Paddy Power, the leading Irish bookmaker, has revealed a 55 per cent rise in annual profits, helped by its expansion in Australia.

The company’s results statement confirmed that pre-tax profits rose to US$145.6m in 2010 from $94.25m in the previous year.

The 2010 figure included a full year’s contribution from Australian betting company Sportsbet.

Paddy Power first bought 51 per cent of Sportsbet in 2009, taking full control of the firm in December 2010.

Paddy Power said that almost two-thirds of its profits last year were generated outside of the Republic of Ireland.

It added that 2011 had started well, with turnover in the first two months up 16 per cent on the same period this time last year, and said it looked forward to the rest of the year with confidence.

President of soccer’s world governing body FIFA, Sepp Blatter has reassured the Football Associations (FA) of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, by ensuring that the team’s international status would not be affected by their player’s potentially appearing for a Great Britain Olympic team. 

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is still hoping to include Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in a Team GB side for the London 2012 Games. 

However, some of the nations have expressed fears of harming their independence in the sport were they to join forces in a Great Britain side, but Blatter has reassured the countries that no sanction would be put in place, should the countries merge for the Games. 

Blatter said: “The team will run under the denomination ‘British Olympic team’. The composition of this team, the FIFA has said, is absolutely free to the Olympic committee of GB and to the four British associations”. 

“It’s very clear. If they play, there is no sanction from the Fifa part.”

The 50-over biennial cricket tournament, The Champions Trophy may well be scrapped from the calendar as the sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) look towards creating a pinnacle event in each format of the game.

ICC chief Haroon Lorgat said the ICC wanted to create a “pinnacle” in all three formats with a Test world championship, the 50-over World Cup and World Twenty20.

Lorgat stated: “What we’re trying to work towards is a pinnacle event in each format. So if we’re looking to our next cycle we might think definitely about (losing) the Champions Trophy.”

He added it was difficult to see where the Champions Trophy, currently held by Australia, would fit into such a schedule and the possibility of removing the tournament
would also make sense because it will be difficult to accommodate the event in post 2012 FTP.

The ICC had last year approved a Test league to provide context for all Test matches. The league would determine the top four teams to qualify for an ICC Test play-off. The play-off should be held once every four years to determine the Test champion team with a request to hold the first such play-off in 2013.

The FTP will also consist of a One-Day International league, the first to run from April 2011 until April 2014, culminating in the crowning of an ODI league champion. This ODI league will run separate to the ICC Cricket World Cup.

As expected, the National Football League (NFL) and the players’ union agreed on Friday, March 4, to a seven-day extension for talks over a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The sides will return, later today (March 7), to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in an effort to finalise a new deal before the latest CBA expiration date.

The extension of talks gives renewed hope to NFL fans as the two parties continue to negotiate an agreement on labour contracts. The original deadline for the CBA was midnight eastern time on Thursday, March 3, but the talks were extended by one day before a week-long extension was agreed.

According to the Associated Press, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated on Friday: “We believe, as I’ve said many times before, that this will be solved through negotiations, and that’s what we focused on, so we’ll continue to work hard and we’ll be back next week”.

NFL Players’ Association executive director DeMaurice Smith added: “There’s a commitment from both sides to engage in another round of negotiations at the request of the mediation service. We look forward to a deal coming out of that.”

Triathlon’s commitment to clean sport has been recognised with The World Anti-Doping Agency officially confirming the ITU is in full compliance of its world anti-doping code.

ITU president Marisol Casado welcomed the news from WADA, stating: “I’m very excited to share this news with the triathlon family, as we have always believed an anti-doping programme is integral to our organisation’s success, as it allows all of our athletes to compete in a fair environment,” Casado said. “I would particularly like to thank ITU staff and Leslie Buchanan, the Director of our anti-doping department for her work in obtaining this official recognition.”

Buchanan, also a member of the WADA Education Committee said the WADA ruling showed the ITU is on the right path.

“We feel this validates ITU’s commitment to the fight against doping. We’ve invested time and resources into this to make sure that triathetes compete on a level playing field and ensure there are policies in place to deter all triathletes from attempting to take advantage of the system,” Buchanan said.

“We also know that while it is great our programme complies with the WADA Code, we cannot afford to let our guard down and we will keep working on new initiatives to keep triathlon at the forefront of anti-doping.”

The ITU anti-doping department was established with the goal of committing substantial time and resources to curb doping in triathlon. This year’s anti-doping protocols include: intelligent testing for ITU events and athletes that is also more efficient, a commitment from National Federations to test and report their testing, and comprehensive education programme. That includes actively engaging member federations through regular anti-doping content, helping everyone involved in triathlon understand the importance of a clean sport for not only participants’ health and fair results, but for the sports legacy.

ITU is a signatory of the WADA Code and to be an affiliated member of ITU, National Federations must commit to comply with the WADA Code and ITU Anti-doping Rules.

Sebastien Coe, chairman of London 2012, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson gave a huge surprise to commuters travelling through St Pancras International Train Station in the capital tonight, unveiling the first set of giant Olympic Rings measuring 20 metres wide, nine metres high and weighing approximately 2,300 kilograms. 

The giant aluminium Olympic Rings are suspended from the roof of the Barlow Train Shed at St Pancras International. It took a team of 25 people based in Hertfordshire over four weeks to construct and they were transported to St Pancras International by lorry in 39 separate parts where they were secretly assembled and installed over seven nights.

Coe stated: “The Olympic Rings are an iconic symbol, inspiring athletes and uniting people around the world.

“To athletes they represent the culmination of thousands of hours of training and reaching the highest level in sport. 

