After around 250,000 of the 1.8 million ticket applicants for the London 2012 Games were left disappointed and ticketless, chairman of the organising committee Sebasiten Coe defended the widely criticised process.

The system has been blasted for being too vague and weighted towards more wealthy applicants with the means to apply for hundreds, even thousands, of pounds worth of tickets.

Coe said he realised some people would be “bitterly disappointed” but defended the system as the fairest available, saying that had they used a first-come-first-served system, there would be many more complaints.

Coe added: “I think it was right to give people over a 1,000 hours to really understand what it was they were wanting, and where the venues were and session-by-session.

“There are tickets still to be had. It’s certainly not been a fiasco. We talked to the best brains in this business.”

Olympics minister Hugh Robertson told Sky News: “Ticketing is always an extremely difficult subject in any Olympic Games and I think the organising committee have done as well as could possibly be expected against some very trying circumstances”.

A further 2.2 million tickets remain to be allocated, with the majority earmarked for overseas fans through their national Olympic associations and the remainder going to sponsors, federations, the Olympic family and rights holders.

London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics official automotive partner, medic BMW, price pills has launched a new initiative which sees Team GB stars gain exclusive use of their own vehicle in the run up to the Games.

Of the eight athletes to have been signed up to partake in what has been branded the BMW London 2012 Performance Programme, some notable names include diver Tom Daley and gymnast Louis Smith. The initiative, launched in London yesterday is hoping expand its athlete pool to 25 in the coming months.

The remaining athletes to have signed up are Amy Williams, Martyn Bernard, Ellie Symonds, Mark Hunter and Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee. As well as the exclusive use of the car, other plans are in development of how to utilise the German car manufacturers performance expertise.

BMW will dispatch around 4,000 cars to be used at the Games in their role as the official automotive partner of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Indian national football team coach, Bob Houghton, has extended his deal with the All India Football Federation until 2013, but says there is little hope for progress from the team unless there is change from the bottom up.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Houghton said: “I have signed a contract till 2013. In my last four years’ coaching career, there has been no change in Indian football management. Our national team depends upon the I-League and domestic structure, but the clubs do not want to change.

“I can’t change the system. The executive committee meetings are packed with the clubs, who are voting members, so if I give any suggestion regarding I-League or the clubs, they ignore them and do what they want. Ultimately they have the voting rights.

“We have to change infrastructure at the domestic level, create more domestic leagues from where we can recruit good players. Without such improvements how can you ask for an improved ranking?”

 

The Football Association (FA) has appointed Andy Walker as the new senior communications manager for the England men’s team.

Walker joins The FA’s communications division from Birmingham City FC where he held the post of head of media and communications.

During his time at Birmingham, Walker has overseen media demands around the club’s 2011 Carling Cup triumph, the Barclays Premier League, the Sky Bet Championship, the UEFA Europa League and two successive UEFA Women’s Champions League campaigns.  He is a specialist in social media and has received various accolades for his work in this field.

In his new role, Walker will help shape communications around the England senior men’s team and contribute to a proactive, multi-media PR strategy in the build up to the UEFA 2016 European Championships.  He will also oversee an integrated communications approach to all the England men’s development teams from U21s downwards, assisted by PR officer James Marshall.

Walker said: “I am delighted to be starting the next chapter of my career with The FA and I relish the opportunity to further enhance England’s public relations ahead of what will be an exciting build up to UEFA Euro 2016 and beyond.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Birmingham City and the experience I have gained.  It has recently been a testing period for the football club and I’d like to thank all my colleagues at Birmingham for their continued hard work and support they have shown me over the years.”

Walker will report into FA head of media relations Mark Whittle, who said: “Andy was the outstanding candidate for this role following a highly competitive and comprehensive application process.  We are delighted to be welcoming someone with such varied experience and forward-thinking ideas to our team.”

Club England managing director and FA group communications director Adrian Bevington added: “I’d like to congratulate Andy on his appointment.  It’s an exciting and important role within The FA Group and I am sure he will be a great asset to the organisation.”

Walker replaces Stuart Mawhinney who departed for Sky Sports PR team this summer following the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Walker will begin his new role on Monday 24 November 2014.

