Sports News

Reigning Paralympic champions Richard Whitehead and Hannah Cockroft have been named captains of the athletics team for the Paralympic Games in Rio, which gets underway today. Whitehead produced one of the moments of London 2012 racing to T42 200m gold accompanied by his iconic ‘two guns salute’ celebration. The 40 year old has continued to go from strength-to-strength taking over a second off the world record set four years ago running 23.03 last month in London.

An inspiration and a legend, Fab Flournoy would like nothing more than to return to the Barclaycard Arena and lift yet more silverware at what promises to be another exciting and spectacular day at the 2017 Basketball Cup Finals. It's a venue and city which still holds special significance for someone whose first chapter on their sparkling journey to becoming the most successful coach in British Basketball League history started in Birmingham.

Applications flooded in from 92 countries around the world including Jamaica, Thailand, Armenia and Uruguay. Whilst over 200,000 tickets were applied for Session 3 featuring the men’s 100m final, 13 of the 14 sessions in one price category or more have been balloted, reflecting the public’s huge appetite for live sport and world-class athletics.

Young people from The Way Youth Zone competed in the Wolves Premier League Kicks Tournament against rivals West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa Football Club and Wolves Kicks Premier League youth team. The young people, aged between 11-13 years old, took part in their first competitive football tournament on Tuesday 23rd August at the Wolves Community Trust Dome in Aldersley.

Tividale’s 12-year-old tennis prodigy, Elise Dennis is proving such a big hit on the domestic tennis circuit, that she’s setting her sights further afield. Having reached the semi-finals for her age group at Junior Wimbledon this summer, Elise is now preparing to challenge some of Europe’s elite young tennis players, when she competes in Tennis Europe in Bath next month.

Leicester has ranked as the UK’s Greatest Sporting City for 2016, according to research from ESPN and the University of Bath.The accolade for the city comes after leading UK sport site ESPN.co.uk collaborated with the University of Bath on the second annual research project to discover the best place in the country to be a sports fan. Leicester topped the ranking after scoring highly in most of the 12 factors that fans identified as key to a great sporting city.

It's not too late to join the field for this year's Carver Wolverhampton Marathon Events. There are six events to choose from – including the traditional 26 mile Carver Wolverhampton Marathon, the Carver Half Marathon over 13 miles, the Banks’s 10k Run and the Cousins 20k Cycle Event. People can also take part in the Callprint Walk in the Park while younger people can enjoy the Children’s Mini Marathon.

What better way to celebrate an Olympic year than by taking part in the St Lucia triathlon that includes workouts with former Olympian, Daley Thompson. The Digicel St Lucia International Triathlon will be held on 19 November – the culmination of a week long festival of fun activities hosted by Tri St Lucia which include a 2km ocean swim, an aquathlon (swim and run) and a beach run.

Robbie Grabarz jumped an outdoor season’s best of 2.33m, his best jump since 2012, to finish an extremely credible fourth in the Olympic high jump final. A first time clearance of 2.29m, the height that saw him win bronze at London 2012, followed by a first time clearance of 2.33m put him right in the mix, but ultimately it wasn’t to be. After a challenging four years since winning Olympic bronze, Grabarz can be pleased with his effort and fourth place finish, even though a first time clearance at 2.25m would have seen him win bronze.

Running enthusiasts who cannot wait for the next London Marathon to take place in April next year should consider joining Tenerife's Santa Cruz Marathon this November. The third edition of the ever-increasingly popular event will see thousands of amateur and professional athletes running through the streets and landmarks of the island's capital city on Sunday 6th November. Online registration is now open.

Mo Farah made history as the first British athlete to win three Olympic gold medals, as Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford also won medals on ‘Super Saturday’ mark two. Just as in London four years ago, Farah was first to go, defending his Olympic 10,000m title. Typically cautious through the first half of the race, Farah started to take closer order but was clipped and hit the deck. Thankfully he bounced back to his feet as quickly as he had fallen and from there normal order was resumed.

Sporting organisations in Wolverhampton are offering a host of free activities as part of the nation’s biggest ever sports day, I Am Team GB. They will be throwing open their doors on Saturday 27 August, 2016, to give people the chance to get active and celebrate Team GB's achievements at the Rio 2016 Games, which are now underway. They include the City of Wolverhampton Council's WV Active leisure centres.

Governments from 32 Commonwealth countries have taken the historic step of committing to align their national sports policies to the Sustainable Development Goals, in order to gear investments in sport towards positive outcomes in health, education, gender equality and justice. At the Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting in Rio de Janeiro the governments also endorsed a set of far-reaching Commonwealth policy proposals to protect against threats such as doping, match fixing and other forms of corruption, while introducing safeguards to protect children, promote equality and end discrimination.

An 18-strong British team has been selected for September’s World Mountain Running Championships (Uphill) in Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria. The senior women’s quartet includes international gold medallists on the mountain running scene with newly crowned European (up and down) champion Emily Collinge, and world long distance mountain running champion Annie Conway contributing to one of the most formidable squads heading to the championships.

Qatar Airways is cheering on Team Qatar athletes as the official airline partner of the largest-ever Qatari Olympic team. The men and women will compete in beach volleyball, equestrian, boxing, swimming, athletics, weightlifting, shooting, judo, handball and table tennis. As the official airline of Team Qatar the carrier is also sponsoring Bayt Qatar, a hospitality house designed to provide a Qatari cultural element to the events.

Fans of American Football will get the opportunity to soak up the US ultimate game-day experience on Sydney soil when the inaugural College Football Sydney Cup brings marching bands, mascots, cheerleaders, all-American food and spectacular football to Sydney's ANZ Stadium on 27 August 2016. The inaugural College Football Sydney Cup is the first round in the official 2016 NCAA College Football Championships and will see the University of California, Berkeley (Cal Bears) and the University of Hawaii (Rainbow Warriors) meet for the first time outside of the United States.