Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane has said he is taking inspiration from Leicester City's 2016 Premier League success as he leads the Egyptian side at the Fifa Club World Cup. The nine-time African champions face local Qatari champions Al Duhail today in Doha. The prize for the winners is a semi-final game against European champions Bayern Munich.

"The level is the highest that it could possibly be and it's very difficult to win, but what's important is to go there and play to the best of our abilities," the South African coach insisted. We want] everyone to see that we've done the best against the best teams in the world so there's nothing bigger for me and Al Ahly.

"Any coach that goes to any tournament believes that he can win it, but the reality is how do you beat Bayern Munich - who have just defeated the mighty Barcelona 8-2 on aggregate with Lionel Messi on the pitch? But anything is possible - Leicester City has showed you that anything is possible." The global coronavirus pandemic means stadiums at the delayed tournament in Qatar will only be at 30% capacity.

Al Ahly board member Khaled Mortagy says his side is missing out on what could have been fantastic support had fans been allowed to attend matches. "There are a lot of Egyptians living here, which was obvious from the way we were welcomed at the airport by our fans wearing the red jerseys and cheering our club," he said.

"It made our players look into how they make these people happy. I believe if it was in normal circumstances, the stadium would have been full with Al Ahly supporters, so it's a pity, but we have to comply with the regulations in this extraordinary time. The focus is to win the first game and then take it from there I don't think anyone is looking at anything else. We are playing against a very good team - they have got 5 or 6 international players - so we have to take it step-by-step." Al Duhail's squad includes two African stars in Kenya striker Michael Olunga and Morocco's Mehdi Benatia, who joined the Qatari club from Italian giants Juventus.

"It is a match that everyone is waiting for with lots of quality players," said Benatia. "I know Egyptian teams - they have high quality players and I know they will be a tough opponent with their combative style and it will be a match of high level. But we have good quality and are in a good form ourselves. We work well so I think we have the ability to cause them problems."

Mortagy says that Mosimane has settled in well at Al Ahly since taking over in September, when one of his first tasks was to win the African Champions League. A convincing 5-1 aggregate win over Morocco's Wydad Casablanca in the semi-finals was followed by a 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Zamalek in the final.

"He is a great coach and a world-class coach too, and he has adapted very well to our club," Mortagy explained. "The aim of bringing him - especially during the semi-final and final of the African Championship - was to have someone who has the experience and who knows the opposition player.

"He is beloved by the players, works very hard and at the same time he thinks with a long-term strategy and wants to make something for the future. He has the spirit of the club, he knows exactly the values of the club and at the same time, being Al Ahly coach is a great value for him - he wants to leave a legacy for himself at the club."

This will be Al Ahly's sixth appearance at the Club World Cup but their first since 2013, and they'll be looking to improve on their best finish in 2006 when they finished third. While today's winners face Bayern Munich, the losers will play in the fifth-place game. That play-off will be against the losers of the other quarter-final between North and Central American champions UANL of Mexico and Asian champions Ulsan Hyundai of South Korea.

Tokyo Olympics organisers say they are not willing to see the event held behind closed doors - and that the Games "will take place this summer". International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said on 7 January there could be no guarantees of the postponed 2020 Games going ahead from 23 July. But a spokesman says it could even happen without the need for athletes or spectators to be vaccinated.

"Our position remains - we will deliver the Games," Masa Takaya said. "The IOC has made it is absolutely on the same page as Tokyo 2020." Sir Keith Mills, who was chief executive of the London 2012 Olympics, said he thought it was "unlikely "the Games will take place this summer. He reported that organisers should now be "making plans for a cancellation".

British Olympic Association chair and former sport minister Sir Hugh Robertson said he was "very optimistic" the Games would take place. "I've spoken to the IOC - everybody is working on the basis the Games will go ahead," he said. "There's been no talk of cancellation or postponement."

