With just over 600 days to go before the 30th Olympiad takes place in London, key sponsors of the London 2012 Games including Coca Cola, adidas, Deloitte and GE, have given their thumbs up to preparations and the latest developments at the Olympic site.

At a meeting of the Chairman’s Club, a collective of the Worldwide, Tier 1 and Tier 2 level Partners of London 2012, held at the Olympic site last week, sponsors welcomed the strong progress made in the last 12 months.

John Connolly, Global Chairman of Deloitte, said: “Everyone who attended the meeting was struck by the evident progress made on the site. The Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, working in conjunction with the Government, the London Mayor’s Office, business and other stakeholders, are clearly ahead in the delivery of the venues – in one case by months.”

Mr Connolly commented that the leading sponsors were confident that the London 2012 family would be successful as the pace builds up: “Everyone now working on the Games is moving into delivery mode. The Chairman’s Club members reviewed progress and toured the Velodrome. We left the site with real confidence that the infrastructure is in good shape, the shift from planning to operations is being very carefully managed, and the Games will achieve their ambitions. We were impressed by the strong relationships between the main players – Seb Coe and Paul Deighton at LOCOG, John Armit and his ODA team, the very clear commitment of Jeremy Hunt at Cabinet level, and Boris Johnson, leading the city of London’s contribution. This provides extra confidence not just that the plans are in shape but that any delivery challenges still to come will be tackled and resolved collectively.”

Created in 2008 by Deloitte and Think London, the Mayor’s Foreign Direct Investment Agency, the Chairman’s Club brings together some of the world’s most experienced business leaders from companies with combined global sales of more than $1.2 trillion, and employing over two and a half million people.

The establishment of the Chairman’s Club is the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that a group of lead sponsor companies have come together as a single group ahead of an Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“It’s vitally important that the business community works in collaboration to ensure that London and the UK benefits from a sustainable legacy following the Games,” said Mr Connolly.

Seb Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, who attended last week’s business summit, said that the effort of sponsors was crucial as preparations for the Games intensified.

“The sponsor family is absolutely vital to the success of London 2012,” said Lord Coe. “The Games would not be able to happen without the products, services, support and consumer programmes they provide.”

Michael Charlton, Chief Executive of Think London, thanked the members of the Chairman’s Club for their support and partnership. Using the 2012 Games as a catalyst Think London, with the support of these partners, has helped create over 3,700 jobs for Londoners as a direct result of 2012 campaigns.

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages from the Daily Telegraph at London’s High Court.

It claimed in July 2008 that he put an injured ankle at risk by “living it up” at a Hollywood nightclub while a Manchester United player.

The report that he put down crutches to dance with four models caused offence and embarrassment, the court heard.

The paper has accepted the allegations were false and apologised.

In a statement, Ronaldo said he was “delighted” with the outcome.

“I take enormous pride in my professionalism. I treat my training and recovery from injury very seriously and would never have drunk and danced in a nightclub without my crutches,” he said.

The Welsh Rugby Union is struggling to sell tickets for the Autumn International match against South Africa?.

Little more than 35, anabolics 500 fans were at the Aviva Stadium for the South Africa against Ireland match on Saturday – initially due to the IRFU admitting to charging too much for its home games.

“We appreciate how tough it is financially for supporters, price ” said the WRU chief executive, Roger Lewis.

“The crowd we had against Australia compared well to what we used to attract at the old National Stadium but it would be disappointing if we did not get more than 45,000 this weekend.”

However, it appears that the Springboks are failing to attract the large crowds that the team used to pull on its visits to the British Isles.

Soccerex announced that Dr João Havelange the Honorary Life President of FIFA and father of modern football has confirmed that he will address delegates on the opening day of the Soccerex Global Convention 2010.

As well as being President of FIFA from 1974 to 1998, Dr Havelange is the longest serving member of the International Olympic Committee, was President of the CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol) for 17 years, a member of the Brazilian Olympic committee from 1955 to 1963 and even competed as a swimmer in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and as part of the Brazilian water polo team in 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki.

The Global Convention will be exhibiting a selection of the many prestigious awards received by Dr Havelange during his lifetime, just some of which are the Cavalier of the Légion d’honneur (France), the Order of Special Merit in Sports (Brazil), the Commander of the Cavaliers of the Ordem Infante Dom Henrique(Portugal), the Cavalier of the Vasa Orden (Sweden) and the Grand Cross of Elizabeth the Catholic (Spain).

The event will also feature a football legacy panel named after Dr Havelange, who has done so much to promote the importance of legacy in sport. It will bring together a panel of experts and key figures involved in social responsibility with the football industry and will focus on the situation in Brazil and the social legacy the 2014 World Cup needs to leave on the country.

The Soccerex Global Convention (20-24 November 2010) will consist of an in-depth conference schedule, packed exhibition, a large range of networking and two-day Football Festival all taking place in the Forte de Copacabana, Copacabana beach and Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro. iSportconnect is the official Social Media Partner of the event.

pharmacy helvetica,sans-serif;”>IPL Kochi was on Wednesday served with a termination notice by the BCCI, giving the franchise a time period of 30 days to resolve “infighting”, failing which their IPL contract will be terminated on the 31st day.

“The Governing Council received replies from two parties, the Rendezvous group and the other co-owners, and they both felt that the dispute still exists,” BCCI President Shashank Manohar told reporters after the meeting.

With this decision, Kochi may become the third team after Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab to face the axe. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals were ousted earlier this month due to several violations of their contract.

Indra Nooyi, ed chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo, has accepted an invitation to join the board of directors for the USA bid committee aiming to host the 2018 or 2022 Fifa World Cup, according to the US Soccer Federation.

Indian-born Nooyi is a renowned leader in the business world and oversees PepsiCo employees in over 200 countries.

Other members on the board of directors include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,comedian Drew Carey, former boxer Oscar De La Hoya, American soccer stars Landon Donovan and Mia Hamm, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, director Spike Lee, actor Brad Pitt and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Chairman of the bid committee and president of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati, said: “Indra Nooyi has the same gift in developing and overseeing innovative corporate strategy as she does inspiring the people around her and everyone she meets.

“It’s that kind of leadership that will be important to our efforts, and for that reason we are fortunate to welcome Indra to our team. Indra and PepsiCo are also longtime friends of US Soccer so their familiarity with our mission will be extremely beneficial in the months ahead.”

Pwllheli in Wales has been announced as the host of the Optimist European Championship 2015 next July.

Around 250 of the World’s top young sailors from over 45 countries will travel to North Wales for what is always one of the most fiercely contested events on the international junior racing calendar.

The Optimist class is widely regarded as the breeding ground for future international sailing success with four-time Olympic champion Sir Ben Ainslie and Wales’ own London 2012 470 class silver medalist, Hannah Mills, both Optimist graduates. In fact over 90% of sailors at London 2012 raced Optimists as juniors.

Bob Lowe, Chairman of the Events Committee in Pwllheli said: “We’re very much looking forward to hosting the Optimists in Pwllheli. Pwllheli is a special place where you are guaranteed a warm welcome. With the fabulous sailing waters of Cardigan Bay and a beautiful backdrop of the Snowdonia National Park everyone will have a memorable championships on and off the water.”

Tim Hall, Optimist Europeans Championship 2015 Event Director, said: “With good conditions both days, sailors got to sample the excellent sailing at Pwllheli and will have gained some useful knowledge ready to return for the European Championship. All the feedback has been positive and the event team will be working hard over the next year to ensure an amazing European Championships in July 2015.”

Pwllheli will stage the Optimist European Championship from 18-26 July 2015.