“To Londoners and visitors alike, they will excite and inspire them about being in a Host City and demonstrate that we are ready to welcome the world in 2012.”

Coe and Johnson were joined at the special unveiling ceremony by London 2012 Olympic mascot Wenlock and children from Christ Church Primary School in the London Borough of Camden. 

Johnson added: “London is going to be at the centre of the world’s attention throughout 2012 and I want the whole city to harness every opportunity offered by the Games.

“Unveiling the first set of Olympic Rings at St Pancras International provides a fantastic glimpse into how the capital is gearing up for this unique event. 

“London is embracing its role of host city and I am determined to turn this enthusiasm into a lasting legacy for the city for generations to come.

“The rings will be a powerful symbol for millions of visitors using the iconic station that the capital is poised and ready to welcome the world’s greatest sporting stars and put on the best show on earth.”

Soccerex have announced that Marcin Herra, cheap President, allergy PL 2012 and Martin Kallen, decease Euro 2012 Director, UEFA will be taking part in a panel discussing the commercial opportunities and challenges of the fast approaching Euro 2012 tournament at the Soccerex European Forum, 30-31 March, Manchester.

With only 14 months to go until the tournament kicks off, the soccer world’s attention is focusing on the host nations of Poland and Ukraine. In the panel titled “Euro 2012 – The Final Strait”, Martin Kallen and Marcin Herra, two of the people directly responsible for ensuring the success of the tournament, will look at the remaining commercial opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in staging UEFA’s showpiece event.

This highly topical subject is part of a diverse agenda reflecting the latest issues in European Football including Financial Fair Play, sponsorship, rights holder relationships, digital media and fan interaction and International FA development.

Williams Formula 1 began the stock flotation of their team yesterday, March 2, seeing their shares fall on the first day of trading on the Frankfurt bourse.

Williams Grand Prix Holdings ended the day 3.8 per cent lower at US$33.68, after starting at $34.99, but had been as low as $32.64 at one point.

A 24 per cent stake in Williams has been floated, raising about $83m for the team and co-founder Sir Frank Williams, who will remain majority shareholder and team principal, said the share listing would help Williams remain an independent company.

Williams stated “Our listing marks a new era in the history of the team.”

“Williams’ future as an independent constructor is sustained by this listing, providing us the base from which to further grow,” he added.

Williams chairman Adam Parr cautioned against reading too much into the early falls in the shares, stating to Reuters news agency: “Its not an easy moment to be born into the financial market.”

He added that early trading was not usually indicative of the general growth potential of the company.

Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig announced over the weekend that Joe Torre had been appointed as the league’s new Executive Vice-President of Baseball Operations, completing a long transition for the department.

Torre will oversee all on-field matters, including umpiring, rules and discipline and act as a liaison to the 30 General Managers, and as a result, will become one of the major public faces for MLB.

The four-time World Series champion replaces John McHale, MLB Executive Vice-President of Administration, who had been running the department on an interim basis since last June after fellow league Executive Vice-President Jimmie Lee Solomon was reassigned to a baseball development role. McHale will now return to his prior role.

Selig made the announcement at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the new Spring Training complex for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondacks in Scottsdale, stating: “This is a very critical appointment. As I thought about this a lot over the past year, he’s really uniquely suited for this position.”

After last weeks ticketing controversy at the kiosks of the Chinnswamy Stadium in which queuing, frenzied fans were beaten by police, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Saturday that a ballot process will be used for the public sale of tickets for the semi-finals and the final.

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said that there will be a public ballot system similar to that which is used in the majority of global sporting events, which will open today, 28 February.

The website was overloaded when the tickets were initially programmed to go on sale on 21 February due to the demand being so great, however Lorgat gave Kyazoonga.com, the official online ticketing partner a clean slate.

Lorgat said: “It was most unfortunate and no blame should be directed at Kyazoonga, the ICC’s official ticketing partner, as no one could have anticipated that tens of millions people would be trying to access the site an hour before it went live. In truth Kyazoonga have been an innocent third party in all the issues we have had with ticketing.

“In conjunction with the hosts, we have now agreed that a ballot system is the best means of releasing any available tickets for the semis and final. The high demand clearly proves the massive attraction of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and format of 50 overs cricket.”

Lorgat continued to downplay the issue regarding the rueful scenes at the Chinnswamy Stadium last Thursday, dismissing media perceptions about a letter addressed to ICC President Sharad Pawar.

Lorgat added: “To help resolve our ticketing challenges we have also engaged the offices of the ICC President Mr Pawar to assist us as he has done with several other issues related to World Cup planning.”

The two semi-finals will be held in Colombo and Mohali on 29 and 30 March respectively, while the final will be held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 2 April with the ballot process beginning today.

Fans need to apply for the ICC CWC 2011 Ticket Public Ballot from 28 February 2011 to 6 March 2011 at cwc2011ballot.kyazoonga.com. A ticket limit of two tickets per applicant applies. Only one application per person. Please do not submit more than one form: Kyazoonga will void your applications. On submission of ballot form fans will receive a Ballot Confirmation Number once you complete and submit your application. No up-front payment is required at this stage.

The draw will be made by computer on 10 March 2011 and successful applicants will be informed by email on 11 March 2011. Successful applicants will be able to pay for their tickets through Kyazoonga’s secure payment processing website where they will be shown the transaction amount and asked to pay online using credit card/debit card/net-banking. If transaction is not successful, place in the draw will be offered to the next polled applicant from the draw.

Upon successful payment completion, fans will receive a confirmation page and email, tickets will be made available from the third week of March 2011.