Idowu injury a real concern for Team GB - ESPN.co.uk
Triple jumper Phillips Idowu is an injury doubt for London 2012, despite being including in the Team GB squad for the event.
UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee revealed at the official announcement of Team GB's track and field squad for the Olympics on Tuesday that Idowu was suffering with a mystery injury that could prevent him competing at the forthcoming Games.
Idowu, the current world silver medallist, is one of Britain's best hopes for an athletics medal in the Olympic Stadium this summer but has not competed since suffering a foot injury after an awkward landing during an event in Oregon on June 2 - subsequently skipping both the Olympic trials and Friday's Diamond League meeting in Paris.
He is currently due to compete at the Aviva Grand Prix at Crystal Palace in just over a week's time, but Van Commenee is unsure he will even be fit to compete in the Games at the start of August.
"There are no guarantees," Van Commenee said. "The athlete is injured. At least that's what we know. How can I possibly be confident [he will compete]?"
The current confusion could be the result of a lack of communication, however, with Idowu and Van Commenee failing to see eye-to-eye since a high-profile dispute over a year ago - when Idowu branded Van Commenee a "blatant liar" on Twitter following a disagreement about the reasons behind his withdrawal from the 2011 European Championships.
Van Commenee subsequently said the social media site was for "clowns and attention-seekers".
Van Commenee revealed Idowu's agent had asked him not to reveal details of his injury but, with no other triple jumper having achieved the Olympic standard, the Dutchman nevertheless had no doubts about including him in the Team GB squad.
"He's the former world champion and the No. 2 in the world last year. He's got a proven track record," Van Commenee said. "His selection does not exclude any other athletes, so it's a no-brainer.
"There is room in the selection policy to deselect athletes who prove not to be fit. At the moment, it is silly not to select a man who jumped in early June."
If fit Idowu, a Hackney native, will be hoping to improve on the silver medal he won in Beijing four years ago.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
Rangers SPL vote far from formality - Football
Published: 04 Jul 2012 - 08:18:55
Scottish Premier League clubs gather on Wednesday morning for a scheduled vote on a newco Rangers application, but the meeting looks far from the formality it seemed just several days ago.
Before the weekend, seven SPL clubs confirmed their intention to vote against the bid from Charles Green's Sevco company to assume the share of Rangers, whose assets they bought for £5.5million.
But Green claimed earlier this week he was confident chairmen would listen to his pleas after meeting several clubs to warn them of the financial implications.
Only St Johnstone reaffirmed their position on Tuesday after reports claimed Green was attempting to push through an offer that included points deductions, a transfer ban and an apology on behalf of Rangers. Club chairman Malcolm Murray later issued an "unreserved" apology for the distress caused to Scottish football.
Motherwell were expected to confirm their opposition on Monday after saying a fans ballot would be "used to determine which way the club votes". They instead announced that Derek Weir, their representative at Hampden meetings in recent months, was stepping down as vice-chairman and from his position on the SPL board.
The result of the vote was eventually announced on Tuesday evening - 82% of shareholders and Well Society members voted 'no' - but the Fir Park board provided no accompanying statement.
The SPL, Scottish Football Association and Scottish Football League executives have been pushing a plan to place the Ibrox club in the Irn-Bru First Division. But at least 10 SFL clubs had come out against the package, which also includes merger of the leagues, promotion play-offs to the top flight and a £1million payment to the 30 clubs, before a meeting on Tuesday.
The authorities pressed home their view that up to £16million could be lost to the Scottish game if the club start in the Third Division, amid continued uncertainty over broadcasting deals, and there would no surprise were SPL clubs to adjourn their vote today in the hope that SFL clubs are swayed.
The clubs have a recent history of doing just that having twice postponed a vote on financial fair play proposals before coming to a decision in May. Decision-makers at SPL clubs were reported to have held late-night talks by conference call and the decision could be thrown back to the SFL.
That was the prediction of Raith chairman Turnbull Hutton following yesterday's Hampden gathering. He said: "Will they vote? They normally vote to have a vote to not vote. There's an element of hospital passes and buck-passing going on."