The Rugby Football League have revealed their independent board of directors has ratified the changes to the competition structure of Super League and the Championship.

The 14 clubs of the now-named First Utility Super League announced last week that they had agreed for the competition to be reduced to 12 teams from the start of the 2015 season.

Those plans involve two teams being relegated at the end of the forthcoming season, while in 2015, two divisions of 12 – the Super League and the Championship – will split into three of eight two third of the way through.

A statement from the Rugby Football League read: “The RFL Board’s ratification means that two clubs will be relegated from the First Utility Super League at the end of the 2014 season, with the relegated clubs to be those finishing in 13th and 14th position after 27 rounds.

“Details of the decision, its impact on the clubs currently outside Super League, the mechanisms by which the Kingstone Press Championship will become a 12-team competition and the new format of Championship One will be outlined to the Championships clubs at a meeting on Thursday February 6.”

That meeting could well prove crucial as a number of other issues remain unresolved.

The governance of the game has yet to be sorted out – some clubs walked away from the negotiating table in October which led to restructuring talks breaking down – while questions remain over finance.

The so-called rebels were angry over plans to increase the Championship clubs’ allocation of funds from the Sky television deal.

Heinz Ketchup has revealed it will air a 30 second television commercial, allergy marking its first appearance in the Super Bowl in sixteen years and only the second appearance in the brand’s history.

“Heinz’s participation in the Super Bowl is an opportunity to remind consumers of the love they have for this iconic brand, therapy ” said Bill Ulrick, pharmacy Senior Brand Manager for Heinz North America. “The commercial investment is part of a larger effort to renew our commitment to engage with our great fans.”

The advertisement is part of a campaign encouraging ketchup fans to share how they enjoy Heinz products. 

The commercial was created by Heinz’s agency of record, Chicago-headquartered Cramer-Krasselt (C-K).

Rising Golf star, Lydia Ko, has signed with IMG Worldwide for management and marketing representation, it was announced today.

The 16-year-old South Korea was the top-ranked female amateur in the world for more than two years prior to turning professional. In 2012, at the age of 15 years, four months and two days, she became the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history at the CN Canadian Women’s Open, eclipsing the previous mark by 15 months. She defended her Canadian Open title in 2013, becoming the first amateur in LPGA history to win two events.

She also won the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at The Country Club outside Cleveland and is a three-time recipient of the Mark H. McCormack Medal, presented by the R&A and the USGA, as the leading women’s amateur golf in the world.

“I am excited to work with my new team at IMG as I embark on my professional career,” said Ko. “My family and I spoke with many candidates and IMG emerged as the clear choice to represent me, in large part because of their global reach. I am comfortable knowing that IMG will commit the appropriate resources to help my career excel while I focus on golf.”

“Lydia is an incredibly impressive young lady and an astonishing player. She has a wonderful family support team and we are absolutely delighted to be working for her. We will be employing all of our experience and our global resources to her benefit,” said Guy Kinnings, Global Head of Golf at IMG. “Her accomplishments to date are remarkable and IMG looks forward to helping Lydia achieve more success both on and off the course.”

Mexico may soon see the return of a Formula One race after FIA vice-president Jose Abed, who oversaw the previous iteration of the Mexican Grand Prix between 1986-92, believes that the race could return to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, despite the reservations of Bernie Ecclestone, who insists that the venue is no longer up to F1 specification.

“We have plans ready to improve the circuit and, after they finish the work, we want to return to F1 in 2014,” Abed told Spanish newspaper AS, “The investment required [to improve] the racetrack is $20m, while we also have to find £30m [in sanctioning fees].”

While the holiday resort of Cancun has been mooted as an alternative to the capital, Mexico City has another advocate in Circuit of the Americas originator Tavo Hellmund, who last November also claimed that improvements to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez could be made in time to secure a place on the 2014 schedule.

“The track needs a facelift, but so many of the right components are in place,” Hellmund, whose father first took F1 to Mexico I the 1980s, explained to Austin’sStatesman newspaper on the eve of last year’s USGP, “I think it’s totally the right time. No one wants to waste the opportunity of having these drivers [Perez and Gutierrez]. The sky is the limit – [a race now] could potentially break every grand prix attendance record.”