Sports News

World Rugby’s newly opened Hall of Fame in Rugby is a must-see experience for any sports fans in the Midlands over the festive period. Large touch-screen panels allow visitors to explore the history of the game, scroll through more than 180 of the sport’s most famous video moments (including Jonny Wilkinson’s famous, Rugby World Cup-winning dropped goal in 2003), learn about how the game is played in its various forms in 120 countries around the world and, best of all, 2.7m ‘blade’ screens project larger than life images of your choice of any of the Hall of Famers.

Visitors to the new Barnhurst Lane playing fields can take a walk down memory lane thanks to a colourful mosaic trail. The mosaics were created by members of Pendeford Art Group and are located at regular intervals along a one-kilometre long footpath which forms part of the new sports facilities at Barnhurst Lane. The mosaics explore local history, including Pendeford's 17th century Dovecote, the Autherley canal junction and the aeroplanes that used to be built by Boulton Paul and flown from Pendeford Airfield, such as the Hawker Demon biplane, the famous Second World War Defiant and the Balliol Trainer.

Warwickshire County Cricket Club has appointed its former County Championship-winning Captain Jim Troughton as First Team Coach. Troughton (37) has been an Assistant Coach at the club since retiring from playing in 2014 and will oversee all Warwickshire and Birmingham Bears men's first team matters and will be supported in this new role by Club Captain Ian Bell, Bowling Coach Alan Richardson and Batting & Second Team Coach Tony Frost as part of a new structure for the club.

Nine-time Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt ended 2016 being named the IAAF's male athlete of the year for a sixth time. The Jamaican took his overall total to nine Olympic gold medals at Rio 2016 with his third 100 metres, 200m and 4x100m relay hat-trick and was nominated for the award alongside Mo Farah and David Rudisha. Bolt was presented the award – which he had already won more times than anyone else, and claimed on five occasions between 2008 and 2013 – by IAAF president Sebastian Coe in Monaco, while the female athlete of the year gong went to Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana.

Olympic taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones is BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality 2016 at the Wales Sport Awards in Cardiff where BBC Cymru Wales and Sport Wales celebrated Welsh sporting success. Jones, 23, won a public vote with Wales' footballers voted Team of the Year and boss Chris Coleman taking the Special Recognition Award after their 2016 Euro success. Jones secured the vote ahead of second-placed Wales and Real Madrid footballer Gareth Bale, with Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Elinor Barker in third.

Double double-Olympic and world champion Mo Farah has identified the Müller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, ranked as the number one indoor grand prix meeting in the world, as a key event in his bid for global championships medals in 2017. It is a huge year for IAAF events in the UK with the World Para Athletics Championships in July and the IAAF World Championships in August, and a host of world-class events being staged in Birmingham over the coming months.

Brazil will play Colombia in a friendly match at the end of January to help victims of the air crash that killed most of the players, staff and directors of soccer club Chapecoense last week. A Spokesperson has also said that the Brazilian Football Confederation will donate about $ 1.5 million to Chapecoense. Nineteen of Chapecoense's players were killed in the crash just outside Medellin, Colombia, as the Brazilian team headed to the first of two matches against Colombian club Atletico Nacional to determine the champion of the Copa Sudamericana — Latin America's No. 2 club tournament.

Nigeria ended 2016 in celebratory mood after coming out on top in the Africa Women's Cup of Nations final against host nation Cameroon. Playing in front of over 40,000 fans at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaound, the Super Falcons scored late to deny Cameroon a home triumph and extend its dominance of the Women's African Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win in what proved to be a tense final.

He’s Birmingham’s very own version of Usain Bolt – or, at least that’s what he likes to think he is, as Barry Cheema aims to beat the legendary sprint-king’ medal haul next year. Cheema refers to himself as Usingh Bolt when entering any marathon and is now hoping to have won 30 medals by the time he completes the inaugural Birmingham International Marathon. The 40-year-old Walsall man is hoping to run 10 half marathons and 10 10ks in 2017, as part of a fundraising mission for the Stroke Association.

Olympic runner, Laura Muir will look to rewrite the record books when she runs in the 1000m at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham in February. The 23-year-old will try to better Kelly Holmes’ British record of 2:32.96, which was set in Birmingham 13 years ago, and will also have an eye on Maria Mutola’s longstanding world record of 2:30.94.

They are from different worlds, 6,000 miles apart, but US sports legend Tamika Catchings and Cypriot student Eleni Partakki found themselves together on the basketball court celebrating a special moment in time. Laureus Ambassador Tamika is one of the greatest players in WNBA history and was a member of the invincible US women’s Olympic team. Eleni is a participant in PeacePlayers International, a Laureus-supported project which encourages Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot boys and girls to play basketball together.

Britain’s London Olympic high jump medallist Robbie Grabarz believes that 2017 is the biggest year in the history of athletics in Birmingham, with three major events taking place in the city. 2017 will see three major events coming to the city – the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham (18 February) the British Athletics Team Trials (30 June – 2 July) and the Müller Grand Prix Birmingham (20 August) – as part of an incredible period for Birmingham, which will host the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships early the following year.

Beat the Street has created a lasting legacy of physical activity in Birmingham following the establishment of Handsworth’s first ever community cycling club. Launched this month at Handsworth Park, the Handsworth Beat the Street Community Cycling Club will provide residents with the opportunity to build their cycling skills and confidence through community bike rides across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Adventurous UK cyclists are encouraged to get on their bikes and join in the next annual WOW Cyclothon, one of the largest ultra-cycling competitions in the world, taking place under Iceland's iconic midnight sun from 20-23 June 2017. Attracting keen cyclists from around the world looking for exciting new conditions to ride, WOW Cyclothon is the largest and longest road race in Iceland, spanning over 1,358 km, in a total time of less than 84 hours.

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.