It has emerged that Greek athletes will have to achieve their own funding as public funding has been slashed, apoplectic forcing some athletes to quit the Olympic dream.

The country is in the third year of a recession and sport is paying the price. Funds to the Greek Olympic Committee for 2009-2012 were cut to US$11.3 million, health under a quarter of what it was four years ago, Hellenic Olympics Committee President Spyros Capralos said.

The financial crisis in Greece can relate back to their very holding of the games in 2004. The country spent more than $US15.5 billion in hosting the event, double its initial budget.

“This is a time of unprecedented fiscal effort and we have to cut funding all around,” Prime Minister George Papandreou told the Greek Cabinet on July 26.

“State funding is down but in the situation the country is in, it would be provocative for it not to be,” said Antonios Dimitrakopoulos, president of the Hellenic Sailing Federation.

IMG Media has secured a a four-year deal for global television broadcast rights to European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) competitions from the 2014/15 season.

The new partnership with IMG, abortion which will generate a substantial increase in revenue on previous agreements, covers the television broadcast rights outside of the UK, Ireland and France, for the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup, and the Challenge Cup Qualifying Tournament.

Broadcast rights for Italy will be part of the agreement from 2015/16.

IMG will market live and highlights rights across all platforms for the 67 European Rugby Champions Cup games, plus the Play-Offs, 19 matches from the European Rugby Challenge Cup and three games from the Challenge Cup Qualifying Tournament for emerging clubs/provinces.

The two principal tournaments, which are the successors to the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup – will feature 38 professional clubs from the Six Nations countries – England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales – who qualify through their domestic leagues of the Aviva Premiership, Top 14 and Pro 12.  There will also be two emerging clubs/provinces from the Qualifying Tournament.

Welcoming the new agreement EPCR Executive Committee member Bruce Craig said: “This new partnership with IMG comes quickly on the back of the conclusion of the UK TV rights contract with BT Sport and BskyB. IMG share our ambition and vision for these tournaments, and we look forward to working with them to ensure European professional club rugby reaches its potential in both established and emerging markets.”

“We are now heading into the October kick-off in a very strong commercial position and expect another significant announcement later this month when the competitive tender process to secure the broadcast rights for France is concluded.”

Michael Mellor, SVP at IMG Media, said: “This is the dawn of a new era in professional club rugby in Europe and it is an exciting proposition for us to be involved in from the very beginning. Our vast worldwide network of offices along with our experience in selling rugby, we believe places us in a great position to grow awareness of the top two European club tournaments across all media platforms.”

EPCR was established in April 2014 and is made up of nine stakeholders – the six unions, the IRFU, FIR, FFR, RFU, Scottish Rugby and WRU and the three club organisations, Premiership Rugby, Ligue Nationale de Rugby and Regional Rugby Wales.

Both competitions will kick-off in October 2014 and be played over nine weekends, culminating in the finals on the weekend of 1 / 2 May 2015.

The Olympic Stadium dispute continued yesterday as Tottenham Hotspur were granted permission to challenge the decision that awarded the Olympic Stadium to West Ham.

A High Court judge yesterday said the north London club, and Leyton Orient, had a case for a full judicial review.

Tottenham argue that a £40m loan West Ham were given by Newham Borough Council to help fund their tenancy of the stadium Newham-based Stratford which amounts to state aid and so breaches European law. It is on this basis that Mr Justice Collins allowed the case to go to review. He said they had an “arguable” case. It will be heard on 18 October.

It provides hope for Tottenham as they try to find a new home or develop the area around White Hart Lane, but their chances of eventually taking tenancy of the stadium are still distant. There were overnight reports that the club were considering withdrawing their legal challenge after two private investigations showed they had no claim.

Also the Mayor of London Boris Johnson is set to hand the club about £8m towards developing nearby Northumberland Park, with both the Mayor and Haringey Borough Council anxious not to lose the club from an area in desperate need of regeneration, especially in the wake of the riots earlier this month. “They are needed in Tottenham,” said David Lammy, the area’s MP.

The Northumberland Park development, which would result in a 56,250-seat stadium, will cost around £400m. Moving to the Olympic Stadium remains the cheaper option, and offers appreciably better transport connections, but is opposed by many Tottenham supporters.

There remains a possibility that a deal satisfying all parties will be reached before October, which would then see Tottenham drop their case. The support of the mayor was thought likely to see their legal challenge dropped yesterday. Instead by the afternoon Tottenham’s legal team had persuaded Justice Collins they had a case.

Dinah Rose, Tottenham’s QC, argued that the future of the £486m Olympic stadium remained of “considerable public importance” and that it must be “lawfully disposed of”. Tottenham had been “excluded” by the original bidding process, she said. Newham Council had loaned West Ham £40m as part of a joint bid for the tenancy. Tottenham say that money would not have been made available to West Ham by a bank so it amounts to state aid. Under European law, public money is not allowed to be used to give private companies a competitive advantage. The High Court will now review the decision by Newham to offer the loan, the decision of the OPLC to award the tenancy and the resulting backing received from the mayor and government.

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: “We have noted the judge’s decision today. The matter is in the hands of our lawyers.”

Barry Hearn, Orient’s owner, claims his club will go out of business if West Ham move to Stratford .

If the review does find in Tottenham’s favour the government are then likely to appeal which will draw out the situation even more. Even if Tottenham win all legal arguments and the bidding process has to start over, the presence of the running track which the OPLC and other key bodies will not want to see removed would still need Tottenham to change their initial plans for the stadium.

The UK government is in exclusive talks with a consortium in relation to the future of the London 2012 Olympic Athlete’s Village.

Delancey & Qatari Diar are in talks to buy the village, which will consist of 1,400 homes and six development plots once the Games have concluded.

The Olympic Delivery Authority said: “Commercial discussions on the Olympic Village are in the final stages and an announcement will be made shortly.”

2,800 homes have been built on the Olympic Village site and they will be split up in half after the games. Half have been sold to provide affordable housing after the 2012 Olympics.

Talks with prospective buyers have now been reduced to just one consortium. This was confirmed by a department of Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson.

The president of the Egyptian Football Federation, Samir Zaher, has been relieved of his duties after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that he was ineligible for the position.

Zaher, who was re-elected into the role of president in 2008, was in a long-running court battle with one of his rivals, Osama Khalil.

Khalil moved to sue Zaher so he couldn’t run for the elections after he was previously charged with issuing bounced bank cheques.

And after an 18-month-long court case, it was found that Zaher “did not deserve” the president’s seat.

EFA vice-president, Hani Abou-Rida has taken temporary charge of the role until the elections take place in September.