Sports News

Floating 400m over her hometown in a hot-air balloon, champion athlete Glynis Nunn-Cearns could easily see why the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games will be so successful. The Los Angeles Olympics heptathlon gold medallist, who has lived on the Coast for more than 20 years, was awe-struck by the diversity below as the whispers of a morning breeze gently steered her dawn flight from golden beaches to green hinterland.

With England and the West Indies on the verge of making cricketing history the evolution of the game marks a significant milestone for Edgbaston Stadium its 115-year history as an international venue. In the England & Wales Cricket Board and Warwickshire County Cricket Club announcing that it will host the first ever day/night Investec Test Match, in 2017, it also marks the 50^th Test Match to be staged at one of the country’s premier venues.

Christ the King Football Club has seen numerous events organised over the course of this their celebratory 70^th Anniversary year, with hundreds of attendees. Starting with a celebratory mass and gathering of past and present players at the start of the year, through a hilariously entertaining evening with two very special guests in former Liverpool legends Robbie Fowler and Jason McAteer, as well as incorporating their highly successful Gala Day children’s football tournament - The culmination of these celebrations being a black-tie Gala Evening, at the Royal Court Hotel, in Coventry.

Halloween is called Día de los Muertos - the Day of the Dead - in Mexico, but on this last occasion it proved to be a moment of fun and hope as new Laureus Academy Member Lennox Lewis launched an initiative to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people in Mexico City. Lewis, the last undisputed world heavyweight champion, was immediately on the front foot revealing how Laureus Sport for Good will support a wide range of organisations using the power of sport to help young people in Mexico.

A delegation from USA Track and Field, the governing body for athletics in the US, visited Birmingham, to discuss the details for a proposed training camp, which would be held in the city in July 2017.They visited various sites across the city, including the Birmingham High Performance Centre and Alexander Stadium, which is where the US athletes would finalise their preparations for next August’s IAAF World Championships in London.

The Midlands is buzzing with running mania after organisers of the Birmingham International Marathon revealed more than 4,000 people have already signed up for next year’s inaugural event, just two weeks after entries were opened. The marathon takes place on Sunday, October 15, 2017 – the same day as the Great Birmingham Run half marathon – which means more than 25,000 runners are expected to hit the streets of the city for a true festival of running.

The University of Wolverhampton has kicked off a new football programme at schools in Staffordshire as a way of getting young people to think about their future goals. ‘Kick-Off - Explore Your Future’ is a new programme which is running over five weeks and using football to engage 13 and 14 year old pupils.  It involves 90 students from 5 different schools; Holy Trinity Academy, De Ferrers Academy, Sundorne Sports College, Staffordshire University Academy and Telford Priory School.   

Ousman Manneh created history when he scored the winning goal for Werder Bremen in their 2-1 shock victory over Bundesliga rivals, Bayer Leverkusen which capped a fairytale rise for him after having just two years after fleeing his homeland, The Gambia, as a refugee. The 19-year-old recently left his entire family behind two years ago and only started playing football when he settled in a German refugee centre, but impressed in a trial with German fifth tier side Blumenthaler in 2014 before going on to score 15 goals in 11 games for their youth team.

Lawyers at Birmingham law firm Clarke Willmott LLP are celebrating a new sponsorship partnership with the Solihull Moors FC under-13s girls’ team, in a deal which comes during Women’s Sport Week. The law firm is sponsoring the up-and-coming team this season as they compete in the Central Warwickshire Girls Football League. Partner Rayner Grice said supporting the junior girls’ team was important to her colleagues who feel passionately about encouraging young people into sports and supporting non traditional women and girls teams.

The UK Corporate Games - Europe's largest annual multi sports festival for businesses - will be hosted in Nottingham for the first time ever in 2017.  It is expected to attract around 5-6,000 participants to the city from all over the UK. The Games will be taking place across multiple sporting venues in Nottingham - VisitEngland's Home of Sport - from 6 – 9 July 2017 and many of the UK's top companies have already entered a team.

As its ongoing campaign continues its run throughout the 2016/17 season, which also aims to highlight the positive messages of inclusion echoed by football authorities, County FA’s, clubs, players, managers and supporters. Kick It Out has been tackling discrimination, promoting equality and supporting victims of discrimination in football for over 20 years and wants to see the game remain open and inclusive.

Warwickshire’s end-of-season victory over Lancashire to ensure safety from relegation in the County Championship proved a relief as they avoided the ‘ecstasy-to-agony’ scenario following their cup wins earlier. With their eight-wicket One-Day Cup final destruction of Surrey in the bag, the win over their fellow league strugglers made it a double-delight for the Bears with the 237 runs win at Edgbaston.

Frankie Gavin and Sam Eggington will meet in an all-Birmingham Welterweight clash at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on October 22, live on Sky Sports. Eggington and Gavin were scheduled to meet for Eggington’s British and Commonwealth titles last October but injury to Gavin set their careers on different paths. Gavin was forced onto the side-lines through issues outside the ring but teamed up with Max McCracken after spending and, like Eggington, returned to action in July in Leeds to set up their hotly-anticipated fight.

This autumn, England's women's football team will join 15 other squads from around the world, for the country's largest sporting tournament and international event in history, the FIFA Under 17 Women's World Cup. The tournament, which runs from 30th September 2016 – 21st October 2016, will be held in the Middle East's Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and go down in history as the largest sporting tournament and international event to be held in the country.

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.