Deccan Chargers last chance of staying in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is over after the Indian Supreme Court Friday dismissed their plea against the termination from the high-profile league.

Last week, the Bombay High Court also withheld the BCCI’s termination decision after the franchise failed to submit a deposit of Rs 100 crore.

Prior to that ruling on October 12, the franchise had also failed to find a buyer in an auction. Though the owners had claimed otherwise with this statement just before the ruling: “This is to inform you that pursuant to its Meeting of the Board of Directors held on October 11, 2012, it was resolved to authorize the Board of Directors to sell, transfer/dispose off the Deccan Chargers Franchise business undertakings/business division of the Company to Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holdings Private Limited.”

The BCCI terminated the franchise last month due to a severe financial crisis within the Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, the owners of the team.

The Chargers, who won the second edition of the league in South Africa in 2009, filed a petition in the Supreme Court earlier in the day.

With the Chargers’ termination, the league is now left with eight teams. Last year Kochi Tuskers Kerala were also eliminated on account of a breach of agreement with the BCCI.

According to reports, the cricket board will announce the names of two new teams in the coming months, before the sixth edition starts next year.

National Football League (NFL) team the Jacksonville Jaguars have confirmed that they will play one home game for the next four years at Wembley Stadium in London.

The Jaguars will play one regular-season home game at Wembley in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The date of the 2013 game as well as the opposing team will be announced in the months ahead.

Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner said: “Our goal is to continue to grow the game, and this commitment by the Jacksonville Jaguars represents a major step forward in our international efforts.

““We have had a tremendously positive reaction to our sport in the UK and we’re excited that the Jaguars are seizing this opportunity to raise the profile for the team as well as the Jacksonville community.

“The NFL is committed to working with Shad Khan and the Jaguars in every respect to help them grow their brand and fan base through the NFL International Series and the many opportunities these games will offer.”

Shad Khan, Owner of the Jaguars added: “The Jacksonville Jaguars will be a bold and ambitious NFL franchise. Playing a home game in London over four seasons is consistent with our vision to introduce and grow the Jaguars brand globally, and we’re appreciative of the support from the Jacksonville business community to make this a reality and winning proposition for everyone.

“This is a priceless opportunity to share the business, tourism and lifestyle story of Jacksonville with international audiences, and I know it will give the Jaguars a unique and powerful identity within the league and beyond.”

On October 11, 2011, NFL owners approved a resolution that authorized the league to schedule regular-season games in the UK in each of the next five years, including determining the number of games per season, the venue and the competing teams.

All clubs were permitted to volunteer to play at least one regular-season game per year as a home team in the UK on an annual basis for up to five years, and the Jaguars’ proposal was selected.

In addition to the Jaguars’ 2013 game in London, the league is working to add a second game in the UK next year, with the intention of finalizing details in the coming months.

The confirmation comes after speculation the Jaguars would step in after the St. Louis Rams pulled out of their original commitment to play in London.

Nach Angaben des Magazins „sponsors“ hat DOSB-Präsident Thomas Bach im Rahmen des SpoBiS 2012 erklärt, dass eine neuerliche Bewerbung Münchens um die Winterspiele 2022 vom Deutschen Olympischen Sportbund (DOSB) mit Zurückhaltung betrachtet wird.

„Wenn wir es heute entscheiden müssten, wäre es mit fehlenden Basisinformationen verbunden. Deswegen können wir uns jetzt nicht dafür entscheiden“, sagte der IOC-Vizepräsident. Alles andere sei „Kaffeesatz-Leserei“. 

Bei der DOSB-Mitgliederversammlung im Dezember vergangenen Jahres war der Entschluss gefasst worden, nach dem Scheitern bei der Bewerbung um die Winterspiele 2018 von einer abermaligen Münchner Kandidatur für 2022 abzusehen. Denkbar ist ein neuer Versuch wohl erst 2026. 

„Ohne Antworten auf Fragen wie nach einer internationalen Chancenabwägung, wie ist die Unterstützung der Bevölkerung und der Politik und wer bezahlt’s, wäre das von Seiten des DOSB keine verantwortungsvolle Politik“, meinte Bach. „Die Chancen für München 2022 können wir jetzt nicht ausreichend einschätzen.“

The Olympic Stadium saga has continued after a man was arrested of suspicion of fraud after claims English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur spied on Olympics officials during their stadium bid.

The arrest came as Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) chairwoman Baroness Ford suggested the north London club had all 14 members of her board monitored by private investigators. 

The suspect was being questioned on Tuesday afternoon as officers conducted a string of searches in Sussex, Sutton, south west London, and Westminster. Scotland Yard are leading the investigation.

Spurs have been quick to deny reports of putting officials under surveillance.

Detectives, who have been investigating the claims since August 2011 “following allegations by West Ham and the Olympic Park Legacy Company in respect of the unlawful obtaining of information”, said the suspect was arrested at an address in Sussex.

He was taken into custody at a Sussex police station “where he remains”, a spokesman said.