On whether athletes will be vaccinated for the Olympics, he added: "It wouldn't be appropriate to ask athletes to be fast-tracked. The BOA doesn't want to queue jump, but this will look very different in the spring." Takaya said that a decision on how many fans will be allowed inside venues in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic will be taken in March.

"We are not willing to see the Games taking place behind closed doors," he said. "We obviously want to see as many spectators as possible inside the venues, which is why we have been working tightly with the Japanese government and all international stakeholders, spearheaded by the IOC.

"We will see in spring how we can accommodate spectators inside the venues. We also have to see what guidance we get from the government regarding spectators and look at the situation around sports, both internationally and nationally." Takaya also dismissed a recent survey which suggested 80% of locals want the Games cancelled or postponed, saying that it was just one of a number of such polls.

"Most recent surveys show people want the Games to be re-postponed, but in that trend we see that people are willing to see the Games go ahead in some form, which is why we want to keep conveying how we are able organise the Games in this situation," he said.

Takaya said the Olympics could be delivered without mass vaccination, pointing out that "lots of sporting events are taking place in Japan" without one.

Japanese tennis players Shingo Kunieda, who lives in Tokyo, said that he thinks there's a 50% chance the Games don't go ahead now. "Globally, the situation is getting worse in some places rather than better, so all we can do is hope they find a way to make it happen safely."

Madagascar's Ahmad Ahmad has been dramatically restored as Confederation of African Football (Caf) president following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). He was banned by Fifa in November for five years after football's world governing body found him to have breached several of its ethics codes.

Ahmad is still ineligible to contest Caf's presidential elections in March however, since the Cas decision came after both Caf's Governance and Fifa's Review committees sat earlier this week to approve candidates' eligibility. The Malagasy - who will now resume his role as a Fifa vice-president - is appealing his ban at Cas, which issued a preliminary ruling.

Sport's highest legal body says it will hear the appeal in full on March 2, with a decision issued before the Caf presidential elections on March 12. "Due to a risk of irreparable harm for Mr Ahmad if the disciplinary sanction is maintained during the period prior to the Caf elections, the Cas panel has upheld the request to temporarily stay the effects of the Fifa ban," Cas said in a statement. This effective suspension of the Fifa ruling will be in place 'until the day that the final Cas award is issued'.

Since he was banned when Fifa met, followed by the Caf meeting to vet presidential aspirants, Ahmad was deemed ineligible. He will now need to overturn the decisions ruling him ineligible to run, since his appeal at Cas is not against the decision barring him from contesting the elections but against his Fifa ban. Should Cas uphold Fifa's ban when its hearing takes place in early March, Ahmad will be ruled out of the race once and for all. Yet if he can overturn both his ineligibility and his Fifa sanction, a man who was proclaiming the backing of 46 federations, out of 54, shortly before his ban will have the chance to secure an unlikely comeback.

As of this week, four candidates were cleared to run for the Caf elections in Morocco on March 12: Jacques Anouma (Ivory Coast), Patrice Motsepe (South Africa), Augustin Senghor (Senegal) and Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania). Ahmad's stay of execution is uncommon, says a sports lawyer with working knowledge of the Switzerland-based Cas.

Paolo Torchetti of Ruiz-Huerta & Crespo Sport Lawyers said: "The Cas rarely issues a preliminary decision suspending the effects of a sanction to ban someone from football."

Fifa adjudged Ahmad, who took charge of Caf in 2017, to have broken ethics rules relating to duty of loyalty, the offering and accepting gifts, abuse of position and misappropriation of funds. These were primarily related to a decision to approve deals totalling $4.4m with a French company run by a close friend of Ahmad's then attaché and the financing of a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia for Africa's Muslim FA presidents.

US gymnast Nia Dennis's routine celebrating "Black excellence" has gone viral, with millions of views on social media after the floor routine by the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) athlete incorporated songs by artists including Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Missy Elliott. She said Black Lives Matter protests inspired the performance, which saw her kneel with her fist in the air.

