FIBA was informed on Wednesday that Euroleague Properties and Euroleague Commercial Assets have surrendered in the German court in Munich all proceedings which they had previously initiated. They both withdrew their motion for a preliminary injunction and simultaneously waived all rights arising from the preliminary injunction issued on June 2. Euroleague will -- together with its co-applicants -- bear all the costs of the court proceeding as well as those of FIBA and also FIBA Europe (FIBA).
BACKING PLAYOFF FORMAT: Southern hemisphere rugby's ruling body SANZAAR is "standing by a new playoffs system that has been criticized for not reflecting the strength of New Zealand sides and says it is unfair to judge it after one season of the expanded Super Rugby competition." Under the new system, each of the four conference winners -- one each in New Zealand and Australia and two from South Africa -- "are given home advantage throughout the playoffs." Fans and media in New Zealand, however, have said that "the system is unfair as all four of the country's sides who qualified for the playoffs have more points than all the other teams apart from the table-topping Lions" (REUTERS, 7/14).
LEAGUE BRIEFS ...
Italian sports agent Federico Rosa "was charged in a Kenyan court on Thursday over the alleged use of prohibited performance enhancing substances on local athletes." Rosa, held by police last week for questioning along with fellow Italian coach Claudio Berardelli, "denied the charges and was remanded in custody." Berardelli has "not been charged" (REUTERS, 7/14).
Horseracing trainers Sean Woods and Andreas Schutz "failed to show cause before the Licensing Committee on Thursday and their applications to train in Hong Kong next season have been rejected." Woods and Schutz have 24 hours to "lodge a notice of appeal to the board of Stewards and 48 hours to lodge grounds for the appeal." Woods lodged notice of an appeal "within two hours of the decision." Schutz has "not yet made public his decision on any appeal against the decision." Both men "failed to meet the Jockey Club’s minimum performance criteria" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 7/14).
The Chinese Triathlon League, a new triathlon competition organized by China Triathlon Sports Association, "was officially launched in Beijing" on Tuesday. Beijing Aquawud Sports has been "named as the exclusive agency which will be responsible for the operations of the new tournament." Additionally, the CTL has teamed up with Chinese satellite TV station QHTV with regard to content production." The partnership with CCTV Sports and Entertainment "will see the CTL covered by CCTV across various platforms in the near future" (YUTANG SPORTS, 7/13).
