Sports News

Olympic 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir (GBR) will target the 1000m world indoor record at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting – at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Saturday 19 February.

Muir, the 2018 world indoor 1500m silver medallist, is the European indoor 1000m record holder having clocked 2:31.93 in Birmingham in 2017. The current world record is held by Maria Mutola (MOZ), the Olympic 800m champion in Sydney 2000, who ran 2:30.94 in Stockholm in 1999.

Former Wimbledon doubles champion Sania Mirza has announced that she will be retiring from tennis after 2022. She made her decision after her first-round loss in the women's doubles in the Australian Open.

One of India's most celebrated sports stars, she told reporters: "I've decided that this will be my last season. I'm taking it week by week. Not sure if I can last the season, but I want to."

With its Engstler racing team, the German motor oil and additive manufacturer become one of the main Honda customer team in the WTCR and TCR Germany. 

In the new season, LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler will be driving Honda Civic Type R TCR vehicles in the WTCR and TCR Germany. Peter Baumann, Marketing Director at the lubricant specialist, is optimistic about the newly agreed cooperation: “We are very excited to be part of the global Honda motorsports program starting next season.

Andrew Pozzi (GBR) and Grant Holloway (USA), the reigning world indoor champion and world record-holder over 60m hurdles respectively, will line up at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting – at the Utilita Arena on 19 February.

Pozzi, who won the global 60m hurdles title in Birmingham in 2018, finished seventh in the 110m hurdles at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

World No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas has said that Novak Djokovic is playing by his own rules and has made vaccinated tennis players look like fools. Record nine-time winner and top seed Djokovic, 34, remains in the Australian Open draw as the decision over whether the defending champion can stay in the country drags on.

"For sure, he's been playing by his own rules and has been doing what not many players had the guts to do," Greece's Tsitsipas told India's said. "Especially after the ATP announced certain criteria for players to enter the country."

Beijing says that it is adopting all necessary coronavirus safety measures for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which start next month.

So what is being planned for the Games, and how successful has China's policy of "zero Covid" been? China is going to great lengths to keep the virus out.

Hosts Cameroon came from behind to defeat Burkina Faso 2-1 in the opening match of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations match at the Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé on Sunday.

The match was a competitive and, at times, tense affair against the backdrop of Burkina Faso’s threat to boycott the game due to what they alleged as irregularities in the COVID-19 test results of their players and staff.

Sport Relief has today been announced as an official charity partner of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, marking an exciting new future for the brand. Through the partnership, there will be a host of public and high-profile events and activities planned in the run-up to the highly anticipated international sporting event taking place in Birmingham, this summer.

Faithful to its tradition, the Excelencias Group will be handing out the 2021 Excelencias Awards within the framework of the Madrid International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2022, on Jan. 19, at 5:00 a.m.

Madrid time, Spain, on the very same day of the opening of Spain's premier tourism event. The awards ceremony will be held at the South Auditorium of the IFEMA fairgrounds.

With the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations set to kick off in Cameroon, football fans are going to miss some great names as well as discover some debutants in the competition.

Nigeria is missing Victor Osimhen and Emmanuel Dennis. Besides, Cyprus-based Abdullahi Shehu, and Scotland's Rangers' Leon Balogun, were also ruled out of the country's squad heading to the 2021 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.

World number one Novak Djokovic will defend his Australian Open title later this month after receiving a medical exemption from having a Covid-19 vaccination. All players and staff at the tournament must be vaccinated or have an exemption granted by an expert independent panel.

Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open winner, has not spoken publicly about his vaccination status. The tournament begins in Melbourne on 17 January.

Happy new year! 2022 is the year of the Games. Don’t miss out on your chance to secure your tickets. Everyone wants a piece of the action, and Perry can’t wait to see you there.

The University of Birmingham have launch five new major studies aimed at improving the prevention, treatment and management of type 1 diabetes – with a particular focus on children and young adults.

The new studies include:

·         The ELSA Study: Led by Professor Parth Narendran, the ELSA Study (EarLy Surveillance for Autoimmune diabetes) will see researchers interviewing families, doctors, nurses and schools, to determine if, and how, the UK should develop a testing and monitoring programme that will identify children at risk of type 1 diabetes.

Leicester Riders booked their place in January’s BBL Cup final after a thrilling contest with London Lions, whilst fellow finalists Manchester Giants secured the season sweep over local rivals Cheshire Phoenix.

After an incredible first leg that saw an inspired London comeback, there were only three points between the two sides going into Thursday’s showdown, and the Riders started the game the brighter of the two sides.

Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chair of the Dubai Sports Council, welcomed the world’s leading football personalities to the 16th session of the Dubai International Sports Conference, which took place alongside the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards.

Organised under the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives by Dubai Sports Council, the Dubai International Sports Conference has been bringing football’s top stakeholders together every year since 2006 for exploring ways to develop and enrich the sport at domestic, regional and international levels. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed highlighted the importance of the annual event, which has brought together elite players, coaches and decision makers from the world of football.

Sheikh Mansoor said: “The Dubai International Sports Conference has become a global platform for top football players, managers and training professionals to exchange perspectives on the present and future of football.

“It is also a platform for football’s top decision-makers to network, build relationships and share ideas on enhancing excellence in the sport. The event reflects the UAE’s and Dubai’s leadership in advancing excellence in the global sporting sector.”

Sheikh Mansoor also stressed on the UAE’s contributions to shaping the future of various sporting fields. “This year, we are pleased to host a new set of elite stars, whose performances have electrified football venues around the globe and brought joy to fans in every corner of the world. It is fitting that we will be celebrating their achievements at an awards ceremony at the Burj Khalifa, which is a symbol of Emirati excellence and creativity and an iconic landmark that is known all over the world.

“On this day last year, we organised the 15th session of the Conference and the 11th Dubai Globe Soccer Award with some of the world’s biggest stars present physically and the President of FIFA delivering the opening keynote address in person.

“Our robust precautionary measures, which enabled us to win the trust of the world, gave us the confidence to organise the Conference and Awards ceremony, the first such global event to be organised after the pandemic. We continue to host this special UAE-born event, which has become a leading global platform for celebrating outstanding achievements in football.”

By: Delroy Constantine-Simms and Maureen Drackett-Fuller

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 41-year-old last played for India in 2016, with his final game being for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in April 2021.

He took 417 Test wickets, 269 in one-day internationals and 25 in Twenty20 matches in 367 games for India.