The Australian Grand Prix will likely be scrapped if leading teams form a breakaway Formula One series in 2010, according to Australian F1 race chief Ron Walker.

Uncertainty continues to surround the future direction of the sport after the eight-member Formula One Teams Association walked out of a meeting with motor racing’s governing body FIA in Paris this week.

F1′s strongest teams revived their threat to form a breakaway series despite FIA’s insistence a deal could soon be struck to end the long-running saga over regulations.

Walker said there would be no point in holding the Melbourne street race if the most famous teams in the competition were not involved.

He said he would advise the Victorian state government, which backs the race, to cancel the event should F1′s leading teams carry out their threat, adding the viability and credibility of the event would be damaged without teams like Ferrari taking part.

“The Grand Prix board would probably say to the (Victorian) Premier it’s too hard,” Walker told a radio station on Friday.

“You can just imagine if the likes of (Roger) Federer and other major tennis players didn’t turn up to the Australian Open in January or if some of the best horses didn’t come to the Melbourne Cup.

“It’s the same scenario, the superstars sell tickets and if you don’t have the superstars then ticket sales sag.”

Melbourne has an agreement to run the event until 2015 under a five-year licence extension signed last year.

The Australian GP has consistently lost money since its switch to Melbourne from Adelaide in 1996.

Source: Channel News Asia

The start of this year’s Champions Trophy in South Africa has been brought forward by two days to September 22.

The International Cricket Council had originally scheduled the eight-nation tournament from Sept 24. to October 5.
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The threat of a breakaway Formula One series loomed again on Wednesday after Ferrari and seven other teams walked out of talks in Germany with the governing body and warned that the sport’s future was at risk.

“The eight FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) teams were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their further proposals for 2010,” the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement.
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At least 95 percent of 2010 World Cup construction sites have been paralysed by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) strike. In a statement NUM said workers have shown their willingness to go ahead with strike until their demands are met. Close to 70 000 workers are taking part in the nationwide strike.

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The ICC has said that the IPL will not be given a permanent slot in the international cricketing calendar. Many top cricketers missed out during the two editions of the league due to national commitments, prompting calls for granting the tournament a permanent window in the ICC calendar.

However, the game’s governing body is not considering such a proposal at the moment. “No we are not considering giving a window to IPL. Mr Lalit Modi [the IPL commissioner] has frequently said that a window for IPL is not appropriate and I agree with him,” ICC president David Morgan told PTI.

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Bangladesh remain hopeful that their Test series against West Indies will proceed as planned despite the home players’ union announcing their withdrawal from all matches over a contract and payment dispute.

The Test series is due to start in St Vincent tomorrow but has been left in an uncertain position after the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) said its members could no longer play without contracts.

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Bulgarian officials will meet Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone next week in the hope of agreeing a deal for the country to host a grand prix from 2011.

Bulgarian Motorcycling Federation (BMF) president Bogdan Nikolov told Reuters by telephone from Istanbul on Thursday that grand prix organising committee chief Rumen Petkov had been invited by Ecclestone to the German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring.

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The FIBA Asia Executive Committee on Friday decided to award the hosting of the 23rd FIBA Asia Championship for Women to Chennai, the Southern coastal city in India.

The Championship will be played from Sept 17-24, 2009.

It may be recalled the Championship was originally scheduled to be played in Chinese Taipei from June 21-28, before CTBA expressed their inability to host the Championship.
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Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket (NZC), has said that his board would prefer the ICC’s post-2012 Future Tours Programme (FTP) over a proposed Twenty20 Southern Premier League (SPL) along with Australia and South Africa. Vaughan suggested that the ICC’s bilateral engagement schedule was more financially rewarding for New Zealand than the SPL.

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Motor racing chief Max Mosley claims he is under pressure to stay on as head of Formula One’s governing body after opponents rushed to write his obituary following a peace deal last week.

“They made the mistake of dancing on my grave before I was buried,” the 69-year-old Briton told the Mail Sunday newspaper in an interview.

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