Sports News

It has been announced that former Birmingham City defender Sam Oji has died.

Starting his career as a youth player with Arsenal in 2000, he joined the Blues in 2004 in search of first-team football, before featuring for Doncaster Rovers, Bristol Rovers and Leyton Orient. In July he became assistant manager of Highgate United.

Twenty-seven athletes from West Midlands have been selected to compete at the 2021 School Games National Finals – a major multi-sport event for talented young athletes across the UK, taking place at Loughborough University from the 2nd to the 5th of September.

The School Games National Finals will be the first multi-sport event for young athletes following the lifting of lockdown restrictions. The event will celebrate the athletes’ achievements in working hard to maintain training and motivation over the last year and a half of restrictions.

The long-term future of indoor athletics in Birmingham is set to be secured through a proposed 10-year partnership agreement between UK Athletics and Birmingham City Council.

A decade-long deal, due for discussion by the council's Cabinet on September 7, would see Birmingham host the Indoor Grand Prix and British Indoor Championships on consecutive weekends annually from February 2022 to February ‘32.

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.