Yesterday marked exactly two years to go until the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and organisers are calling on the UK public to start planning their Games to ensure they don’t miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime event.

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FIBA announced today that it was retaining the same ball for the upcoming World Basketball Championship in Turkey which was used in the tournament four years ago.

The sport’s international governing body confirmed that it was keeping the Molten GL7 which was chosen for the finals in Japan in 2006 and also for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The announcement came after the recent controversy surrounding the special-edition Jabulani which was introduced for the football World Cup in South Africa. Some players have criticised its unpredictable flight and FIFA is to investigate its use.

Patrick Baumann, the Secretary-General of FIBA and a member of the International Olympic Committee, said: “We are not prepared to jeopardise the integrity of our tournament for commercial reasons. FIFA took a major gamble by introducing a new ball and there are plenty of critics who do not think that it was worth it.

“The ball is one of the key elements in our brilliant game and we do not want to do anything which might spoil the fun, excitement and competition in Turkey. The Molten GL7 has served our sport remarkably well and there is absolutely no reason to change it.

“The players love it and our view is: ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

The Molten GL7 was designated the official ball in all FIBA games when it was introduced in September 2004. It has a 12-panel, two-tone design with a composite leather cover and Butyl bladder. It has a 75cm circumference and weighs a maximum of 610 grams.

Fumiya Tamiaki, President of Molten, said: “We are delighted that FIBA has decided to retain the GL7 for the 2010 World Championships. The ball has stood the test of time and is popular with players, coaches and fans.

“Basketball players are more sensitive to changes than footballers because they touch the ball with their hands so and play in the same indoor environment.

“We strongly believe that even the slightest change in the ball could have a major impact on the way players play the game.”

The 2010 World Championship will be the world's biggest-ever basketball competition and feature superstars such as Kevin Durant, Jose Manuel Calderon, Jianlin Yi and Dirk Nowitzki.

Around 350,000 people are expected to attend the event from August 28 to September 12 with more than one billion viewers watching the action on TV or online.

The tournament will be played in four cities - Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Kayseri - and feature 24 teams, with 288 players playing 80 games. Two new venues have been built especially for the finals.

The team winning the 2010 FIBA World Championship will qualify automatically for the London 2012 Olympics.

SEE MORE AWESOME FIBA PHOTOS FROM
THE 2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS HERE

MIKE SHAFT REFLECTS ON LeBRON JAMES' MIAMI MOVE

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TODD CAUTHORN & THE PAWPRINT ALL-STARS CELEBRATE A FAMOUS VICTORY

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INJURY TO JAMIE EDWARDS MARS A GREAT DAY

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MIKE SHAFT BLOG TO FOLLOW

Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders captain LaTaryl Williams has re-signed for the club for the 2010/11 season.

The 32-year-old has be a vital part of Riders' side for the last couple of seasons, which have been two of the best in the club's history.

"From day one when I started two years ago he has been a valuable part of my team both on and off the floor," said Coach Rob Paternostro. "It's nice to have him signed up first, because as I'm building my team, his versatility allows me to go in a few different ways.

"He is a true professional and really unselfish. To me that's one of the most important things about his leadership, his unselfishness has been contagious in the last two seasons, which is invaluable."

Williams averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds per game last season and was one of the BBL premier stoppers, as recognised by his place in the All-Defensive team according to leading website Eurobasket.com.

"The thing with LaTaryl is you feel comfortable putting him on most players. He's 6'6" and has long arms and so he really bothers shooters - you cannot forget his shot blocking ability, because numbers-wise he was up there with the league leaders.

"Importantly he has an uncanny ability to get the key blocks that other people can't make."

Coach Paternostro continued, "Over the last couple of years there have been a number of times where he has helped us win games with those kinds of plays. Whilst he's a great defender, it's also important to remember that he is a vital player for us at the offensive end of the floor too, particularly with his ability to post-up smaller defenders."

The Plymouth Raiders have announced that after an exhaustive selection process, they have appointed former Raiders captain, Gavin Love as their new Head Coach.

