Sponsorship: Team Russia out of Volvo Ocean Race

When the Volvo Ocean Race restarts tomorrow, there wil be one team less. As other teams sped or limped into Singapore in the days before Christmas, Team Russia came in second last - to find a fax from the team bosses saying that the adventure was over - at least for now.

The third leg of the race was tough for all the crews and boats suffered damage. The first boat out of the workshops was Puma earlier this week.

But Team Russia sits forlorn, its team having flown home as soon as the news broke.

Oleg Zherebtsov, the Team principal said “until now, I have financed the team with my own money, in advance of anticipated sponsorship funding. By this stage in the Volvo campaign we had intended to find sponsorship, but this process has been [affected] by the global economic situation.”

Team Russia is therefore unable to continue its partnership with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). The team was proud to “Sail For The Whale”, during the first three legs of the Volvo Ocean Race and was instrumental in spreading the call for safe habitats for whales and dolphins around the globe, it said in a statement.

One of the team said that the shortfall was "between one and two million euros." In international sporting terms, that's peanuts - but in the current economic climate even peanuts are hard to come by.

The team has not formally withdrawn from the race: it has suspended its entry for the next two legs and hopes to raise enough money to rejoin the race later.

That is important for the team as the for the first time the race will end in St Petersburg, Russia.

But it is not only Team Russia that have potential money problems: one of the sponsors of the event is Waterford which called in the administrators earlier this week. That, however, is unlikely to affect the running of the race: Waterford Crystal has made the trophy which is believed to have been delivered before the company's financial crisis.