Football Association touting rights after Setanta’s demise June 24, 2009 THE FOOTBALL Association (FA) and the owners of other sports rights previously held by Setanta are desperately searching for new buyers to fill the payment void left by the collapse of the Irish pay-TV broadcaster. Setanta held the rights to the English and Scottish Premier Leagues, Premier Rugby, PGA golf, FA Cup and England football [...]
BARCLAYS TAKES THE METRO June 24, 2009 NEW YORK’S Brooklyn Atlantic Avenue subway hub is going to be renamed Barclays, after the bank struck a $4m (£2.4m) deal with the city’s transport authority. Barclays’ New York offices are actually in the more glamorous Manhattan, but the Barclays Centre sports arena is being built in Brooklyn as part of a local regeneration project, [...]
China snares 4.4bn Addax June 24, 2009 CHINESE state-owned Sinopec agreed a takeover of London-listed oil producer Addax yesterday, in a deal worth C$8.3bn (£4.4bn). The offer of C$52.80 a share – which comes after a behind-the-scenes bidding war with Korea National Oil – is a 16 per cent premium to Addax’s closing share price on Tuesday and more than four times [...]
Sharapova stunned by early exit as Federer sails through June 24, 2009 FORMER champion Maria Sharapova blamed injury after being dumped out of Wimbledon at the second round by unseeded Argentine Gisela Dulko yesterday. Sharapova, seeded 24, looked far short of the form that carried her to the title in 2004 as she slumped to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 defeat on Centre Court. The three-time grand slam [...]
Omens good for Murray but Gulbis is no pushover June 24, 2009 ANDY MURRAY does not come across as the superstitious type, but if the British No1 is looking for omens on his quest for Wimbledon glory then today’s opponent could be a good one. Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who Murray faces in the second round, exited the tournament at the same stage last year. The man who [...]
Peace breaks out after FIA bow to teams June 24, 2009 THE BIGGEST names in F1 will take their places on the grid next year after governing body the FIA, and their embattled president Max Mosley, caved in to pressure from rebel teams’ group FOTA yesterday. The bitter war that has divided the sport was ended when the FIA agreed to scrap controversial plans for a [...]
Lions have high hopes for second Test June 24, 2009 BRITISH and Irish Lions coach Shaun Edwards believes extreme altitude training will stop their Test series hopes disappearing into thin air on Saturday. A fixture the Lions cannot afford to lose will be made even harder by its location: Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, some 5,000 feet above sea level. The tourists struggled with similarly gruelling [...]
Real ready to gazump United for both Benzema and Ribery June 24, 2009 MANCHESTER UNITED look set to be beaten to two of their principal summer targets by Real Madrid, after the cash-soaked Spanish club edged ahead in the race for Franck Ribery and emerged as rivals for his France colleague Karim Benzema. United have identified £50m-rated Bayern Munich winger Ribery as a potential replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, [...]
Rashid ready to ignite Ashes June 24, 2009 THE NOTABLE omission from this year’s Ashes squad of Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison, two of the stars of the 2005 triumph, may have grabbed the headlines, but I’m more interested in the role ear-marked for Adil Rashid. The Yorkshire 21-year-old is one of three spin-bowlers in the 16-man training squad and stands a decent [...]
Sussex give Aussies a workout June 24, 2009 CRICKET: Australia recovered from early losses to reach 349-7 at stumps on day one as they began their Ashes preparations with a tour match against Sussex. The tourists slipped to 114-5 after losing opener Phil Hughes (15) and captain Ricky Ponting (8) but Michael Clarke (45) and Brad Haddin took up the fight before Brett [...]