Police said: “As part of their inquiries, detectives have conducted searches at both a residential and business premises in Sussex, a second private address in Sutton, and a further business address in Westminster. An amount of material was seized during the searches.”

Baroness Ford, chairman of the OPLC, head of securing a sustainable future for the stadium, told the London Assembly earlier: “The thing that I have learned in the last 12 months is that there has been all kinds of behaviour. There has been legal challenges and people have stood behind it anonymously – all kinds of things have happened.

“My board were put under surveillance by Tottenham Hotspur and the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur felt confident enough to say in the Sunday Times several months ago that all 14 members of my board were put under surveillance. The Metropolitan police are now conducting an investigation into that surveillance.

“There has been all kinds of behaviour here that I could not have anticipated which, believe me, has not been pleasant in the last 12 months.”

Tottenham rejected Baroness Ford’s comments and issued a statement through their lawyers, which read: “The club did not undertake, instruct or engage any party to conduct surveillance on any member of the OPLC Committee and we consider the making of this baseless accusation to be wholly inappropriate and irresponsible.

“We totally reject the accusation in the strongest possible terms.”

A deal with West Ham and Newham Council to use the stadium in Stratford, east London, after the 2012 Games, collapsed last month amid legal challenges, with the Government announcing that the stadium would remain in public ownership.

Tottenham had already lost out to West Ham in the race to become the OPLC’s first choice to move into the stadium after the Games.

Challenges by Tottenham and Leyton Orient, plus an anonymous complaint to the European Commission, had led to fears that court action could drag on for years while the stadium remained empty.

A new tender process is being launched by the OPLC and the showpiece venue, complete with an athletics track, will now remain in public ownership and be rented out to an anchor tenant.

Baroness Ford added: “I am expecting the unexpected because that is what the last 12 months has taught me. Our job now is to narrow as far as we possibly can the scope now for legitimate legal challenge in this next process – that is all that we can do. If people want then to be vexatious, frivolous and vindictive or whatever they want – they will do that.”

ECS committee chairman Dee Doocey said: “I personally find it appalling, and I am sure I speak for the rest of the committee, at the very idea of your board being put under surveillance is reprehensible. It almost beggars belief that this thing can happen. The idea that any board can be put under surveillance is absolutely disgraceful.”

London 2012 has revealed that more than 750,000 Olympic tickets have been sold to nearly 150,000 successful applicants in the “second chance” sales round which closed yesterday, July 3.

The start of the second of ticket sales began on June 24 on a first-come, first-served basis, and was open exclusively to applicants who did not receive any tickets in the first round sale which took place earlier this year.

According to Michael Payne, the former marketing director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), London 2012 should be congratulated for the success of its ticketing programme, not criticised because it is oversubscribed.

Payne believes the huge criticism that London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe and his team have come in for over its ticketing strategy has been completely unjust and that it should be celebrated as the most successful in the 115-year history of the Games.

Payne stated: “I have been intimately involved with the ticketing programmes of some 14 Olympic Summer and Winter Games. As a former director of the International Olympic Committee, I helped oversee the design and development of these Olympic ticket programmes.

The international sports community and international media looks on at the London Olympic ticketing programme, with utter amazement and total disbelief. They have never before seen an Olympic Games sell out 23 out of 25 sports [not including football], never mind achieve this, with one year to go to the Games. This does not even normally happen by the time of the Closing Ceremony.

“Never before in the 115 year history of the Olympic Games has the world ever seen such a successful Olympic ticket programme – validating I believe the IOC’s original decision to bring the 2012 Olympics to  London  to ensure full stadia packed with knowledgeable, passionate fans.”

“Normally Organising Committees are criticised for empty stadia and building too large venues that then become white elephants. Let’s be fair, and recognise the tremendous and unprecedented success of the London 2012 ticketing programme – something Britain should be justly proud of.”

Thomas Cook is now the only place for large numbers of fans to obtain tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games after the second application ballot closed. As a Tier Two sponsor of London 2012, the package holiday provider has a number of deals for various sports during next year’s Games, including athletics, gymnastics, volleyball and water polo.

Thomas Cook’s London 2012 Partnership managing director Stephen Vaughan said: “The day of LOCOG’s second chance sales saw our busiest day so far, with more web visitors and bookings than any other day since we began.

“Athletics is top of many people’s wish list as they look to experience the iconic Olympic Stadium – and we’re adding new Games Breaks all the time but they’re selling fast – on Friday afternoon, a release of 20 new packages sold out in 40 minutes.”

The head of one of the world’s leading tennis events, therapy Madrid Open general managing director Gerard Tsobanian, sales  has proposed a major overhaul of elite competitions by calling for sets to be restricted to a maximum of eight games.

Tsobanian claimed, tadalafil during a debate hosted by Eurosport in the shadow of the French Open in Paris, that viewers were losing interest in the traditional match format, adding: “I think tennis matches are too long.

