A statement from Team 2012 today said: "The Team 2012 joint venture, including Visa as its presenting partner, has had a contract with the News International Group as its official media partner.

"As a result of the closure of News of the World the contract can no longer be fulfilled as originally envisaged."

News International is currently at the centre of a phone-hacking scandal that has dominated the nation's media and led to the sensational closure of its Sunday title The News of the World, bringing its 168-year history to an end.

This latest announcement, as first predicted by insidethegames yesterday, sees the firm's existing British newspapers - The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times - lose their title of "Official Newspaper of Team 2012".

"All parties in the joint venture remain totally committed to Team 2012 and are working to make sure that we continue to give the 1200+ athletes from Team 2012 Visa the best chance of achieving success by competing for Team GB and Paralympics GB at London 2012," the statement continued.

"To help drive national support for Team 2012 we are now exploring media partnerships across a range of channels."

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