English Premiership Rugby Union club Harlequins has renewed its partnership deal with German sportswear giant Adidas.

The new five-year deal will see Adidas continue to provide the London-based outfit with playing and training kit until 2021. The sportswear company will also support the club’s community initiatives, and provide kit to teams representing Harlequins in different formats.

Adidas and Harlequins first joined forces in 2014, and the German company now serves as a principal partner of the Rugby Union team.

The development league of the North American Basketball (NBA) has struck a naming rights deal with Gatorade. The D-League has signed a title-sponsorship agreement with the PepsiCo-owned soft drink brand, which will see the competition be renamed the NBA Gatorade League (G-League).

The agreement marks the first time a US professional sports league has named a title sponsor. A new NBA G-League logo has been unveiled following the announcement. The logo will be featured across all game balls, team jerseys, on-court signage and league digital assets.

Brett O’Brien, senior vice-president and general manager at Gatorade, said: “We have more than 50 years of experience working with athletes and using those insights to help improve athletic performance through innovative sports fuel and equipment.

“This expansion of our NBA partnership is a great opportunity to not only work with the elite athletes of the NBA G-League, but also continue to lead the evolution of basketball performance.”

The NBC Sports division of NBCUniversal has acquired rights to the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.

The multi-year deal commences with the 2017 season, which got underway earlier today (Friday) with qualifying for the Abu Dhabi event.

NBC Sports Group will provide coverage across all platforms of each race, with NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app set to stream extensive live coverage of this year’s events and qualifying sessions.

The international competition spans eight races in seven countries, including two in the US. The first US race takes place in San Diego on April 16 before the season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 15.

British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has signed an extension to his endorsement deal with US brand Under Armour.

Joshua, who currently holds the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world title belt, agreed the deal at Under Armour’s Boston headquarters.

Joshua will fight Russian boxer Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, in front of an expected British record crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium. Three world championship titles are on the line during the bout, during which Joshua will attempt to defend his unbeaten career record.

Under Armour also lists NBA basketball star Steph Curry, US swimming legend Michael Phelps, world tennis No.1 Andy Murray and two-time golf major winner Jordan Spieth among its clients.

International media and communications company Discovery has launched a sports television channel in India.

Discovery said the DSport channel will broadcast 4,000 hours of live content annually, across multiple sports including football and cricket.

The Forbes website said the channel is also currently in advanced talks for select “high quality” cricket events in addition to other sports.

DSport will broadcast to 35 million Indian households from today, and will be available via a subscription model via both direct-to-home and cable in high and standard definition.

UEFA have announced that Baku and Madrid will compete to host the 2018-19 Champions League Final. The Azerbaijani capital’s Olympic Stadium will contest Atletico Madrid’s future home Wanda Metropolitano for the right to host the showpiece event.

Selection of a host will be made in September, with both prospective stadia having capacities of around 70,000. This season’s host city is the Welsh capital city of Cardiff, and Ukranian capital Kiev will follow in 2018.

Despite the 2019 Champions League Final attracting just two host bids, there are seven bids to host the Europa League Final of that year, and 10 bids for the Super Cup.

Russia have been stripped of their 4x400m relay silver medal from London 2012, after Antonina Krivoshapka was retrospectively disqualified. Krivoshapka, who ran the second leg of the final, tested positive for banned substance turinabol after her doping sample was renalysed.

The Russian disqualification means that Jamaica and Ukraine are likely to be promoted to second and third position respectively.

Russia, who have returned more positive tests than any other nation following reanalysis of samples from Beijing 2008 and London 2012, were accused last year of conducting a state-sponsored doping program involving more than a thousand athletes.

Krivoshapka last competed in 2013, a year in which she won a World Championship bronze medal.

Newly-appointed Formula One Chief Executive Chase Carey has assured fans that the British Grand Prix will survive despite doubts over the future of Silverstone.

