Beach Volleyball is most popular sport for ministers

He said top sponsors could buy up to 13,500 tickets, but the Government had not taken up its full allocation, purchasing instead just 8,800 at a cost of £750,000.

Around 3,300 will be used for dignitaries, 2,000 will be given to local authorities while more than 2,000 are expected to be sold to staff involved with the Games.

Beach volleyball, which will be played at Horse Guards Parade, in the heart of Whitehall, became one of the fastest events to sell out at the Games.

Many put the sport’s popularity down to the athlete’s regulation attire, which sees women wearing closely fitted tops and tiny briefs and men in vests and shorts.

Smiles were raised at the Culture Media and Sport select committee when Mr Sutcliffe asked: “Can you explain why there seems to be a strong interest in beach volleyball among ministers and civil servants?”

Mr Stephens responded: “When purchasing tickets for staff to purchase we thought they were most likely going to be able to go at the weekend or on Fridays.”

In the Beijing Olympics four years ago the Americans won the gold medal in both the men’s and women’s event.

London 2012 Olympics: Beach Volleyball is most popular sport for ministers

He said top sponsors could buy up to 13,500 tickets, but the Government had not taken up its full allocation, purchasing instead just 8,800 at a cost of £750,000.

Around 3,300 will be used for dignitaries, 2,000 will be given to local authorities while more than 2,000 are expected to be sold to staff involved with the Games.

Beach volleyball, which will be played at Horse Guards Parade, in the heart of Whitehall, became one of the fastest events to sell out at the Games.

Many put the sport’s popularity down to the athlete’s regulation attire, which sees women wearing closely fitted tops and tiny briefs and men in vests and shorts.

Smiles were raised at the Culture Media and Sport select committee when Mr Sutcliffe asked: “Can you explain why there seems to be a strong interest in beach volleyball among ministers and civil servants?”

Mr Stephens responded: “When purchasing tickets for staff to purchase we thought they were most likely going to be able to go at the weekend or on Fridays.”

In the Beijing Olympics four years ago the Americans won the gold medal in both the men’s and women’s event.

London 2012 Olympics: Great Britain basketball star Luol Deng's place at Games in jeopardy after wrist injury

Deng missed Britain's first ever appearance in a European Championships back in 2009 after failing to overcome a stress fracture in his right tibia suffered while playing for the Bulls.

His decision to put off surgery and play through the problem raises questions over whether he will be fit for the Olympics in London.

However, Deng, who suffered a similar injury to his right wrist during the 2004-05 NBA season, ultimately having surgery before the end of the season, is optimistic after consulting the doctors who treated him then.

"It could always be worse. Injuries happen," Deng said.

"And this happened in the fourth quarter of a game. But it is what is. It's just: 'What do we do from here.'

"I'm very confident that I'll be fine. It's sore, but the soreness is going down a lot in two days. So every day [I'll] keep treating it and see if I can get rid of the soreness and just try to be back there as soon as possible."

Deng's injury is the latest setback for GB who are sweating over the fitness of Eric Boateng, Joel Freeland and Nate Reinking.

Performance director Chris Spice admitted that the action in the NBA, in which Deng is logging a career high 38.3 minutes per game, has been "absolutely ferocious" this season.

He added: "The workload on key players and the increased injury risk on players has become quite an issue, certainly the Bulls have been badly hit. There is very little we can do, the lock out has determined that there be this short highly compressed season."

London 2012 Olympics: Jessica Ennis stars in British Airways in-flight 'wellbeing' video

The heptathlete, who won silver at the 2011 World Athletics Championships, is the star of British Airways's new in-flight "wellbeing" movie, alongside gymnast Louis Smith and Paralympian Shelly Woods.

The video features Ennis clearing hurdles, Smith completing a routine on a pommell horse and Woods hurtling down an athletics track in her wheelchair.

While it is unclear whether these facilities will be available for passengers onboard British Airways flights this year, the three athletes also perform some exercises which can be done from the comfort of your own chair.