"We're extremely excited by today's appointment," said Raiders Chairman Bob Widdecombe. "This is the start of a new era and an exciting period in the life of the Plymouth Raiders. Gavin has come to the club and brought a lot of new ideas, contacts and enthusiasm, and has been working hard already at putting together a tough and competitive squad for the new season."

Love joined the Raiders half way through last season as an assistant coach, following a career as a player that spanned 13 years, and saw him lead the team into the BBL, establishing himself a reputation as a gritty, tough and talented competitor in a role occupied predominantly by American players on most other teams in the league.

"This is a great opportunity for me," said Love, "and I'm confident that I can put a team together that will excite the fans and give us a great chance to get the club back to where it deserves to be. I can't wait for the players to get here now and to start pre season training. The team I want in place will be dynamic, exciting and I want us to play a brand of basketball that fans will want to come and watch."

At the same time as announcing Love as Head Coach, the Raiders have announced that former Raiders player Mark Cahill will be returning to the team as Strength & Conditioning Coach as part of a support team that also includes Andy Murphy - the team's new Sports Injury Consultant.

"We'll be training eight times a week," said Love. "That's made up with five on court sessions, and three strength and conditioning sessions. Mark is going to be very active with the team, devising individual workout programmes for every player. We want to be the team in the best shape in the BBL this year - it's a long season, and the guys have to be ready for it. Our pre-season is going to be really intense as well, with the Royal Navy playing a huge part in fitness and team bonding work. I really can't describe how excited I am to get started."

The Raiders are delighted that Consultant Andy Murphy has offered his services to the team on a formal basis. He has treated James Noel, Eric Flato, DeAntoinne Beasley and Terrence Durham in recent years and will be working closely with Love, Cahill and the Raiders' physio team.

Behind the scenes, Love is confident that in the next couple of days, the club will be in a position to announce one, if not two new signings. "I hate to think what my phone bill will be!" added Love. "I've talked to a lot of players and agents in the last week, and offered contracts to a couple of new players. We should hear back from them today or tomorrow."

Lithuania gained revenge for their 2008 Paralympic final defeat against China by winning the 2010 World Goalball Championships in Sheffield, England.

The Lithuanians dominated the tournament, not dropping a match throughout the Pool stages and scoring in double-digits almost at will with superb offence.

A 4-2 lead at half time in the final was levelled by China at 4-4 but a 9-1 margin over the rest of the match confirmed Lithuania’s dominance.

China’s women (Pictured above) had no such problems in their gold medal match as they beat the USA 3-1.

The Americans had tied the match with the first shot of the second half, but excellent defence from the Chinese shut their opponents out for the rest of the game.

It gave China retribution for losing to the USA on home soil in the Beijing Paralympics two years ago.

In the other medal matches Iran snatched the third automatic London 2012 Paralympic spot from the USA with a 5-3 win in the men’s bronze medal game.

And Sweden held their nerve in the women’s bronze to win a nailbiting penalty shootout 2-1. They take home bronze medals and also book a 2012 ticket. The match had ended 2-2 after overtime.

The men’s placings from fifth to twelfth were confirmed earlier in the day. Spain beat Sweden 4-2 to finish fifth. Algeria came out on top 6-2 against Brazil to take seventh. Canada ended in ninth with a 5-4 win against Slovenia and Hungary took eleventh after a 5-3 victory over Belgium.

For the women Finland and Japan played out an epic match which ended 0-0 after overtime. Finland eventually won 2-1 in a sudden death penalty shootout, which tested the nerve of all those involved.

Denmark claimed seventh with a 4-0 victory over Australia.

GOTO THE UNOFFICIAL mikeshaft.com PHOTO ALBUM pt 1

GOTO THE UNOFFICIAL mikeshaft.com PHOTO ALBUM pt 2

GO TO THE MANCHESTER DAY PARADE WEBSITE HERE

READ THE REPORT FROM BBC MANCHESTER HERE

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SEE THE BBC MANCHESTER VIDEO HERE

Milton Keynes Lions today announced Mike New will be the club's new Head Coach. New, a graduate of New Mexico State University will enter his sixth year and second spell with the Lions after playing in Milton Keynes during the 2002-03 Basketball season, then returning in 2006.

