British Telecom’s (BT) new phone books will feature some of the UK’s leading athletes on the cover to celebrate two years until the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The first books are set to be distributed next week and feature BT Ambassador Ade Adepitan, who won a bronze medal as part of the wheelchair basketball team at the 2004 Paralympic Games.

Other athletes to feature on the phone books are Chris Tomlinson (World Indoor long-jump silver medalist), Lee Pearson (nine-times Paralympic equestrian gold medalist), Dame Mary Peters (Olympic gold medalist in pentathlon) and Alistair Brownlee (World Triathlon champion).

Adepitan said: “featuring sporting personalities on the cover of the phone book is a great idea and will help raise the profile of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK. I’m proud to be the face of the phone book, and my mum is looking forward to receiving her new London phone book with me on the front cover!”

CEO of BT Directories, David Grossman, added: “The phone book is still very much the quickest way to locate a friend, and essential service or a local business and gracing it with inspiring sporting personalities celebrates BT’s involvement with the London 2012 Games.

“We hope everyone gets behind the athlete that features on the front cover of their own phone book – it would be great if these inspires young hopefuls in the world of sport.”

Independent research, commissioned by the European Tour has revealed the 2013 DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates delivered a US$44 million gross economic benefit to Dubai.

In addition to the economic impact, the DP World Tour Championship delivered a US$280 million marketing benefit for Dubai from global television exposure.  That figure was derived from analysing 1,220 cumulative live TV broadcast hours across 51 broadcasters with a global audience reach of 458 million households.

Researchers from international marketing research agency Repucom surveyed a sample of the 55,000 spectators who attended the DP World Tour Championship to reach their economic impact findings.

 Spectator expenditure comprised 73% of the Direct Economic Impact on Dubai with contractors the second most significant group, contributing 15% of the value.  Hospitality guests, media, volunteers, management, staff, and players also contributed to the total spend. 

Mohammed Sharaf, Group Chief Executive Officer of DP World, said: “We are very proud to be part of such a significant global sporting event and that the findings demonstrate the scope and scale of the positive impact the tournament has on the economy and global awareness of Dubai.”

Yousuf Kazim, General Manager of Jumeirah Golf Estates, said “We are delighted to be the host venue for the tournament for the sixth year running and to be supporting golf tourism in Dubai.  The DP World Tour Championship will continue to be held at Jumeirah Golf Estates until at least 2017 and we look forward to helping Dubai reach its target of 20 million tourists by 2020.”

George O’Grady, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “We look forward to the DP World Tour Championship continuing to be the successful season-ending event of the European Tour’s Race to Dubai for many years to come and delivering such substantial golf and tourism benefits to Dubai’s economy.”

The DP World Tour Championship was held from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 November 2013 on the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates and was won by Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who also secured The Race to Dubai title and the mantle of European Tour Number One.

This year’s US$8 million DP World Tour Championship will take place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 20 – 23.

Ukraine will no longer be hosts for the 2015 European basketball championship due to its political and financial instability, viagra buy the tournament director said on Wednesday.

“I cannot imagine how to carry out preparations in the current severe economic and political conditions,” Lubkivsky said in a statement.

“The first and main unfavourable condition is the aggression of Russia towards the Ukraine that has caused instability and threatens the security of South-Eastern regions of Ukraine,” Lubkivsky added in the statement.

“This situation demands for Ukraine to review our priorities and concentrate financial and political resources for saving territorial integrity and even independence.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, defying Ukrainian protests and Western sanctions, signed a treaty in Moscow on Tuesday making Crimea part of Russia again but said he did not plan to seize any other regions of Ukraine.

“The other factor is a complicated financial situation. There is a need to resolve hard social issues of higher priority,” Lubkivsky added in the statement.

“It is obvious our country cannot afford to support private investors building the arenas or fund preparations that we are responsible for. Moreover, the local organising committee feels (there is a) lack of time.”

Ukraine has however opened up the possibility of hosting the event in 2017.

“With regard to the ongoing events I think we have the right to ask FIBA to grant Ukraine the opportunity to stage the tournament in 2017, in trusting the championship in 2015 to some other European country or even a few.

“It would be fair as we have already done a lot of preparation (and) started to construct the arenas that might be unfinished.”

Rally Australia have confimed they will continue to stay at its headquarters at Opal Cove Resort when the WRC returns to the New South Wales Coffs Coast in September.

The ocean-front resort, seven kilometres north of the Coffs Harbour city centre, was also home to the event in 2011 and 2013.

Event manager David Catchpole said the resort would play a ‘central part’ in the rally, hosting not only the sporting and administration operations, but also many of the international drivers and team members.

