Middle East

English soccer club Crystal Palace is trying to establish a partnership with Walt Disney World to become the entertainment giant's official football club.

Michael Jordan has been showing the youngsters how it is done in Washington Wizard workouts, but the 38-year-old team president is holding off on a decision about returning to the court for the NBA team.

Japanese advertising giants Dentsu has obtained the exclusive marketing rights for the fourteenth Asian Games in Busan (Pusan), Korea.

Eisa Al Dashti of Kuwait has withdrawn from the elections for the IAAF president and vice-president in Edmonton on August 1.

United Arab Emirates cricket authorities demanded yesterday that all of their team's matches in the ICC Trophy be replayed because two of their top players were refused entry into Canada.

No sooner had the Boston Globe reported that Michael Jordan's National Basketball Association comeback could begin on July 16 at an NBA summer camp, than NBC television doused the news with their own report of a Jordan denial.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ surprise victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the NBA Finals boosted US broadcaster NBC’s previously flagging coverage of the sport. The tie last Wednesday night averaged 18.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Action and free sports broadcaster Extreme International has reported a 75 percent increase in sales for the eight months prior to September of this year.

English Premier League soccer club Chelsea has decided to remove the name of its sponsors, the airline Emirates, from its shirts when the team plays in Israel later this month in deference to the political instability in the Middle East.

The Dubai Sevens, the opening rugby tournament in the World Sevens Series, could be scrapped because of uncertainties associated with the aftermath of the US terrorist attacks.

The impact of Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA is not set to have a significant influence on the sport – according to the hundreds of sport industry executives voting in our online poll.

Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Asian Amateur Athletic Federation, has written to the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) officially withdrawing from the race for the IAAF presidency.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong is the third most recognised American athlete in the US after Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, the US Postal Service, sponsors of the Tour de France, said today.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan, who revolutionised the commercial potential of athletes, has confirmed reports that he was injured in an accident in a pick-up basketball game last Wednesday in a Chicago gym.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the television ratings for this year’s NBA Finals are the best since Michael Jordan’s swan song in 1998. The 2001 Finals averaged a 14.8 rating with a 25 share of audience.

Like millions of basketball fans, Gatorade is eager to see if Michael Jordan will return to the game.