"I had to... for the culture," the 21-year-old wrote on Instagram. The routine wowed the judges and earned her praise from celebrities, fellow athletes and fans. A video shared by UCLA Gymnastics was viewed more than nine million times. She said that she wanted the routine to "be a celebration of everything (lack people can do, everything we can overcome".

Of the performance she said: "The subject of Black Lives Matter is so heavy. It is difficult for people to talk about - and sometimes you have to meet people where they're at, with a celebration.

"Every single song is a major Black artist, musician, from different time periods. They had a huge impact on Black culture, which has also had a huge impact on me. So I'm just literally celebrating what they've done and having the time of my life."

Sporting stars across the world are still taking the knee in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer knelt on his neck.

In 1965, civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr. took a knee during a march in Selma, in Alabama. NFL star Colin Kaepernick started kneeling symbolically during the pre-game national anthem in 2016, in protest at oppression of African-Americans in the US.

Multi-award winning Miss Dennis said she was not able to attend the Black Lives Matter protests last summer because she was recovering from shoulder surgery but was "definitely out there in spirit". The judges awarded her a score of 9.95 out of 10 for the performance on Saturday, helping her team to victory against Arizona State.

US rapper Missy Elliott was among those to show her approval, sharing the video on social media and tweeting: "Snappin". Former US First Lady Michelle Obama wrote: "Now that's what I call fierce! You're a star."

It is the second time Nia Dennis has gone viral for her gymnastics. Last year, she made headlines for a routine set to a medley of Beyoncé songs.

The eSkootr Championship (eSC) is proud to announce that it has established a media partnership with Micromobility Industries.

Micromobility Industries, which is helmed by industry analyst Horace Dediu, is one of the sector’s most respected and established thought-leaders, acting as both an advocate and accelerant for new mobility technologies and solutions. The partnership kicked off with eSC’s participation at Micromobility World – a digital gathering bringing together leading figures from across the industry. Sustainability Ambassador Lucas di Grassi and CEO Hrag Sarkissian were both involved in discussion panels during the three-day conference.

Hrag Sarkissian, CEO of eSkootr Championship, said: “As we finalise our prototype test programme and prepare for races in 2021, we’re delighted to be working together with Micromobility Industries. It’s a perfectly aligned partnership: we’re both committed to the development and growth of transformative mobility solutions, and we both want to engage the hearts and minds of people across the world.

“Together, we have a number of exciting initiatives planned through the year – and we’re looking forward to revealing more very soon.”

Micromobility Industries co-founder, Horace Dediu, add: “We’ve watched the development of the eSkootr Championship, and we’re fascinated by its premise, its originality and its massive potential.

“We truly believe that micromobility sports will open up exciting new possibilities for the growth of the sector and we’re looking forward to collaborating together. We have some truly ground-breaking and exciting ideas and surprises in store throughout 2021.”

Former Aston Villa and Celtic manager, Dr Jozef Venglos, has died. The first manager from outside Britain or Ireland to take charge of a top-flight English team, the Slovakian made history when he was appointed at Aston Villa in 1990.

Lasting only one season at the Birmingham club he was replaced by Ron Atkinson after Villa finished 17th in the league. He also served a single-season stint with Celtic in 1998-99, which included a memorable 5-1 derby win over Rangers but no trophies.

Dr Venglos was the assistant coach when Czechoslovakia won the European Championship in 1976 and had two spells as manager, taking them to third place at the 1980 European Championship and the quarter-finals at the 1990 World Cup.

He was later Slovakia's first national team boss after it gained independence in 1993.

In a long career he also served as national team manager for Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Malaysia and Oman and took charge of Fenerbahce and Sporting Lisbon.

Holding a doctorate in Physical Education and also specialised in Psychology he had been selected by FIFA on various occasions to lecture at the FIFA academies throughout the world.

Leading a host of worm tributes, former Villa striker Stan Collymore tweeting: "Sad news that Dr Jo Venglos has passed away.

"First ever foreign manager to manage in the English top flight with Villa, didn't last long but always came across as a decent man. Rest in peace, Dr Jo."

He was 84.