Siutat and Ingo Weiss Jean-Pierre Siutat and Ingo Weiss, also commented. “We rely on values such as good governance, compliance, and transparency and base our decisions and our actions on these values. This is our responsibility towards our partners, sponsors and ourselves and with this decision we assume this responsibility”.

FIBA Europe responded, in turn. ““The Board of FIBA Europe that convenes at the weekend in Munich, Germany will examine the statements that were issued by the four federations earlier today and will issue a reply as appropriate”.

An official announcement of the Host of the 2015 Championship from The European Basketball Federation is anticipated this Sunday.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for baseball and softball, has distributed media rights to the 2014 15U Baseball World Cup, within the Americas, to AYM Sports.

The most elite selection of 15-year-old baseball players in the world will be representing their countries in the II U-15 Baseball World Cup — the highest level of competition in baseball for this age group — from today (31 July) to 10 August across Sinaloa, Mexico.

The new agreement will also see AYM Sport produce the majority of the U15 Baseball World Cup’s eighty-three contests for broadcast across AYM Sports’ six television channels and online digital/mobile platforms, which have a potential broadcast reach of more than 62 million households and online/mobile users across the Americas.

Coverage of the U15 Baseball World Cup will be made available globally on a subscription basis via AYM SPORT’s online platform.

AYM Sports will also provide in-game commentary and post-match highlights of the youth international baseball showcase.

“The WBSC is very pleased to partner with AYM Sports to showcase the 2014 U15 Baseball World Cup,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “This is a very exciting time for WBSC, as international competitions that feature National Teams continue to drive spectator interest and growing consumer demand. AYM Sports’ know-how, platforms and innovation will not only guarantee that U15 Baseball World Cup content is delivered to key markets within the Americas, but also to a worldwide audience.”

AYM Sports produces and broadcasts live events and streams to and from anywhere in the world through Over-the-Top (OTT) content.

President of AYM Sports, Benjamin Hinojosa, said: “AYM Sports is proud to partner with the WBSC to bring the U15 Baseball World Cup to a global viewership. At the present time, we are expanding into other markets and territories, and that’s why securing the rights of high-quality, globally attractive events like this one is critical to AYM Sports’ growth strategy.

“We are experiencing positive audience growth and demand in elite international competitions and world championships like the U15 Baseball World Cup, and that’s why are we are particularly excited to be able to provide even more content that is relevant and attractive to AYM Sports’ new and loyal viewers.”

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) is investigating claims over poor pay and conditions at a Chinese factory where toy Olympic mascots are being made.

A Shropshire-based firm Golden Bear is making Olympic products based on Wenlock and Mandeville – the official mascots of the Olympics and Paralympics.

But an inquiry has been launched into allegations that workers at the Chinese factory which is making the toys for Golden Bear is breaching workers’ rights.

Both the London Games organisers and Golden Bear are investigating claims that workers are labouring for up to 11.5 hours a day for as little as STG0.26 ($A0.39) per hour.

A London 2012 spokesman said it placed a high priority on ‘environmental, social and ethical issues’ when securing goods and services and was taking the allegations ‘extremely seriously’.

The spokesman said: “We have asked our independent monitor to carry out a comprehensive investigation and review of these allegations.

“The outcome of this investigation will be made public as soon as it is concluded.

“We have contacted all of our licensees to reiterate to them the importance we place on the sustainable sourcing code they have each signed up to.”

Golden Bear said it was also conducting an immediate investigation, but confirmed the factory in question had passed inspections by the International Council of Toy Industries.

The company’s statement said: “Golden Bear is extremely concerned about recent reports that a factory involved in a small amount of the production of the company’s Olympic product could be in breach of workers’ rights.

“We are a family-run business that takes these issues very seriously indeed and has in place certificates of compliance at all factories used to produce our products.

“We are therefore in the process of conducting an immediate investigation and will be able to comment on these findings as soon as they are known to us.”