Luisa Fernandez, British Airways sponsorship manager, said: “We’re proud to be using some of our Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls in this wellbeing video. With their sporting backgrounds they are perfectly placed to share their exercise techniques to enhance the in-flight experience.

“As official airline of Team GB and ParalympicsGB, we will be flying athletes to and from training camps in the coming months, so they will benefit from the wellbeing video too.”

_{Jessica Ennis performs a "wellbeing" exercise. (Hurdles not pictured)}

London 2012 Olympics: West Ham United 'will not submit formal bid' for Olympic Stadium by deadline

According to reports in the Times (£), West Ham are cold on the idea of wasting more money on another bid without there being more clarity, while they are also concerned about starting the process to sell their current home Upton Park unless they know for certain they are moving to the Olympic Stadium.

West Ham are thought to have spent nearly £1 million on the process of their first bid.

They are not the only London football club who are considering their options.

Leyton Orient are full participants in the “expressions of interest” phase, and are considering what kind of offer they might be able to make to the increasingly anxious OPLC

An issue for both football clubs is that the OPLC will retain the power to force tenants to share with each other.

The “pairing” system means that tenants have no choice about who they share with, meaning that the OPLC could impose a rugby club in a ground-share with West Ham, or pursue sharing between West Ham and Orient.

That would present a bigger problem to West Ham than to Leyton Orient.

London 2012 Olympics: spectator capacity at Box Hill for road cycling race to be increased to 15,000

"Spectators will have a unique viewing position on the route, there is another 120km of route which is free to spectators, including some great points through London and The Royal Parks.”

British Cycling welcomed the decision, saying it had resulted in a "much more satisfactory situation". President Brian Cookson said: "Following the test event, both myself and UCI President Pat McQuaid made our views about the unsatisfactory arrangements on Box Hill clear to Locog.

"Both before and since that time, there has been considerable input from the technical representatives of both bodies into the planning process, and I am pleased that this, together with the public and media pressure, has now resulted in a much more satisfactory situation for cycling fans than had originally been the case."

The Zig-Zag Road is widely regarded as the best place to watch because the cyclists will be passing by more slowly than elsewhere on the 250km route.

Last year world champion Mark Cavendish called for a petition to be launched over the plans to offer only a few thousand fans a chance to watch the action.

“You can’t get on the Mall, you can’t get on Box Hill, which are the two key areas of the race," he said. Everywhere else you will be able to watch it but the two key areas of the race I think it might be quite difficult to see.

“Maybe we can get some petition or something so that people can come and watch the road race.”

Work begins on Jan 30 and the Zig-Zag road will be closed for a week. Strips of land on both sides of the road will be trimmed and occasional "bridges" of overhanging trees will be left in place to allow woodland creatures to cross.

In March BT will lay a fibre optic cable at the top of Box Hill to improve communications during Games-time. This will also provide high-speed broadband capabilities to the area in the future. By April the National Trust will resurface the road.

The final capacity of the spectator areas will be confirmed when the work is completed and a health and safety report is carried out.

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London 2012 Paralympics: table tennis squad named by ParalympicsGB

UK Sport chief executive, Liz Nicholl, said: “UK Sport is proud to have backed these athletes and their support team with over £1.6 million of National Lottery, Exchequer and Team 2012 funding over the current cycle. This funding is having a very positive impact on the sport, as reflected at this year’s European Championships where the team brought home an impressive six medals.

“The sport has bounced back from their disappointment in Beijing and are thriving under the leadership of Gorazd Vecko and his team. Following the fantastic performance by the team at last year’s British Open in Sheffield, I’m sure they will shine once again in front of a home crowd at the Games this year.”

The full list of players is:

Men Class 1
Rob Davies
Paul Davies

Men Class 6
David Wetherill

Men Class 7
Will Bayley
Paul Karabardak

Men Class 8
Ross Wilson

Men Class 10
Kim Daybell

Women Class 3
Sara Head
Jane Campbell

Women Class 4
Sue Gilroy MBE