IPL to Open in UAE

 

 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced that the 2014 Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition will open in the United Arab Emirates, with the prospect of further games being staged in Bangladesh.

The BCCI today confirmed the 2014 IPL season will run from April 16 to June 1 and outlined its scheduling plans to address the issue of the competition clashing with India’s general election. The announcement came after it was confirmed last month that the first half of the IPL would need to be staged outside India after the country’s government said that it could not provide security for the event amid the election.

At least 16 matches will be held in the UAE between April 16 and April 30. For the period from May 1 to May 12, the governing body has approached India’s Ministry of Home Affairs seeking permission to play IPL matches in Indian cities where polling has concluded in the respective state. If it is not possible to return to India during this period, games will be held in Bangladesh.

The BCCI said in a statement: “BCCI is extremely conscious of the various complexities involved but hopes for a favourable consideration. BCCI will abide by the decision of the authorities in this regard.”

Once polling has concluded in all states, the remaining league matches plus the playoffs will be played in India from May 13. However, the BCCI said no matches will be scheduled on the counting day of May 16.

The BCCI was said to be considering the UAE, Bangladesh and South Africa for staging games outside India. South Africa had experience of hosting the IPL after the 2009 tournament was moved to the country, also because of security concerns arising from a general election that year.

“Sochi 2014 the most successful commercial winter games ever!”

Sochi 2014 has announced that it has raised total revenue of over $95m (€68.8m) from its Paralympic marketing programme, marking a new record for the winter edition of the Paralympic Games.

A total of 28 international and Russian companies have signed up to the partner and supplier roster for the ongoing winter Paralympics. International Paralympic Committee (IPC) TOP Partners that have signed agreements with the 2014 Games in Sochi are Atos, Samsung and Visa.

General partners of the Paralympic winter Games are Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Aeroflot, Bosco Sport, MegaFon, Russian Railways, Rosneft, Volkswagen Group Rus, Omega, Panasonic, RBC, Rostelecom and Sberbank.

Partners of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee are Ingosstrakh, PricewaterhouseCoopers Russia, McDonald’s, Sportloto, Procter & Gamble and Uralsky Zavod Protivogololodnych Materialov.

In addition, Sochi 2014 said that since its marketing programme began in 2009, the organising committee has secured total financial investment of more than $1.3bn, over three times the obligations set out in its bid book.

An organising committee statement added: “In this regard, the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee has become the most successful winter Games Organising Committee in the history of the Olympic Movement.”