The British Grand Prix has been a loss-maker in recent years, but Chase has declared that it will remain a part of the F1 season. Chase also indicated he believes Western Europe to be the foundation of the sport and wishes to develop the sport in those areas.

Silverstone first hosted the British event in 1950 and has been the permanent host of the competition since 1987.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr has been elected 1st Vice-President of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) at the first full meeting of the new Executive Board.

Mr Samaranch (ESP) became a Vice-President of Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2016 and now takes up the most senior office in the UIPM Movement beneath the Presidency. He succeeds Ivar Sisniega (MEX).

Mr Samaranch accepted his election as 1st Vice-President of UIPM and said: “I am very happy with the results and the main objectives that were achieved by UIPM at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”

Chaired by the UIPM President, Dr Klaus Schormann, at the Olympic Museum, in Lausanne, the meeting also featured a visit from Dr Thomas Bach, IOC President, who addressed the board and conveyed his satisfaction for UIPM following and applying the principles of Agenda 2020. He also briefed the board on the future of the Olympic Games and all the efforts the IOC is taking to protect clean athletes.

The final appointment to the Executive Board confirmed that there will be four female members in office during the 2016-2020 Olympic cycle. Dr Natalia Ofitserova (BLR) takes her place after being elected as Chair of the UIPM Medical Committee, replacing Prof Dr Fabio Pigozzi (ITA), who is President of the UIPM Anti-Doping Panel.

Dr Ofitserova, who has been a member of the Medical Committee since 2000, joins UIPM Secretary General Shiny Fang (CHN), Oceania Confederation President Kitty Chiller (AUS) and Athletes Committee Chair Aya Medany (EGY) as a strong representation of women on the new-look Executive Board.

Another key appointment in the UIPM hierarchy was confirmed when Viacheslav Aminov (RUS) was re-elected as Vice-President for Business Affairs.

Kuisung Choi (KOR), whose Vice-Presidency of the UIPM came to a conclusion in 2016, became a UIPM Honorary Member for Life.

The UIPM President, Dr Klaus Schormann, proposed a number of appointments to UIPM committees and commissions, all of which were approved by the board.

UIPM’s Global Engagement Programme, aimed at growing the global popularity of its sports, continues to progress with key advances in three primary areas of the programme.

First, the UIPM’s strategy of having the Mixed Relay included in future Olympic Games programmes starting with Tokyo 2020 was discussed at length. It was unanimously agreed that this innovative format will include Obstacle Course Racing as part of the Laser-Run discipline. This addition, with strong ties to the historical traditions of the Modern Pentathlon, will add additional value to the Modern Pentathlon event, and the Games itself, and UIPM will campaign strongly for its inclusion.

Secondly, it was reported to the board that more than 50 cities have registered for the new UIPM Laser-Run Global City Tour, which begins in Port Louis, Mauritius.

Finally, the UIPM Secretary General, Shiny Fang, briefed the board on the agreement signed with the TV network Eurosports at the beginning of January. In the context of the partnership, Modern Pentathlon will reach a broader audience with the live broadcast of the UIPM 2017 World Cup Final in Lithuania, in June, and the UIPM 2017 World Championships in Egypt, in September.

At the end of the meeting, Dr Klaus Schormann said: “This was a very important work session with the new Executive Board during which we appointed Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr as 1st Vice President of the UIPM. We also had budgetary discussions and we had the pleasure of a visit from Thomas Bach, who briefed us on the whole movement of the IOC linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”

The 2017 competition season begins on February 22nd with UIPM World Cup #1 in Los Angeles, California (USA).

The NFL American Football league suffered an 8% drop in US television viewership for it 2016 season, new data has indicated.

Figures recently released show a 1.4m drop – from 17.9m to 16.5m – in viewing numbers from 2015 to 2016. All four major networks that air NFL have shown significant decreases, with ESPN taking a 12% hit.

The figures released have omitted Thursday night viewing figures, given the complications created by the NFL’s live streaming deal with Twitter.

League officials have indicated that the US Presidential Election has had a significant impact on viewing numbers.