The German Sport Support organization, which supports the vast majority of Germany's Olympic athletes, "is contemplating to discontinue its bonus payments to successful athletes." Chair Michael Ilgner said that analyzing the London Games also includes "bonus payments." Currently a German Olympic athletes receive €15,000 ($19.000) for a Gold Medal, €10,000 ($12,700) for Silver and €7,500 ($9,500) for a Bronze Medal. Even an eighth-place finish brings in €1,500 ($1,900). Those bonus payments for Olympic athletes "have been unchanged since '00." The German Sport Support already announced that it "will not pay any bonuses for European and World Championships." The German Sport Support wants to instead "help athletes with their post-sports careers" (SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, 8/18).
RIGHTS PROTECTION: The Int'l Cricket Council has once again engaged Copyright Integrity Int'l to work closely with its in-house legal team on the management of a comprehensive rights protection program for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, which gets under way on Sept. 18. CII is a privately-held specialist in online and offline anti-piracy protection services for sports clients. It will provide the ICC with a suite of commercial rights-protection and anti-piracy services and solutions (ICC).
NEW COMMITTEE: The Indian Olympic Association "has set up a three-member committee to resolve the issue of how best to run the affairs of hockey in the country." The two warring bodies -- Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation -- "have been asked to present their case before the committee" on Aug. 21 (THE HINDU, 8/17).
