Sports News

The creative team that will deliver the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been unveiled.

Taking place on 28^th July 2022, and broadcast to 1.5billion people around the Commonwealth, the Opening Ceremony will host a live audience of 30,000 at the newly redeveloped Alexander Stadium. 

Former England and Sussex captain Ted Dexter has died. Nicknamed 'Lord Ted', Dexter was an aggressive batsman and useful seam bowler who played 62 Tests for England and was captain between 1961-1964.

He led Sussex to victory in the first two editions of the limited-overs Gillette Cup and went on to make a surprise two-Test comeback in 1968. In a statement, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) described Dexter as "one of England's greatest ever cricketers.

A UEFA delegation visiting Qatar to assess workers' rights says progress has been made but more work is needed ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Human rights issues in the host country have been under scrutiny since Qatar was awarded the tournament in 2010.

UEFA established a working group in May to work with FIFA on the issue. The visit came as Amnesty International published a report claiming "thousands" of migrant deaths have not been properly investigated.

The Tokyo Paralympics get underway today with Covid-19 cases rising in Japan and all parties acknowledging that there is still a challenge ahead.

Delayed by a year because of the pandemic and with supporters unable to attend apart from a small number of schoolchildren, these will be a different Paralympic Games to any previous edition. But not only do organisers want top-level competition, they also want the Games to play a big part in making Japanese society more inclusive.

With the first season of The Hundred over, the focus switches away from newly formed teams in gold, vivid red or bright blue, and back to the men's Tests, England's women and the county game.

Cricket’s ‘The Hundred’ finale at Lord’s, saw Oval Invincibles crowned the first women's champions with Southern Brave winning the first men's title, in front of a crowd of nearly 25,000. With children and families sitting side-by-side among groups of ‘hard-core,’ cricket stalwarts, some 20% of the spectators across the tournament were children, a big jump on the Twenty20 Blast in recent years, with a total of 21% of tickets sold being bought by women.

Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah ran the second fastest women's 100m of all time at the Eugene Diamond League. The Jamaican, who retained her 100m-200m title double in Tokyo, clocked a new world lead of 10.54 seconds.

Only American Florence Griffith-Joyner has run faster, when she set her world record of 10.49 secs in 1988.

Olympic silver medallist Ben Whittaker said it had been "a dream come true" after spending the day as mayor of Wolverhampton.

The 24-year-old said in a post-bout interview in Tokyo he wanted the honour when he returned to the UK. The city council granted his wish on Sunday and organised a list of official engagements for him.

Oval Invincibles stormed to an emphatic 48-run victory over favourites Southern Brave to become the first women's Hundred champions on a historic afternoon at Lord's. After setting a target of 122, the Invincibles bowled out the Brave for just 73 in a perfect bowling performance.

Marizanne Kapp took three wickets in the first 10 balls - the Brave's top three batters all out without scoring. And with a 17,116-strong crowd watching on - a record for a women's domestic match anywhere in the world - the frantic start continued when Fran Wilson's brilliant throw ran out Maia Bouchier.

Ground-breaking research study conducted over thousands of ridden miles reveals untapped potential for pre-emptive identification of collision risk areas for cyclists.
 
As the number of road users taking to two wheels continues to grow exponentially, RoSPA and See.Sense have conducted pioneering new research which could prove invaluable in greatly enhancing cyclist safety by more effectively pinpointing potential collision blackspots.

Southern Brave were crowned the first men's Hundred champions after they beat Birmingham Phoenix by 32 runs in an action-packed Lord's final.

Chasing 169, Phoenix's Liam Livingstone thrashed 46 from 19 balls, animating a raucous Lord's crowd with an effortless flow of boundaries, before the game swung in dramatic and unlikely fashion. Tim David, only brought into the Brave's squad earlier this week, ran out Livingstone with a 60m direct hit from the deep - the in-form Livingstone agonisingly inches short.

Local teenager and second black-belt UK karate champion Chloe Barnes is getting set to kick the competition with a renewed boost from local car dealership Lookers Vauxhall Birmingham for a third year running.

The Streetly Shukokai Karate Club pupil has taken the martial arts world by storm over the last number of years, reaching new highs and adding coveted sports titles to her impressive list of accolades. The World Karate Championship title holder has collected an outstanding 70 gold, silver and bronze medals, four trophies and was named 2020 GB Karate Sportsperson of the Year.

Nico Ali Walsh paid tribute to his grandfather Muhammad Ali as he won his debut professional bout wearing a pair of shorts he had given him.

The 21-year-old made easy work of the fight, knocking down Jordan Weeks after 70 seconds.

Olympic silver medallist CJ Ujah has denied wrongdoing and said that he is shocked and devastated after a positive drugs test.

Ujah, 27, ran the first leg as Great Britain's 4x100m men's relay team narrowly missed out on gold in Tokyo. He has been provisionally suspended after a test showed the presence and/or use of two prohibited substances.

Troicki this half term to host an exclusive two-week tennis residency on island. The Davis Cup winner, who achieved a career high world ranking of No.12, will offer Amilla guests top-class tailored coaching, practice workshops and pro tips from 26 October to 6 November 2021.

Troicki became the first tennis player in the Open era to win all three major team competitions, with the World Team Cup in 2009, Davis Cup in 2010 and partnering with Novak Djokovic to win the inaugural ATP Cup in 2020. 

Birmingham and West Midlands based artists can now submit proposals for commissions of up to £25,000 to create new public space works in any art form that creatively respond to sports that will be competed at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Birmingham 2022 culture programme is offering four artists the chance to create work based on four sporting events at the upcoming Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games; Aquatics – Swimming and Para Swimming, Athletics and Para Athletics, Basketball 3x3 and Wheelchair Basketball 3x3 and Lawn Bowls and Para Lawn Bowls.

To bring over 10,000 athletes - from 206 nations – together, during a pandemic, as, seemingly the most impossible of impossible tasks, but, in the end turned out to be impossible to forget. Despite being bereft of fans, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will, for many, go down as one of the best ever.

For a relieved Thomas Bach, president of the IOC (International Olympic Committee), he declared: “We did it.