China has withdrawn all its badminton players from this week’s Japan Open, citing safety fears as territorial dispute between the two countries continues.

The withdrawal leaves the Tokyo-based tournament without some of the sport’s biggest names.

“The BWF can confirm the Chinese contingent has withdrawn from the Japan Open,” Thomas Lund, the Badminton World Federation’s chief operating officer, said. “It is unfortunate but the tournament will go on,” he added.

An official of the Table Tennis and Badminton Centre of China’s central sporting administration said: “We’ve quit the Japan Open.”

“The decision was to ensure players’ safety… so considering the intense China-Japan relations these days, we quit.”

A Japanese spokesman for the tournament said China informed the BWF on September 14 that 22 players would not be competing.

The Japan Open began on Tuesday and ends on Sunday with the BWF re-drawing the men’s singles, women’s singles and men’s doubles ties after the announcement.

China and Japan are involved in an escalating territorial dispute over a small island chain in the East China Sea.{jcomments on}

TUI Travel’s Specialist & Activity Sector has teamed up with top leaders in sports tourism to launch a conference, the World Sport Tourism Congress, which will be located alongside the climax of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.

The WSTC will take place between 10-14 October on the luxury cruise ship – the P&O Pacific Dawn – and will comprise of four days of inspirational panel debates, leading-edge presentations and priceless networking opportunities, all conducted whilst cruising in style around New Zealand’s beautiful Bay of Islands.

The fully-inclusive cruise package departs from Queen’s Wharf, Auckland on 10 October, returning on 14 October in time for the Rugby World Cup Semi Finals.

Themed “Sharing the Sport and Tourism Boom”, WSTC presents an opportunity to network and engage with industry’s elite, gain invaluable insights from the world’s leading experts and meet face-to-face with the key Sport Tourism buyers as deals are brokered for future sporting events.

Confirmed speakers includes Jeanine Pires (Minster Special Advisor, Rio 2016 Olympics & former President, Embratur), Geoffrey Lipman (Advisor to Secretary General UNWTO), Campbell Jamieson (Commercial Director, International Cricket Council) and Darren Mee (COO, TUI Travel PLC, Specialist & Activity Sector).

Access to the event includes access to all sessions on the WSTC programme, four nights accommodation on board the P&O Pacific Dawn, exclusive VIP receptions and gala dinners, very special networking events and excursions as the ship cruises around New Zealand’s North Island.

With WSTC Delegate places strictly controlled and limited, only senior executives will qualify to take part in this opportunity at the heart of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

In recent years the integration of sport, sporting events and spectator and participation travel has seen the sector become the industry’s fastest growing, and is now worth in excess of US$600 billion, and an astonishing 14 percent of overall travel and tourism receipts.

The strength of the market was illustrated recently, with confirmed sales of one million tickets for the Rugby World Cup. WSTC is designed to both reflect this staggering growth and contribute further to it, and help delegates reap maximum benefit from this sector.

Forbes’ list of the top 50 highest paid athletes shows that Tiger Woods is still the highest-paid athlete in the world – and it isn’t even a close call. Woods earned US$75m over the past 12 months, easily outdistancing second-ranked Kobe Bryant, who made $53m.

Despite the likes of sponsors Accenture, AT&T, PepsiCo and Gillete cutting their ties with the golfer, Woods can thank two long-term sponsors for his hefty income. Nike signed Woods to a five-year, $40m deal when he turned pro in 1998. Electronic Arts released its first “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” videogame in 1998.

Bryant leads 15 basketball players that made the list, more than any other sport, having added Turkish Airlines and Mercedes-Benz’s Smart Car to his endorsement portfolio this year. His $24.8m salary with the Los Angeles Lakers is $4m more than any other NBA player. No. 3 on the list is Miami Heat forward LeBron James, who earned $48m over the past year.

Soccer is the most represented sport in the top 10 with English LA Galaxy midfielder topping Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in terms of earnings.

Women were, once again, under-represented among the top-earning athletes with tennis player Maria Sharapova being the only woman to crack the top 50 for the second straight year. She ranks 29th with earnings of $24.2m, largely from her lucrative Nike deal, which pays her royalties on her lines of tennis apparel and Cole Haan shoes.

Top 10

1. Tiger Woods (Golf) – $75m

2. Kobe Bryant (Basketball) – $53m

3. LeBron James (Basketball) – $48m

4. Roger Federer (Tennis) – $47m

5. Phil Mickelson (Golf) – $46.5m

6. David Beckham (Soccer) – $40m

7. Cristiano Ronaldo (Soccer) – $38m

8. Alex Rodriguez (Baseball) – $35m

9. Michael Schumacher (Formula One) – $34m

10. Lionel Messi (Soccer) – $32.3m

A competitive pitch has seen Synergy appointed by UEFA to provide PR support for the UEFA Champions Festival and the UEFA Women’s Champions League final.

The leading sponsorship and marketing consultancy will now implement a PR campaign to drive awareness and attendance for the UEFA Champions Festival and the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final in conjunction with European soccer’s governing body. 

Both are part of week-long events taking place in London in the week leading up to the UEFA Champions League Final 2011, when ahead of the game on Saturday, May 28, London will host a week of celebrations and activity – the UEFA Champions Festival – offering fans the opportunity to participate in various football related activities, all for free. 

The Festival will give fans the chance to have their photo taken with the trophy, take part in skills sessions with UEFA ambassadors and watch Gary Lineker’s England team take on the rest of Europe in an Ultimate Champions Match. 

