Mohamed Bin Hammam continued to take the fight to FIFA over his ban by posting a letter on his blog from FIFA Secretary General JeromeValcke suggesting the governing body used intimidation of witnesses to implicate him in a bribery scandal.

Bin Hammam was banned for life from soccer after being found guilty of bribing Caribbean soccer officials with $40, look 000 each during a May meeting in Trinidad for votes in a June 1 presidential election. Prior to the election, he dropped out, and Joseph “Sepp” Blatter won unopposed.

Monday’s blog post is the latest defence in his long denial of bribery. He has called the charges “politically motivated,” and last week announced he filed his appeal.

In the blog post, Bin Hammam produced a July 25 letter (pdf) from FIFA Secretary Valcke that says following the decisions made two days prior by FIFA’s Ethics committee (which include Bin Hammam’s ban), the next phase of the investigation should turn to those who did not report receiving money.

“Based upon the evidence gathered to date, there is reason to believe that people have not been completely candid and forthright in their statements about what transpired during the Trinidad and Tobago conference, specifically about whether they or others were offered or received money,” Valcke wrote in the letter.

FIFA officials couldn’t be reached for comment, though the letter’s contents were reported by CNNthe day after its issuance.

Valcke requested that Caribbean soccer officials come forward with their findings within 48 hours, and if they did, the cooperation would be considered a mitigating factor in whether to punish them for their actions. Anyone who didn’t comply, according to the letter, would be “subject to the full range of sanctions.”

Bin Hammam didn’t say in the blog post how he obtained the letter. He did, however, blast the “Kangaroo Court – FIFA branch,” and expressed outrage at the letter’s contents.

“Valcke, the co-owner of FIFA, issued a letter to the [Caribbean] member associations, threatening them to either admit that they have been bribed or he will open an investigation to find out if I have bribed them or not!!” Bin Hammam wrote in his blog post.

Sixteen of the Caribbean soccer officials who attended the meeting are under investigation for allegedly taking bribe money. In its announcement of the probe against the Caribbean officials, FIFA warned that more cases could follow.

The Singapore Grand Prix will continue to be sponsored by Singtel with the company having renewed their as title sponsor for two-years.

Singtel has held the position since the race’s inception in 2008 and the decision comes ahead of the worldwide launch of ticket sales for the 2011 race on Thursday.

The deal is thought to be worth around US$4 million a year, drug though the agreement has been struck with Allsport Management, which handles Formula One’s major commercial rights from Switzerland, rather than with local race organisers.

Chief Executive of the Formula One Group, Bernie Ecclestone said: “We are delighted that Singtel will be continuing as the title sponsor of the Formula One Singtel Singapore Grand Prix. As a Singapore company which has grown to become a key player in the world of telecommunications and multimedia, Singtel is the ideal naming rights sponsor for this innovative and prestigious round of the FIA Formula One world championship.”

Singtel chief executive Chua Sock Koong announced several innovations for this year’s race, most notably including the ability to watch the race on a variety of platforms connected to Singtel, stating: “Now into our fourth year of this partnership, we will continue to achieve amazing things at record speed to bring the best to our customers in Singapore and around the world.

“This year will also be the year that we will be creating several ‘firsts’ to bring alive the Grand Prix experience, which we hope will dazzle both Singaporeans and visitors – whether they are big fans of the sport or not.”

Major League Soccer (MLS) has awarded its broadcasting rights in neighbouring Canada to TSN for the next six-years, beginning this year and running through to the 2016 season.

Under the terms of the deal TSN and TSN2 will broadcast 24 MLS regular season matches this season featuring Canadian teams Toronto FC and/or Vancouver Whitecaps FC. In future seasons, the networks will broadcast at least 30 games featuring the three Canadian teams – including the 2012 MLS expansion team, the Montreal Impact.

All MLS games on TSN and TSN2 will be broadcast in High Definition and additionally TSN also acquires the broadcast rights for the MLS Cup, MLS Cup Play-off games and the popular MLS All-Star Game, along with additional MLS games featuring non-Canadian teams.

Stewart Johnston, President of TSN, stated: “As seen with the success of Toronto FC and MLS’s expansion to Vancouver and Montreal, there is an incredible appetite for professional soccer in Canada. This is a long term partnership with MLS and we are looking forward to working with them not only to give fans ‘best in class’ game coverage but also to help build the profile of the league and grow the game of soccer across the country.”

