BRITISH TAEKWONDO is to move its operations from Loughborough to Manchester’s Sportcity (pictured) to help it prepare for the 2012 Olympics, it was announced today. 

WAYNE COYLE today started as the programme manager for British Volleyball on the same day the sport unveiled its new logo looking ahead to the opportunities leading up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

ED WARNER (pictured), the new chairman of UK Athletics, has warned people not to expect too much from his sport at the 2012 Olympics.

UK ATHLETICS today announced that its major domestic track and field meetings will be televised live on the BBC after they signed a £8.4 million six-year deal.

The news comes on the day UK Athletics finalised the details of its 2009 Major Events Series confirming that the flagship Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace has again been ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as a two-day event in 2009, following the success of such a move this year.

UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos said: “The Major Events Series is the shop window for our sport and it is vital that we have a terrestrial TV platform for the series to take athletics to as wide and audience as possible.

"So the extension of our broadcast deal with the BBC is a massive boost and underlines the BBC’s commitment to the premier Olympic and Paralympic sport.

“These are hugely important events for our leading British athletes as well, providing crucial stepping stones to the season’s major championships, and the experience of competing in front of a supportive home crowd and a live TV audience against the best athletes in the world can only help the development of our major medal hopes.”

BBC head of major events, Dave Gordon, said: “We are very pleased to renew our partnership with UK Athletics at this very special and exciting time for British sport. With 2012 on the horizon, these key events will be an important part of the BBC's overall commitment to its audiences to follow Olympic sport not only on television but across all platforms.”

Next year’s programme of live UK Athletics events on the BBC will kick off with the Aviva International match in Glasgow on January 31 and finish with the Aviva British Grand Prix in Gateshead on Bank Holiday Monday, August 31.

The traditional highlight will be the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on July 24 and 25.

This year’s Crystal Palace meeting saw Usain Bolt give a flavour of what he was to achieve at the Beijing Olympics with the fastest 200 metres ever seen in Great Britain.

The Jamaican was to go on to secure triple gold and three world records in China in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

The other events televised by the BBC in 2009 will be the indoor Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham in February and the Aviva World Trials in the same city in July, which act as the main selection meeting for Britain’s team for the World Championships in Berlin.

BRITISH JUDO ASSOCIATION (BJA) chairman Densign White (pictured) has been re-elected as a sports director of the European Judo Union (EJU), at the 60th EJU Congress held in Athens.

JOHN AMAECHI (pictured), a London 2012 ambassador, is set to cause a major stir in the United States next week by becoming the first NBA player to admit publicly he is gay.

SPAIN'S Leandro Negre (pictured) has replaced Els van Breda Vriesman as the new president of the International Hockey Federation (IHF).

ENGLAND'S Martin Gotheridge (pictured) has been appointed as the new president of the European Hockey Federation (EHF).

DENMARK and Germany have both offered to help British Handball keep its preparations for London 2012 on the right track despite its lack of funding.

SEBASTIAN COE, the chairman of London 2012, was on hand today to witness Birmingham City Council and British Gymnastics sign a new deal to raise standards of the sport there.

THE format of the Modern Pentathlon is to be changed for London 2012 after the sport's governing body voted to combine the disciplines of shooting and running into one event.

ALEX GARDINER (pictured) has returned to Athletics Canada to lead the country's track and field team through until the 2012 London Olympics.

BRITISH SHOOTING would not support a site in Barking being used for their sport in 2012, they have warned.

COACHES for the men's and women's British Volleyball programmes for the build-up to London 2012 have been unveiled today by the British Volleyball Federation.

LEEDS bantamweight Nicola Adams (pictured) today moved within one more win of becoming England's first women's world amateur boxing champion just as the sport begins to prepare for its inclusion in the London 2012 Olympics.