The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has given an assurance to sports bodies that the government will provide support in securing alternatives to tobacco sponsorship, as the Professional Darts Council announced it had secured a new sponsorship contract with a large brewer.Mr Blair met a number of representatives from snooker, golf, rugby and ice hockey organisations in Downing Street yesterday to explain the government's decision to exempt Formula One from the proposed tobacco advertising ban.The sports bodies were angered by the government's decision to exempt Formula One while they faced finding alternative sponsors to replace the shortfall of up to £30 million a year provided by tobacco sponsorship. A number of tobacco sponsorship deals run until 2001 but the chairman of the Council for Physical Recreation's Spectator Sports division, Mr Maurice Lindsay, denied fighting the government on the principle of the ban, saying: "We are just asking them to understand the system."Fears have also been raised by the sports bodies that the government's proposed three- to four-year phasing-out period of tobacco sponsorship is not enough time in which to find alternative sponsors."It is a very competitive market out there and tobacco sponsorship gives us between £20 million and £30 million a year," Mr Lindsay said.However, the sports bodies appeared satisfied with Mr Blair's promise of help from government and business. Mr Lindsay said he was "very confident that sports bodies would get a just response" from the government. A Downing Street spokesman said the government was "heartened" by Mr Lindsay's response to the meeting.Shortly after the meeting with the prime minister, the Darts Council brought a measure of comfort to the government in the wake of the Formula One affair when it confirmed a new three-year sponsorship deal with the brewers, Carlsberg-Tetley.