Football at London 2012: Egypt withdraw as tournament hosts

Egypt have cancelled plans to host the inaugural African Under-23 Championship due to security concerns, just six weeks before the tournament is due to begin.

The competition is designed to decide the continent's representatives at next year's London Olympics but the clash of dates with planned Parliamentary elections on November 28 have sparked safety fears.

Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and former Olympic gold medal winners Nigeria are the nations in contention for places at London 2012.

The top three finishers will secure a place at the men's football tournament at the Games, with the fourth-placed side playing off against an Asian country for potential qualification.

The Confederation of African Football's Heba Abdallah said: "We received an official letter from the Egyptian federation, and it has been a day only, so nothing has been confirmed on the new hosts for the tournament.

"Nigeria and Algeria were initially interested in hosting the tournament, and as it stands, we don't know if they are still interested in hosting at short notice. We will be waiting for a reply from both countries. At the moment, we are hoping so."

NBA pre-season cancelled

The NBA cancelled the remainder of pre-season games on Tuesday and will wipe out the first two weeks of the regular season if there is no labour agreement by Monday.

Four weeks before the scheduled November 1 start of the 2011-2012 campaign, the latest negotiations broke off between NBA players and club owners on Tuesday with all 114 pre-season games wiped out.

NBA Commissioner David Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver made the announcement after owners and players met for about four hours but came no closer to ending the lockout.

Bargaining committees failed in a last-ditch bid to solve a shutdown over financial issues that have lasted for 96 days, since owners locked out players after a prior deal ended July 1.

"By Monday we will have no choice but to cancel the first two weeks of the season," Stern said.

NBA owners had previously called off pre-season training camps and wiped out 43 pre-season games through to October 15.

With Tuesday bringing two more lost weeks of exhibitions, Stern estimated the NBA has already lost $US200 million ($A210 million).

"We're looking down the barrel of losing regular-season games," Stern said. "There's an extraordinary hit coming to the owners and the players."

Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA players association, said talks might not resume for a month or two.

If true, it would most likely mean no NBA games until next year at the earliest, he said.

What will be gone by Monday, if Stern makes good on his threat and talks do not make a surprise resumption, are the first two weeks of the NBA season, the first games lost to a financial dispute since the 1998-99 NBA season.

Stern said talks collapsed after players showed no interest in a possible 50-50 split of basketball-related revenues. Players had received 57 per cent of such income in the previous contract.

Owners wanted a hard salary cap rather than the current exemption-filled system and a greater share of revenues from what last season was a $US3.8 billion ($A4billion) business.

They claim losses of $US300 million ($A315 million) last season, saying only eight of 30 teams made a profit.

London 2012 athletics track inaugurated

The athletics track at London's Olympic Stadium, which will host next year's games, was inaugurated on Monday.

The red synthetic rubber track, made by an Italian firm, was tested by several athletes including middle-distance runner Hannah England, who won a 1500m silver medal at the recent world championships.

"It's a great moment," said organising committee president Sebastian Coe, himself a former elite middle-distance runner.

"The Olympic Stadium is starting to take shape and people now have a glimpse of how it will look in less than 10 months."

The 80,000-capacity stadium, situated in London's East End, is expected to have cost £486 million ($753m) to build when completed.

It will host the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2012 Games, on July 27 and August 12.