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Euro zone PMIs back ECB rate cut expectations - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone's private sector downturn eased only slightly in June as companies slashed prices, according to business surveys on Wednesday that supported expectations the European Central Bank will cut interest rates this week.
Markit's Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which surveys thousands of companies, was revised up in June to 46.4 from a preliminary reading of 46.0 that matched the May figure.
The index has been below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction for nine of the last 10 months, suggesting the economic rot has spread to the core of the euro zone.
The PMIs have a good record of tracking economic growth and suggest the euro zone economy contracted 0.6 percent in the second quarter, which would be the largest quarterly decline in three years.
Economists in a Reuters poll last week expected the ECB will cut interest rates to a new record low 0.75 percent on Thursday to help spur growth, and the PMIs will do little to alter that view.
"Even Germany looks to have fallen into a renewed decline, though only a very modest drop in output is signalled. The pace of downturns in other major euro member states is far more worrying," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at data provider Markit.
He said output in Italy probably declined 1 percent in the second quarter, with steep downturns also on the cards in Spain and France.
"Job losses are mounting as a result of falling demand, as companies seek to reduce costs and prepare for the possibility that worse is to come," added Williamson.
The euro zone unemployment rate rose to a new record high of 11.1 percent in May, meaning some 17.6 million citizens were out of work across the 17-nation currency union.
And the composite PMI showed little sign of relief for workers - firms cut jobs for the sixth straight month as the employment index fell slightly to 48.3 in June from 48.5 in May.
While the services PMI also edged up slightly to 47.1 in June from 46.7 in the previous month, it was still anchored below the 50 mark for a fifth straight month.
It did however suggest inflation pressures are abating, as the prices charged by companies to consumers declined at the fastest rate in around two-and-a-half years. The output price index dropped sharply to 46.8 from 49.0 in May.
A sharp fall in oil prices held inflation steady at a 16-month low of 2.4 percent in June, cited by many economists as a major reason why the ECB may cut interest rates this week.
(Reporting by Yati Himatsingka; Editing by Catherine Evans)
RSS douseS fire - Asian Age
The withdrawal of resignations by B.S. Yeddyurappa loyalists in the state ministry, was preceded by some hard talking at Sunday’s meeting between Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, party state president K.S. Eshwarappa and dissident leader Jagadish Shettar—and a generous helping hand from the RSS.
Party sources said the RSS took the initiative to call the meeting to break the ice between the two groups. BJP organizing secretary Santhosh—a RSS man—was behind the strategy to invite Mr Shettar for the crucial meeting where he was told by the CM and Mr Eshwarappa to break away from Yeddyurappa as the Lingayat leader would never allow a fellow Lingayat to become CM. They told Shettar, who has deep roots in the RSS, that many MLAs in the BSY camp were new entrants to the BJP.
Mr Shettar was also warned that the central leadership clearly favoured dissolution of the Assembly if he and his associates did not back off and withdraw their resignations. It was finally agreed that they would leave the decision to the central leadership after which Mr Shettar left the place.
Close associates of Mr Yeddyurappa however interpreted the meeting differently. They claimed that the CM in an attempt to broker peace, offered Mr Shettar the post of deputy chief minister (DCM), which was outrightly rejected by Mr Shettar who said he was annoyed with the fact that he was being ignored in the decision making process. “At the drop of a hat, you call Mr Eshwarappa and Mr Suresh Kumar for consultations. I stay next door but I am never invited for anything,” he said.
Mr Sadananda Gowda reportedly wanted Mr Shettar to get Yeddyurappa’s nod for the DCM offer to which Mr Shettar shot back that the CM himself should approach Mr Yeddyurappa who had elevated him to the top post. “I had no qualms in working under you as a minister after losing the CM election, you should have treated me with respect,” he said.
Sources said Mr Shettar and Mr Yeddyurappa seem to have made peace on the controversial August, 2011 election for the CM post when BSY backed Sadananda Gowda instead of his Lingayat colleague who lost the battle. Mr Yeddyurappa’s logic now is that when MLAs wanted Sadananda Gowda to become CM, he could do nothing to prevent them. He also tried to put to rest speculation that he preferred energy minister Shobha Karandlaje to Shettar for the CM’s post saying he always knew few MLAs would back her, said the sources.
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