Sports News

International superstar all-rounders Moeen Ali and Ellyse Perry will take centre stage this summer after being confirmed as Birmingham Phoenix captains for The Hundred. Ali, born just a few miles away from Edgbaston, will lead his hometown team for a third time, having skippered Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural final in 2021.

Perry meanwhile will captain for the first time in the tournament, replacing Sophie Devine, who will still play for Birmingham Phoenix. Perry has a wealth of experience, captaining Sydney Sixers in the Women’s Big Bash, whilst being a senior figure in the Australia Women’s national team.

The Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship will celebrate its 90th birthday by welcoming the return of crowds to the event, it was announced. The Champions UK (Plc) organised event returns to Nailcote Hall, Berkswell, Coventry, between 8th-11th August.

Spectators will be able to see a host of tour professionals from past and present with the likes of Aaron Rai, Tommy Fleetwood, Peter Baker, and Ian Woosnam OBE gracing the Unique Par-3 course as well as celebrities from the world of screen, stage and sport, at the venue’s renowned 1,048-yard Cromwell Course. Entry to the event is free - and it will be the first time since the pandemic that spectators will be permitted at the Midlands venue - which will be hosting the Championship for the 25th year in a row.

Manchester City celebrated a third successive Premier League title triumph with victory over Chelsea in a relaxed party atmosphere at Etihad Stadium. City were confirmed as champions without even playing after Nottingham Forest's win against Arsenal on Saturday, allowing manager Pep Guardiola to make nine changes from the side that thrashed Real Madrid to reach the Champions League final.

After winning a maiden European indoor title in March, Jazmin Sawyers has confirmed she will compete in the long jump at the London Stadium on Sunday 23 July as athletics returns to the capital city.

Sawyers’ success led the headlines as she won the European title two months ago, the first continental title of her career. In a highly entertaining final, she moved up to the gold medal position with a British indoor record of 7.00m in the penultimate round, leading to joyous scenes in the aftermath. She became only the third British woman to jump over seven metres after Shara Proctor and Lorraine Ugen, and once again showed her credentials as a world-class championship performer.

An unusual duo is winning laurels for India in karate.

Geeta Godara, 60, and her 13-year-old granddaughter Aashka recently won medals in different categories at an international karate competition in Dubai.

Double Olympic shot-put champion and world record holder Ryan Crouser (USA) will be seeking to wow the crowds at the London Stadium this summer as athletics returns to the capital on Sunday 23 July 2023.

Crouser, who won his first world title in Oregon last year, is already a legendary figure in the sport having won Olympic titles in both Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020). The 31-year-old holds the outright world record with a mark of 23.37m which came in Hayward Fields in Eugene back in 2021.

Reigning Olympic and world high jump champion Mutaz Barshim will compete at the London Diamond League on Sunday 23 July, the one-day spectacular marking the return of world class athletics to the London Stadium.

Barshim is the Qatar national record holder with a best of 2.43m, the second-highest jump of all time. Twice an Olympic silver medallist (2012 and 2016), he shared one of the greatest sporting moments ever when he was crowned joint Olympic champion with his long-time friend and rival Gianmarco Tamberi in Tokyo 2021.

Pakistan’s best women cricketers will be in action in the City of Lights, Karachi, from tomorrow (Friday, 19 May), in the Pakistan Cup Women’s Cricket Tournament 2022-23. The tournament has been designed to provide maximum matches to these cricketers and will be played in two iterations – in the first, four sides will play T20 matches on round-robin basis and three teams will play one-day matches on double round-robin basis with the final on 4 June.

The Great Britain and Northern Ireland U20 team has been announced for the Loughborough International which is taking place this Sunday 21 May. 

The European U20 Championships and Commonwealth Youth Games in August will be the target for many of those selected with this weekend’s event an ideal opportunity to gain valuable experience in an international environment. Qualification times will be up for grabs for the World Athletics Championships later this summer so the youngsters will be expecting top level competition with teams from England, Scotland and Wales plus Loughborough University at Sunday’s event.  

Sam Kerr proved to be Chelsea's matchwinner yet again as they wrapped up a third successive Women's FA Cup title with victory over Manchester United in front of a world-record crowd at Wembley Stadium.

Kerr, who has netted six goals in the competition this season, fired in a cross from Pernille Harder and celebrated in front of Chelsea supporters with her trademark backflip. The game had been finely poised until Kerr broke the deadlock despite Manchester United, competing in their first major cup final, being on top for most of the first half.

Hero Cup players Ewen Ferguson, Robert MacIntyre and Victor Perez will return to The Belfry this summer for the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, from June 27-July 2.

The trio will tee it up alongside former World Number One Justin Rose and defending champion Thorbjørn Olesen when the popular event returns to the iconic Brabazon Course, assuming a new summer date for 2023. A sell-out Sunday crowd saw Olesen crowned champion at last year’s tournament, and fans are urged to purchase tickets in advance to avoid disappointment.

Global medallist Dina Asher-Smith will race in the 100m as athletics returns to the London Stadium on Sunday 23 July 2023. The 2019 world 200m champion has produced stellar performances at the London Stadium over the last 11 years, setting a then British record of 10.99 at the 2015 edition of the event.

Since then, the 27-year-old has won a hatful of medals at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships and Commonwealth Games. The two-time Olympic relay bronze medallist will compete at the venue for the first time since 2019 when she finished second from Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Lionel Messi was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year tonight at an inspirational celebration of the best of sport as the prestigious 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards were staged in Paris.

The biggest show in sport was back as a live and in-person event for the first time since 2020 – and every one of the eight Award winners was there to celebrate an extraordinary sporting year. They were joined by the sporting legends of the Laureus World Sports Academy, Laureus Award winners from previous years and some of the world’s greatest athletes at a glittering ceremony at the Pavillon Vendome.

It was announced that the USA’s three-time Olympic medallist and former 100m world champion, Tori Bowie, has died.

The only American woman to win an Olympic or world 100m title since Carmelita Jeter in 2011, she won 4x100m relay gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics, plus 100m silver and 200m bronze. She also won the World Championships 100m in London, as well as relay gold.

Meet Robbo, Hainy, Issy, Olly, and Amiss! Together they form West Midlands Police’s Warwickshire CCC themed puppy litter which was born into the force’s Dog Unit last month.

The latest four-legged crime fighters have been named after Bears’ First Team Coach Mark Robinson (Robbo), Sam Hain, Issy Wong, Olly Hannon-Dalby and Warwickshire Club legend Dennis Amiss. West Midlands Police (WMP) themes its puppy litters with past pups being named after footballers, members of the royal family, and characters from Harry Potter, Star Wars and Stranger Things.

Ding Liren has become China's first men's world chess champion, after defeating Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi. He won a rapid-play tiebreaker after 14 first-stage games at the World Chess Championship in Kazakhstan and succeeds Norway's Magnus Carlsen, the five-time champion who said he was "not motivated" to defend his title.