Over the eight-day period of the event, held in London’s Hyde Park, the UEFA Champions Festival hopes to attract 80,000 people.

The UEFA Women’s Champion’s League Final is a relatively new addition to the UEFA Champions League Final events, being played only for the second time in the same city during the Final week. The top two women’s European club sides will take to the field at the 22,500 capacity Craven Cottage on Thursday 26th May 2011.

Synergy’s Adam Raincock said: “This is a fantastic win for Synergy, which further demonstrates that we are the consultancy of first choice for great brands. 

“The UEFA Champions League Final is the most watched annual sporting event in the world and we look forward to developing an innovative PR programme that will share the excitement with thousands of fans throughout London.”

The International Rugby Board (IRB) have selected five turf producers, after a rigorous process, for the One Turf programme, initiated to ensure that elite and community level matches can be played on artificial surfaces.

Leading Turf specialists Limonta Sport (Italy), Greenfields B.V (Netherlands), Mondo S.P.A (Italy), FieldTurf Tarkett (USA) and SIS/TEAM (UK/Ireland/Australia) have been appointed to ensure the highest possible player welfare and performance standards are achieved, a statement issued by the IRB says.

The Turf specialists will oversee the production, installation and maintenance of artificial surfaces around the world to the Governing Body’s technical, performance and player welfare criteria.

This selection will benefit the game by providing a one-stop solution for organizations seeking to install artificial surfaces. For the first time the same producer will be able to produce, install and maintain IRB Regulation 22 compliant surfaces.

The programme also has the ability to boost rugby and multi-sport participation around the world, particularly in challenging growing conditions, with pitches yielding the possibility of use seven days a week.

IRB Head of Technical Services Steve Griffiths stated: “All the Preferred Turf Producers have demonstrated that they have the capability to manage the total process of Rugby turf installation from design through manufacture, installation and maintenance programmes.

“This selection provides our Member Unions, clubs and owners of facilities with an assurance that if they choose these manufacturers they will be getting the best quality of product and service in the Rugby turf market place,” he added.

Evonik Industries, major sponsors of German Bundesliga soccer side Borussia Dortmund, remain unperturbed at the prospect of having agreed to pay a bonus of around US$5.5m to the club if they win the league title.

Dortmund have surpassed expectations in Germany’s elite league this year with a young and exciting squad having drove in to first position, a position they have held for much of the season. Having extablished a 12 point lead at the top of the table, and a full 19 point lead over German soccer giant Bayern Munich, the side look all but certain to claim the title, and a $5.5m bonus from the shirt sponsor in return.

While it is already paying $10.4m a year to appear on the shirts of the clubthe group, specializing in chemistry and energy, will provide the bonus for the Bundesliga title at the end of the season.

It has been revealed that the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, cialis ed the Asean top national team football competition, sick saw a record 192 million viewers in key Asean markets tune in.

The audience, which represents ratings on broadcasters RCTI in Indonesia, RTM in Malaysia, ABS-CBN in the Philippines, MediaCorp in Singapore, BBTV in Thailand, VTV in Vietnam and ESPN Star Sports’ regional platform saw a 32 per cent increase from the previous edition.

The two final leg matches between Indonesia and Malaysia in particular saw ratings rocket. According to Nielsen, an average of 15 million Indonesians watched both games on RCTI, more than twice the number of the highest-rated FIFA World Cup 2010 match in the country.

In Malaysia, national free-to-air broadcaster RTM recorded shares of 40.3 per cent and 48.4 per cent respectively for each of the two final leg matches. The total audience reached in the territory saw an eight-fold increase from the previous edition of the tournament.

Vietnam delivered the second largest viewership market after Indonesia with a total audience of 74.5 million. The event also received significant following on internet and social media platforms.  Nearly two million fans visited the event’s official website affsuzukicup.com while 193,172 fans interacted with each other through the event’s Facebook page.

English Premier League soccer giants Manchester United’s owners, click The Glazer family, generic used the release of the club’s quarterly financial results to insist that no talks have taken place over a possible takeover.

The Glazers have reiterated that the club is “not for sale” after repeated reports of a bid from Qatar Holdings to buy-out the club, as United revealed increased earnings in the first half of the financial year through to the end of December.

In a statement to accompany the quarterly results, the club again refuted the continuing takeover rumours by saying: “The owners remain fully committed to their long-term ownership of the club. No discussions have taken place, Manchester United is not for sale and the owners will not entertain any offers.”

United’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased by 3.2 per cent to £60.6m (US$98.4m) in the six months to the end of December.

Although domestic match day income for the three months through to the end of 2010 dropped slightly from £33.1m ($53.7m) to £32.8m ($53.25m), commercial turnover including overseas merchandising climbed from £19.2m ($31.2m) to £25.5m ($41.4m).

The National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) cancelled a meeting scheduled with a group of player agents at the National Football League (NFL) Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, February 22, due to the ongoing NFL collective bargaining agreement (CBA) mediation, raising some hope in the industry that the league and union could work out a deal.

The NFLPA has routinely held a small group meeting for powerful agents on the Thursday during Combine week in Indianapolis before the larger agent meeting Friday, which most of the about 800 NFLPA-certified agents attend.

The NFL and the NFLPA, at the request of federal mediator George Cohen, have adhered to keeping a tight lid on the mediation’s and have committed to seven days. Thursday would mark the seventh day of talks under the auspices of Cohen, the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.