Don Garber, MLS Commissioner, added: “We are very pleased to partner with TSN, the leading sports network in Canada. This announcement comes at an opportune time for MLS, as we enter a period of growth in Canada with the Vancouver Whitecaps joining the League this season and the Montreal Impact in 2012.  We look forward to building the sport together and creating an exciting multi-media platform for soccer fans throughout the country.”

Under the leadership of David Bernstein, drug the Football Association (FA) has launched a new tactic in an attempt to stamp out bad behaviour from fans and players by launching its own soccer club, see Respect FC.

The fictional side have their own website, medicine www.RespectFootballClub.com, where fans can unite in their respect when playing or watching the game at all levels. For every person that joins to become a member of the site, the FA have pledged to put £1 (US$1.60) back into the Respect initiative within grassroots football – up to the value of £50,000 ($80,000).

In becoming a member, fans of the Club will be able to vote online to say how this money is used at the end of the 2010 / 2011 season. 

Mark Watson, a British comedian and avid Bristol City fan, has been appointed as club chairman and the club has been founded through concern from both the top level of the game and the grassroots community around abuse towards referees and poor sideline behaviour.?

An online viral has been released to promote the initiative featuring former Liverpool captain Neil Ruddock, Portsmouth legend Steve Claridge and Sky Sports commentator Chris Kamara.

Alex Horne, FA General Secretary said of the initiative: “Football fans from all clubs and all leagues have a collective responsibility to let others know that they will not stand for this behaviour from the grassroots of the game up to the international stage. That’s why we’re asking everyone, to ask everyone, to join the club and together win the match against bad behaviour.”

The PyeongChang bid team to host the 2018 Winter Games have appointed a further two vice-chairman and bid ambassador in Ki-young Uhm, sale Jeong-soh Oh and Kolleen Park respectively.

Park is a musical creative director and head professor at Howon University directing and conducting many large-scale musical productions and also hosted musical television programmes.

Ki-young Uhm is a Korean television news anchor and former CEO of Korea’s MBC Broadcasting, canada pills while Jeong-soh Oh is a former minister of Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. The two new vice-chairmen takes the bids total to 10, including senior vice-chairman and Gangwon Province Governor Gwang-jae Lee.

Yang Ho Cho, PyeongChang 2018 bid committee chairman and CEO stated: “As we approach the last six months of the bid campaign, we are delighted to have the support of our new ambassador and vice-chairmen,

“Their business and political experience, and their passion for the bid, will be an asset for PyeongChang 2018’s campaign right through to the 2018 host city decision in Durban” he added.

“We welcome our new team members, and I look forward to working with them all as we progress towards important milestones next year including the candidature file submission in January, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission visit in February.” The IOC will opt for PyeongChang, the German city of Munich or Annecy in France on July 6 in Durban, South Africa.

A one-year broadcast rights renewal will see Sky Deutschland air the Formula One across Germany, apoplectic Austria and Switzerland for the 2011 season.

The extension will carry the broadcasting contract into its 16th successive campaign and the company has guaranteed to show all the footage of the three practice sessions, adiposity qualifying and the final race, order without advertising interruptions.

The German F1 fans will be pleased about the deal which will enable them to watch fellow countryman Sebastien Vettel attempt to retain his title as well as legendary driver Michael Schumacher.

“This is a great Christmas gift for motorsport fans in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Only we can guarantee the real Formula One experience to viewers.” said Carsten Schmidt, director of the pay-TV platform’s commercial arm.

Formula One Group CEO Bernie Ecclestone added: “We are very satisfied to continue with Sky, which has been a long-term partner for us.”

The The International Hockey Federation (FIH) Congress, treatment which took place on 13 November in the Swiss city of Montreux, ailment has proposed to change the FIH Statutes, cialis which was one of the five priorities from the FIH Strategic Plan for 2010-2016.

The proposals were designed to make the FIH a more efficient, streamlined organization that would be able to make clear and effective decisions to aid hockey’s development.

The Congress was attended by delegates representing member National Associations.

The 65 delegates present at the Forum voted unanimously in favour of changing the FIH Statutes.

