August 29 - John Bowden (pictured), formerly one of the country's top middle-distance runners, has been appointed as the performance manager of Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ), it has been announced.

MAY 9 - FAST TRACK has been appointed by British Performance Basketball Ltd as their commercial and event partner, with a view to transforming the sport’s fortunes ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

British Performance Basketball Ltd is a recently formed ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’ set up by UK Sport and Fast Track will assist the company in building a strong future for the sport.

The agency, founded by London 2012 vice-chairman Alan Pascoe, will conduct research into developing the attractiveness of British Basketball to commercial partners and the wider public, starting at the highest level of the GB team.

Fast Track and British Basketball will look to make the sport commercially attractive, stage world class international fixture and generate grass roots excitement for and participation in basketball.

Simon Tuckey, a director of British Performance Basketball Ltd, said: “The creation of British Performance Basketball Ltd was the first step in promoting our sport in the coming years and we are delighted to partner with Fast Track to assist in this crucial role.

"The sport of basketball has a huge opportunity to galvanise participants at all levels ahead of 2012 and improve standards across the board and we fully hope that working with Fast Track, we can achieve this.”

Jon Ridgeon, the managing director at Fast Track, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with British Performance Basketball on this project and look forward to delivering results.

"There is a huge potential for Basketball to take advantage of the positive impact of the 2012 Olympics and I hope we can demonstrate the possibilities throughout the sport.”

MAY 10 - MAX JONES (pictured), the former performance director of UK Athletics, has criticised proposals by the European Athletics Association (EAA) to hold a European Championships in the same year as the 2012 Olympics. 

BRITAIN'S men’s wheelchair basketball team beat Holland by 37 points to win bronze at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

QATAR AIRWAYS have agreed a deal to become the title sponsor of the EuroHockey Nations Championships 2007 in Manchester, it was announced today.

GORDON BROWN (pictured), the Scot who is tipped to replace Tony Blair as Prime Minister later this year, has said that he expects a united British football team to compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

ALEX SALMOND (pictured), the leader of the Scottish National Party, and former England winger Steve Coppell have condemned the call from Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown for a united British football team to compete in the 2012 Olympics.

THE row over alleged Government interference in English basketball that threatens Britain's participation in the 2012 Olympics continues to rumble on today.

BRITISH men's head coach Paul Annacone (pictured) wants up to seven players in the world's top 20 by the time of the 2012 Olympics, he said today.

NIELS DE VOS (pictured), the new chief executive of UK Athletics, has today admitted that the sport is Britain is already targetting the 2012 Olympics and is not anticipating much success this year.

SIR ALEX FERGUSON (pictured), the manager of European and Premiership champions Manchester United, has approached British Cycling to try to discover the secrets of their success, Shane Sutton has revealed.

BRITISH JUDO has announced its senior squad for 2009 as it begins its build-up to the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

THE venue for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics at the 2012 London Olympics is set to be moved for cost-cutting purposes, but the controversial equestrian venue at Greenwich Park is safe, as first revealed on insidethegames last month.

INFLUENTIAL FIFA member Jack Warner (pictured), who could hold the key to England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup, has repeated his attack on English football's negative view about football in the Caribbean.