Sports News

Wasps Rugby Football Club have officially opened the doors of their new state-of-the-art Elite Performance and Innovation Centre – which gives the club one of the finest training complexes in English rugby. The multi-million-pound centre at Henley-in-Arden will be the new home of Wasps’ men’s first team and academy.

It has taken six months to build the facility on the 13-acre site at a cost of £4 million, with the construction project completed by Warwickshire-based development partner Wigley Building & Development.

Aston Hall grounds were packed with mascots and mayhem at the first ever Aston Community Games 2021.

The event showcased numerous sports and wellbeing activities for families and locals to enjoy. Despite a little rain and windy weather more than 600 tickets were sold for the fun day out.

West Ham striker Michail Antonio is set to make his first appearance for Jamaica at the age of 31 in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

He has been named in the Reggae Boyz squad to face Panama in the game, in Kingston, on Sunday. Covid travel restrictions will stop him flying to Mexico and Costa Rica for their other qualifiers this month.

Looking for a challenge? Birmingham Museums are inviting people to make history count with three running challenges set to raise vital funds for the city’s museums.

With many official running events postponed this year Birmingham Museums virtual fun run challenges are a chance for seasoned runners, as well as novices, to keep moving over the summer while adding to their medal collection.

Former Zimbabwe cricketer and renowned coach Andy Flower has decided against coaching Pakistan team due to his busy schedule.

According to sources, the previous Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) regime led by Chairman Ehsan Mani were looking to replace current Head Coach Misbahul Haq, with Flower, after Pakistan’s recent T20I series defeat against England. Flower, who is the head coach of PSL franchise Multan Sultans, CPL’s Saint Lucia Kings, T10’s Delhi Bulls, The Hundred’s Trent Rockets while also being the assistant coach of IPL side Punjab Kings, has told the PCB that he is not interested in coaching any international side, at the moment, as he is more inclined towards franchise cricket.

It has been said that plans to lift the ban on standing in the English Premier League and Championship are set to be announced by the government, with a handful of grounds being able to use designated safe standing areas before the end of the season. With an announcement set to be made within the coming weeks, it would mean that for the first time in over 25 years, fans of some top-flight football clubs would be legally allowed to stand and watch their team play.

Chair of the Football Supporters Association, Malcolm Clarke, said it was a "welcome" development that would benefit all fans, adding: "People who want to stand should be able to do so in safety. Those who want to sit should be able to do so without having their view blocked."

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.