Sports News

The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan and Britain’s Eilish McColgan will go head-to-head in an intriguing women’s 5000m at the London Athletics Meet on Sunday 23 July. Double Olympic gold medallist – and recent TCS London Marathon champion – Hassan returns to the track after her fine form on the roads to set up an exciting 5000m contest at the London Stadium.

She has been one of the most successful endurance athletes in the sport’s history, winning global medals in distances ranging from 1500m up to 10,000m, with her triple medal-winning display at the Tokyo 2020 Games [gold in the 5000m and 10,000m, and bronze in the 1500m] further cementing her place in the athletics hall of fame. Her recent success on the roads, with a superb and popular win at the London Marathon in April, further showed her versatility across the distances.

Warwickshire Cricket is celebrating Pride Month by organising the country’s first ever national LGBTQ+ cricket tournament. Teams representing five professional county clubs – Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Middlesex and Northamptonshire – will compete in a round-robin event at Sutton Coldfield CC on Sunday (11 June).

There are only two LGBTQ+ cricket clubs in the UK – including Lapworth-based Birmingham Unicorns – and it’s hoped the inaugural competition will encourage participation across the Network. Warwickshire and the Unicorns have developed a strong partnership since the side formed in 2020 and squad members have benefitted from coaching sessions at Edgbaston’s indoor centre from Bears’ staff and players.

The British Basketball League (BBL) have announced the appointment of Elliot Stein as the League’s new Commercial Director. He joins the BBL with exceptional experience within the sports business sector, having most recently held the position of Director of Business Development at B+A. During this time he cultivated relationships with clients such as Nike, Pinterest, Foot Locker, Ubisoft, Meta and many more, where Stein was intrinsic in generating new business and increasing revenue.

Spanish sporting sensation Marc Márquez, is a self-described natural competitor. In the past 10 years, he has won 59 MotoGP races, and claimed six titles in the premier class. Before that came 26 wins in the feeder 125cc (now Moto3) and Moto2 classes, resulting in a world championship title in each. His limitless appetite for competition was an unstoppable force, until an injury in the first race of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship series threatened to end his career at its peak. “Since I was a kid, it was never enough,” said Márquez.

Young footballers are kicking their half term holiday into touch to lead a green energy project which is building their own employability skills while future-proofing their community club. The 15 teenagers are spending their school holidays working on engineering solutions to tackle their club’s sustainability challenges thanks to an innovative collaboration.

The youngsters, aged 12-14, are building wind turbines and solar panels, and looking at irrigation options as part of investigating what solutions will work best for their club. The ‘Greener than Green’ project at Cleator Moor Celtic Football Club in Cumbria has been made possible by a range of diverse businesses, from one-person start-ups to major multinationals, collaborating with the community to help give the young people skills which will help them find future employment.

Some of the DP World Tour’s brightest young talents are set for the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, which returns to The Belfry from June 27–July 2. Rasmus Højgaard, Adrian Meronk and Min Woo Lee already boast eight DP World Tour titles between them, and will all tee it up at the Sutton Coldfield venue next month.

Fans are urged to purchase their tickets in advance with more than 50,000 spectators lining the fairways during the 2022 edition of the popular tournament, including a sold-out 15,000 crowd on Sunday.

Manchester City remain on course for the Treble after Ilkay Gundogan scored twice to give them victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Having already won the Premier League title, City now go into next Saturday's Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul with the opportunity to emulate United's feat of 1999. And City captain Gundogan was the big game match-winner again, assuring his place in history with the quickest goal in FA Cup final history, a stunning volley after only 12 seconds eclipsing Louis Saha's strike for Everton after 25 seconds against Chelsea in 2009.

The Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France has been announced by UK Athletics.

Reigning Paralympic champions Jonathan Broom-Edwards, Hannah Cockroft, Aled Davies, Sophie Hahn, Owen Miller, Dan Pembroke and Thomas Young will all compete at the Charlety Stadium next month. Nine athletes receive their maiden call-ups to a GB & NI senior team including Funmi Oduwaiye in the women’s F64 Shot Put and Discus, Commonwealth Games champion Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker in the T47 100m & 4x100m Universal Relay, and Kevin Santos - who won the UK Athletics Indoor Championships 60m title earlier this year – also in the T47 100m.

Faith Kipyegon set a new 1500m world record in the Florence Diamond League meeting, with the Kenyan champion streaked clear to win in 3 minutes 49.11 seconds, breaking the 3:50 barrier for the first time. Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba set the previous record of 3:50.07 in 2015.

Kipyegon has won both world and Olympic gold on two occasions, but this is the first time she has broken the world record. She now holds the first and third fastest times in history, running her previous best of 3:50.37 last August.

The Premier League is producing more goals than ever. The trend continued in 2022-23, and Premier League sides scored goals at a record rate. According to the figures gathered by SafeBettingSites.com, every PL game witnessed 2.85 goals on average, the best in league history, in the 2022-23 season. Overall, 1084 goals were scored during the 22-23 PL season.

A comparison of Premier League seasons with the best and the worst goalscoring rate reveals a pattern. The three seasons with the best goalscoring rates have happened in the last five years, and no season before 2011-12 features among the top five seasons.

The 2023 FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United takes place at Wembley today - the first all-Manchester final in the competition's history, with near 90,000 crowd expected at Wembley despite more national train strikes leaving tens of thousands of fans having to make alternative plans to travel to London.

Pep Guardiola's City, who have already won the Premier League and face Inter Milan in the Champions League final on 10 June, need a victory to stay on course for a remarkable Treble.

Global golf stars are lining up to take on the ‘Toon’ at the acclaimed Close House in Newcastle for the US$2 million International Series England from August 17-20.

Lee Westwood, the former world number one with 44 career victories – including eight on the Asian Tour – spearheads a cohort of 10 LIV golfers set to wow the crowds over the Colt Course, situated just a few miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Despite being born and raised in Worksop, and an ardent Nottingham Forest FC fan, ‘Westy’ moved to the region a number of years ago and struck up a long-standing partnership with Close House as its attached tour professional.

Multi global medallist Femke Bol will race in the women’s 400m Hurdles at the London Athletics Meet on Sunday 23 July. The Dutch athlete has been one of the leading super stars of the sport in recent times, winning 400m hurdles bronze at the Tokyo Olympic Games, before achieving double silver at the World Championships in Oregon, followed by a hattrick of gold medals at the European Championships in 2022.

World champion Jake Wightman and double 2022 European champion, Matthew Hudson-Smith will compete at the London Stadium on Sunday 23 July 2023.

Wightman will be targeting a strong performance in London ahead of his title defence at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest this summer when he takes on the 1500m.

The Edinburgh AC athlete captured world gold in Oregon last year, and after missing the indoor season due to injury, he will be back with a bang at the biggest one-day athletics spectacular of the year on the 23 July.

Racquets for children are hardly new, but until now, most of them have been simply smaller versions of a full-sized model. Thanks to Babolat's pioneering work with scientists, coaches and behavioural experts in France and America, the Lyon-based company has now brought out a whole range of racquets conceived, designed and developed with the specific needs of 4-12 year-olds in mind.

The popular Bears Roadshow returns in the coming weeks as Warwickshire takes the Club into the community for friendly matches against local league sides.

Bears men’s squad will be travelling to Kenilworth Wardens CC on Monday 5 June to take on a Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League Select XI. And on Tuesday 1 August they’ll face a side featuring top performing Warwickshire County Cricket League players at Sutton Coldfield CC.