Lions' Chief Executive and now former Head Coach, Vince Macaulay is ecstatic about the extension of an association with someone whose influence extends far from the basketball court.

"Mike is a model professional" said Macaulay, "He only knows how to give 100% in whatever he does, as Director of the MK College Lions Academy he has already won the British Elite Cup, as Coach of our Under 16's National league side he has won the National Championship twice in the last three seasons"

New retired from playing this past season and was many people's favourite to get the Head Coach's job once Macaulay had indicated he was stepping down.

Macaulay added "Mike knows what we are about as a club, he buys into our systems and has helped in many areas of the club, it was he who knocked down the two free throws that clinched us the BBL Cup in 2008 so he is already a legend with many of our fans"

Lions Chairman, Christine Thompson was also happy with the appointment, "We had many applications for this post but as our club develops it's own identity we were very comfortable with Mike and his inside knowledge gave him an edge".

The Lions will be announcing player signings shortly as the new coaching regime settles in. Season tickets are selling very well especially in the Lions home of Middleton hall in thecentre:mk. Details of Early Bird offers are available online at mklions.com.

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READ PART 2 HERE

ALL TIME CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

Great Britain are the BT Paralympic World Cup champions in the Men’s Wheelchair Basketball, after defeating Canada 53-42 in Sunday’s Gold medal game.

Coach Murray Treseder (PICTURED RIGHT) finally won his first title, as he restored Simon Munn, Jon Pollock, Abdi Jama and Ian Sagar, who had been rested in the final group game against Australia.
 
GB led for all but three minutes of the men's final against Canada.

Jon Pollock’s three baskets from beyond the arc contributed to his game-high 17 points in addition to a sensational 10 assists.

Sagar contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds. Simon Munn was equally impressive under the basket with 10 rebounds and he shared scoring duties with Jama as both grabbed 6 points.
 
For Canada David Eng had 13 points while Richard Peter went for 9 and Adam Lancia chipped in with 8.
 
Said Jon Pollock, “It was a good game. It was great to be in the final with Canada. They are really strong team, even though they were missing some of their strongest players.  “I feel that we are gradually getting better. Today we were much better than two-three weeks ago during trainings. So to win the BT Paralympic World Cup is a big step for us.”
 
2009 champions Australia had to settle for bronze, albeit in emphatic fashion by destroying European champions Italy 65-32.

In the women’s competition Canada beat defending champions the Netherlands 62-46 to win gold and Australia equalled their male counterparts by also taking bronze in their Manchester debut after a 59-24 victory over GB.

In the Women’s Gold medal game, The Netherlands started strong, however, Canada’s Janet McLachlan (PICTURED LEFT) once again proved unstoppable in the paint, on both offence and defence, as her team took the BT Paralympic World Cup title.
 
The former rugby player finished the game with a stat-line of 26pts, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots. McLachlan will undoubtedly be the one to watch at the forthcoming World Championships in Birmingham.
 
McLachlan said, “It was fantastic to win the BT Paralympic World Cup, we hadn’t thought about winning it was just small goals and the process to get better each game.  Winning is the icing on the cake."

In the Bronze medal game Great Britain went down to Australia and so failed to win a single game through-out the tournament.

GB’s Women’s Head Coach Gary Peel admitted that the tournament had been a learning curve for his young team. “Today’s match was a learning experience, we were still aiming to win and what we have learnt today is that we have not played our best. We’ve got a young team here and the young players were very nervous but so were some of the more experience players so we have got to work on that.”
 
He continued “Overall it was a good week, we stamped our authority in the beginning of that game against Australia and the girls don’t want to lose but we did make some mistakes and at the end we just couldn't score, we kept turning the ball over.”

The team’s will all be back in the UK in just six week’s time for the IWBF World Championships, being held in Birmingham.

SEE THE mikeshaft.com 2010 ALL STAR TEAMS HERE

SEE THE mikeshaft.com 2010 PHOTOALBUM HERE

READ ABOUT THE 2008 PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP HERE

READ ABOUT THE 2009 PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP HERE

SEE THE 2009 PHOTO ALBUM HERE