“People want to get to the drama more quickly. I would have shorter sets, and I think the 4-4 proposal is reasonable. There is a lot of competition in the market so it is important to keep the attention of the viewers. You can’t expect people to sit and watch a tennis match for eight hours.”

The Madrid Open GM did however, acknowledge that his suggestions would be difficult to push through in a sport that appears to have a complicated hierarchy and convoluted decision-making processes, saying: “Tennis has been less innovative than any sport in the world over the past century.

“We have been having this debate for 20 years, but there are too many different opinions and too many people involved in the decisions to make changes. Someone needs to step up and take action, but who’s that going to be?”

Tsobanian’s suggestion was rejected by fellow panellist Michel Grach, director of media and sponsorship at the French Tennis Federation, who added: “We have to be open to new ideas, but I believe the tennis structure is good, with five sets and two weeks for a Grand Slam.”

USA Triathlon member Chuck Graziano has been appointed to the USA Triathlon Board of Directors to represent the Mid-Atlantic Region through 2015.

Graziano joined USA Triathlon in 1985 and previously served on the national Board of Directors for the Mid-Atlantic Region from 2005-07. He became a member of USA Triathlon’s Age Group Committee in 2000, serving as the chair of the committee for 12 years. He also served on the organization’s Strategic Planning Committee in 2010 and 2013, and has been instrumental in aquabike growth initiatives. Graziano helped to create the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame and has assisted with voting processes and planning for the event. He was named USA Triathlon’s Volunteer of the Year in 2012.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Chuck Graziano to the USA Triathlon Board of Directors,” said Barry Siff, President of the USA Triathlon Board of Directors. “His many years in the sport as an athlete and coach, as well as his significant contributions to our federation in his many roles within governance, certainly make him an ideal Board Member.”

Graziano’s appointment fills the seat vacated by Bob Wendling, who resigned from his Mid-Atlantic Region position effective Oct. 13, 2014. Wendling was appointed to represent the Mid-Atlantic Region by the Board of Directors in 2009. In 2011 he was elected to the Board by the Region’s membership. During his tenure on the Board, Wendling was elected to serve as USA Triathlon President from January 2011 to April 2014 and as Treasurer for 2009 and 2010. Wendling will now assume the role of the Ex-Officio Member on the Board of Directors.

“We are equally fortunate that Bob Wendling, as immediate past President, assumes the role as the Ex-Officio Member of the USA Triathlon Board,” Siff said. “Bob’s wealth of knowledge and experience will undoubtedly continue to serve the federation and our members as we look toward the future.”

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast will host the first IRONMAN World Championship held in the Southern Hemisphere.

The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will be staged in Mooloolaba in September, drugs 2016.

The world championship is the pinnacle event in the global IRONMAN 70.3 calendar and will further strengthen the triathlon event portfolio in Queensland. The announcement is the result of a partnership between the Queensland Government, drug Sunshine Coast Council and IRONMAN.

The Sunshine Coast and Queensland region is regarded as one of the world’s leading triathlon centers, price with the hosting of the annual IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast, the iconic Mooloolaba and Noosa Triathlon Festivals and prior hosting of International Triathlon Union (ITU) series and championship events.

The South East Queensland region plays home to current IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Melissa Hauschildt, IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific champion and Olympic gold medalist Jan Frodeno, IRONMAN world champion Pete Jacobs and IRONMAN World Championship medalist Caroline Steffen, among others.

“We are delighted to bring the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship to Australia,” says Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer of IRONMAN. “Asia Pacific is a rapidly expanding region for our sport, particularly the Sunshine Coast and Queensland, both hugely popular strongholds for the IRONMAN brand.”

“The region has a significant history in the sport of triathlon and is a popular destination that we know will deliver a world class event while providing genuine warmth of hospitality,” Messick added.

Queensland Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games Jann Stuckey said the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship would attract the world’s best endurance athletes from across the nation and overseas to the Sunshine Coast in 2016. 

“The Queensland Government’s 20-year plan for tourism, Destination Success, outlines the importance of delivering events such as this which drive visitation to Queensland’s destinations,” said Ms Stuckey.

“The Sunshine Coast provides an ideal backdrop to deliver a memorable event for visiting competitors with athletes likely to ‘Make the Most of the Moment’ and stay on after the championship to experience the region’s tourism offerings.

“As we look toward the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, of which triathlon is a core sport, it is events such as this that further demonstrate Queensland’s ability to host spectacular international sporting events.”

“We are excited to welcome triathletes from throughout our region and around the world for what we are confident will be a superb experience,” said IRONMAN Asia Pacific CEO, Geoff Meyer. “The Sunshine Coast will be a magnificent setting – whether it is your goal to qualify for the world championship, or be a participant at the IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast triathlon, it will be a race week triathletes won’t want to miss.”

This year’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is set for Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, Canada on September 7, 2014 and the 2015 event will be hosted in Zell am See-Kaprun, SalzburgerLand, Austria on August 30, 2015.