“Opal Cove Resort fits our requirements ideally as a venue that provides not only superb working facilities for sporting officials, management, police and emergency services and government representatives, but also superior guest accommodation and a beautiful sub-tropical setting,” he said.

“Rally Australia is delighted to be returning to Opal Cove Resort for a third time.”

Opal Cove general manager Guy Perotti added that the resort was very proud to have again been appointed Rally HQ.

“The increased business, excitement and entertainment value this International event brings to the Coffs Harbour region is second to none and we are pleased to have our resort associated with this event,” he continued.

“We at Opal Cove find it a great platform for us to showcase our establishment to both local and international visitors and to potentially attract some follow on business for not only Coffs Harbour, but on the international visitor side, Australia as a whole.”

NASCAR team owner Gene Haas has confirmed his interest in joining the Formula 1 grid from 2015 or 2016.

With the 12th slot in the sport having remained unfilled since Spanish minnows HRT folded at the end of 2012, the FIA in December announced the opening of an application process to find a new outfit to join the championship from potentially as early as next year.

It has now emerged that Haas, the joint owner of the North Carolina-based Stewart-Haas Racing which competes in the premier stock car series in the USA, is in the running.

“We have responded to the FIA’s call for expression of interest regarding a Formula One entry on behalf of Haas Racing Development,” a Haas statement read.

“We respect the FIA’s evaluation process and will share more details in the coming weeks.”

Former Red Bull and Jaguar Technical Director Guenther Steiner is reportedly working alongside Haas on the project.

The full application process for prospective entrants closes on February 10, with a decision on any winning bid due on February 28.

The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships are heading to Cardiff, Wales for 2016, it has been announced.

The Welsh capital city’s annual half marathon was held on 6 October and for the first time incorporated the British Half Marathon Championships.

The World Half Marathon Championships will take place in March 2016 and be open to elite and amateur runners.

“This is a major coup for Cardiff and Wales,” said Welsh Athletics CEO Matt Newman.

“It is a huge endorsement of the excellent work that has been put into the Cardiff Half Marathon over the past decade.

“I am excited to see what the world’s best athletes will able to produce on such a flat and fast course”

The event is the first of its kind to be staged in Wales and elite athletes will use it as part of their preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games.

“It is a major achievement for a small nation like Wales to be able to win an IAAF major championship event and our successful bid proved the power of the partnerships we have been able to build in recent years with the Welsh Government and Cardiff Council. Both agencies were vital parts of our bid,” Newman added.

“Now we have less than three years to prepare for one of the most prestigious sporting events ever staged in Wales and we intend to make it one to remember.”

The 2016 race will be the 22nd running of the event and Cardiff will follow Copenhagen, who host the 19th Championships on 29 March, 2014.

“It will be the fourth time the race has been run in the United Kingdom: South Shields staged the inaugural Championships in 1992 and it has also been held in Bristol in 2001 and Birmingham in 2009.

In an attempt to capitalise on China’s rapidly growing interest in tennis, Tennis Australia staff are publishing a variety of Australian Open-related content on Chinese digital platforms during the tournament.

The content includes news, photographs, audio, video clips and live scores and is being published on Yuku, Sina Weibo and Tencent QQ. The platforms have millions of users throughout the world’s most populous country, partly because global networking platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and several major news sites, are blocked.

Coinciding with the emergence of stars such as Li Na— 2011 Australian Open finalist and winner of the 2011 French Open— tennis is starting to take of in China. There are now an estimated 14 million participants nationwide— up from 1 million a generation ago. The game is also very popular among Chinese television viewers.

Tennis Australia Digital and Publishing Manager, Kim Trengove, thinks China is a key territory for the Australian Open’s growth. “We feel that, ‘Hey, this is our region and we’re in the best position to do something.’ We think there’s a big opportunity for us and we’re so much closer to educate.” Trengove said.

The Australian Open will be promoted on Sina Weibo— the Chinese equivalent of Twitter—  and Yuku, a social networking website. Tencent QQ, one of most popular portals in China, has sent four journalists to Melbourne to cover the event.

Tennis Australia has employed Chinese language students from universities in Melbourne to help promote Melbourne Park to China. Are other initiatives include live online scores in Mandarin and creating apps for Chinese tennis fans.

Trengove believes the growth in interest in China is very exciting for the Australian Open. ”It is all a huge unknown, and, having the journalists coming from Beijing, we’re going to learn a lot,” she said. ”There will be a lot more trips to Beijing to understand this market. But for us, this is really where our future is. Not just for the Australian Open but for people playing tennis.”{jcomments on}