News

By Nick Harris 17 February 2010 The Indian government today reacted bullishly to terrorist threats against the forthcoming hockey World Cup, the 2010 IPL season and the Commonwealth Games by promising to provide “full protection” to every player, coach and official involved. In addition, the Delhi police have claimed that “foolproof” security arrangements are in […]

By Nick Harris 16 February 2010 The identity of the Premier League football club that has expressed an interest in buying an Indian Premier League cricket franchise will be revealed when the tender process opens next month according to a BBC report, although the IPL’s commissioner, Lalit Modi, has told sportingintelligence by email this afternoon […]

15 February The Premier League is considering introducing a play-off to determine which team is awarded the fourth Champions League slot. As things stand, the top four in the division qualify automatically for the next season’s Champions League. No changes will be made for at least three years: the 2010-13 TV rights have already been […]

By Nick Harris 10 February 2010 Fears that Portsmouth would today become the first Premier League club ever to enter administration while being an active member of English football’s elite have abated, just slightly, after they were given a seven-day stay of execution by the High Court to sort out their financial affairs. The club’s […]

9 February 2010 John McEnroe has always stopped short of proclaiming Roger Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time, but no longer. “Roger is just the greatest player of all time,” he said today. “He is the most beautiful player I’ve ever seen and I don’t ever get tired of watching him. Rod […]

8 February 2010 The Rajasthan Royals IPL franchise is to establish partnerships with other cricket teams around the world to start what is being marketed as “the world’s first global sporting franchise”. The BBC reports on the development, which centres on Twenty20 cricket and was launched at Lord’s today, in this article. Existing sides in […]

By Nick Harris 8 February 2010 The New Orleans Saints’ victory over the Indianapolis Colts in last night’s Super Bowl in Miami was the most-watched TV show in American history, beating the 27-year-old ratings record set by the final edition of M.A.S.H in 1983. Figures just released show that yesterday’s game attracted 106.7m viewers in […]

5 February Football’s world governing body, Fifa, has given its reaction to the news that Chelsea and Lens have settled their dispute over the poaching of Gaël Kakuta in 2007. A statement on Fifa’s website says that Fifa “always actively encourages clubs to try to resolve disputes by means of amicable settlements rather than litigation”. […]

By Helen Harris 5 February 2010 Kim Clijsters has this week had the peculiar honour of becoming the first athlete in the world to be immortalised in shapely plastic as a ‘one-off Barbie’.  The Belgian tennis star and her daughter, Jada, who turns two this month, each received Barbie versions of themselves, which have been […]

4 February 2010 Portsmouth’s farcical season took another twist today with the news that the club has its fourth different owner of the 2009-10 season. That means the number of owners in the current campaign is now equal to the total number of wins in the league. Pompey began the season under the ownership of […]