WHILE the Australian cricket team battle the old enemy in England next year, athletics officials plan to start their own Ashes, featuring athletes like Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker (pictured), it was announced today.

ATHLETICS, whose only gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics was Christine Ohuruogu (pictured), has had its funding cut by UK Sport for the 2012 Olympics.

JUDO, which has failed to win a medal at the last two Olympics despite receiving £11 million in public funding, have criticised the decision by UK Sport to award them a raise of only £1.2 million to help them prepare for London 2012.

August 28 - South Africa plans to name a new stadium near her home in Limpopo Province after Caster Semenya (pictured), the controversial world 800 metres champion, it has been announced.

UK ATHLETICS have unveiled a much tougher selection policy which will almost certainly see smaller but more competitive teams chosen for future international championships leading up to London 2012.

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.

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

MALCOLM ARNOLD (pictured), the man who guided Colin Jackson's career, has claimed that British athletics' poor performances can be traced back to the lack of importance attached to coaches in the sport.

OCTOBER 7 - TERRY COLTON, who has overseen a number of successful world-class events in Birmingham, has been appointed as the London 2012 competition manager for athletics, it was announced today.

SPAIN is planning to draw up a new plan for London 2012 after Jose Maria Odriozola (pictured) was overwhelmingly re-elected as president of the national federation despite the country's lack of success at the Olympics in Beijing.

THE future for athletics and swimming is looking bright for London 2012 after encouraging performances over weekend, including another victory for distance runner Stephanie Twell (pictured), officials in both sports said today.

UK ATHLETICS chief executive Niels de Vos (pictured) has today responded to the Dwain Chambers competition row by vowing to restructure UK Athletics’ selection policy.