The decision means that the Executive Board has been restructured to a workable number, enhancing its efficiency. The re-structured Executive Board will continue to have representatives from each of the Continental Federations, which recognizes the hugely important contributions that they make to hockey in their own regions.

The restructuring of the FIH Executive Board required the election of three new members. These are:

Pamela Stuper (USA)

Qasim Zia (PAK)

Marc Coudron (BEL)

They will be joined on the new Executive Board by Michael Green (GER), who has been named as the Chair of the Athletes Committee.

FIH Chief Executive Officer Kelly Fairweather described the decisions as hugely significant for the sport. “I firmly believe that hockey is entering a new era”, said Fairweather. “These decisions show that our sport is taking a bold new direction which will help us achieve the targets that we have set for ourselves in our Strategic Plan 2010-2016.”

The Congress also witnessed a number of Awards being given, below in the order in which they were presented.

The Rene Frank Fair Play Trophy: Belgium Hockey Association

The Etienne Glichitch Medal: Antonio Antonov (Bulgaria) for the promotion of growth in the Balkan Zone

The Pablo Negre Trophy: Argentinean Hockey Confederation

The Theo Ykema Award: Myanmar Hockey Association

The Guust Lathouwers Memorial Trophy: Masako Kamisuki (Japan)

Besides, Venezuela’s Tony von Ondarza (VEN), a Vice President of the FIH, was made a Member of Honour. FIH President Leandro Negre presented the award in recognition of his outstanding services to hockey at National, Continental and FIH level over many years.

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has confirmed that its Ticketshare scheme has been extended and that London 2012 will be working with the organisation ‘Tickets For Troops’ to provide up to 10,000 tickets for servicemen and women and their families.

The London 2012 Ticketshare scheme was launched last month and will see proceeds from the Prestige ticketing programme used to donate tickets to worthy causes.

The confirmation of the link-up with ‘Tickets for Troops’ follows the news that school children across the UK will receive tickets via the London 2012 Get Set education programme. Full details of how the tickets are to be distributed will be issued in due course.

Samantha Cameron, wife of the Prime Minister and a Tickets For Troops patron, welcomed the news: ‘It is fantastic that so many of our heroic troops will be able to cheer on our sporting heroes at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012. I am thrilled that 10,000 troops and their families will be able to enjoy this important national event.’

LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe commented: ‘At this time of year it is especially apt that we take time to think of our servicemen and women so I am delighted that the Ticketshare scheme will include them – and their families. The Games are rightly a source of great national pride – as are those who serve in the forces and I look forward to seeing some of them at the Games in the summer of 2012.’

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and Olympics and a former Army Major, said: ‘London 2012 will be a time for national celebration and pride and I am delighted that some of our Forces will be able to attend the Games, given their dedication and commitment to our country. As a former serviceman myself, I know that our troops and their families will really appreciate this opportunity to enjoy the sporting spectacle of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games first hand.’

Tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games go on sale in March 2011.

The Indian cricket board Sunday rubbished a media report that it was told by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) that Indian cricket player, Suresh Raina was with a woman allegedly linked to an illegal bookmaker during the Sri Lanka tour.

The Sunday Times reported that the Sri Lankans submitted a report to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stating Raina accompanied the woman who was known to be an associate of a man linked to a bookmaker.

The discovery was made by CCTV cameras installed at the Indian team hotel in Sri Lanka.

According to the report, BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan’s reaction led to the International Cricket Council launching a probe investigation into the matter.

Srinivasan influenced the SLC to withdraw the report, the paper said.

“The ICC investigation … is believed to be looking into why the Sri Lankans shared the report with the BCCI first when under ICC anti-corruption rules it should have gone straight to the world governing body,” the newspaper quoted ICC sources as saying.

Srinivasan termed the report as “baseless and false”.

“The BCCI has just learnt that several media outlets are claiming that Sri Lanka Cricket submitted a report on Suresh Raina to it and that no action was taken by the Board.

“The BCCI would like to clarify that it has received no such report from SLC. The claims being made by a section of the media are totally baseless and false,” Srinivasan said.

Raina plays for Chennai Super Kings, an Indian Premier League franchise owned by India Cements. Srinivasan is a vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements.