British Cycling has begun an official review of its relationship with Team Sky, with the conclusion "expected to result in the professional road team vacating" its offices at the National Cycling Centre. The two organizations have shared the velodrome in Manchester since the formation of Team Sky in '09 but that arrangement has "come under serious scrutiny in the wake of the Jiffy bag controversy and bullying and discrimination allegations" (London DAILY MAIL, 5/3).
The Indian Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators in a "strongly-worded statement" to the Board of Control for Cricket in India asked the cricket body to select the Indian cricket squad for the Int'l Cricket Council Champions Trophy, starting in the U.K. on June 1. The deadline for the team selection was April 25, but the BCCI "did not abide by it in an apparent protest over ICC's decision to implement a new financial model that would see India losing substantial revenue" (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 5/4).
Major League Baseball "wants to renegotiate the posting system with Nippon Professional Baseball before the highly anticipated move" of the Nippon Ham Fighters' Shohei Otani, which "could be as early as this offseason," according to sources with knowledge of the agreement. MLB and NPB had until Thursday -- 180 days before the Oct. 31 expiration date of the agreement -- to "demand a renegotiation of the existing posting system" (KYODO, 5/4).
The NBA and Sports for Education and Economic Development Project, a non-profit organization based in Thies, Senegal, that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs, announced the official opening of NBA Academy Africa. An elite basketball training center in Thies for the top male and female prospects from throughout Africa, NBA Academy Africa is the first of its kind on the continent. The NBA and S.E.E.D. Project also announced their plan to launch a new NBA Academy Africa facility in Saly, Senegal, scheduled to open in the fall (NBA).
