Sports News

A number of figures within the athletics community have been recognised by the Queen in the New Year Honours list. Three-time Paralympic gold medallist Stephen Miller has been awarded an MBE for his services to sport. Miller triumphed in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens during an unprecedented 12-year unbeaten run in the club throw between 1996 and 2008. The 35 year old remains a mainstay within the British team, as he prepares to make his mark on his sixth Paralympic Games in Rio in the summer of 2016.

The first weekend of 2016 saw a number of big victories, some much-needed wins and the end of an era for one BBL venue. Leicester Riders said farewell to their Loughborough home with a bang as they signed off in style with a 91-43 defeat of Leeds Force. Tyler Bernardini and Drew Sullivan both had 13 points for the Riders, whose next home game will be later this month at their new purpose-built arena in Leicester.

Current English middleweight champion, Lewis Taylor (18-1-1) will clash with unbeaten Birmingham boxer, Tommy Langford (15-0) on February 13^th at Liverpool’s Echo Arena for the vacant Commonwealth middleweight title and Langford’s WBO Inter-Continental strap. The Frank Warren promotion is headlined by Terry Flanagan’s (29-0) WBO World lightweight title defence against Derry Mathews (38-9-2) in what will be a Manchester v Liverpool derby titled, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’.

Great Britain Senior Women will return to Manchester for their two vital EuroBasket Women 2017 qualification games in February. Head Coach Jose Maria Buceta will lead his side into Group C clashes with Albania and Montenegro, as the team looks to revive its prospects of reaching a fabulous fourth consecutive appearance at Eurobasket Women Final Round.

World and European 60m champion Richard Kilty and British 60m champion Chijindu Ujah will go up against 2003 world 100m champion Kim Collins and the USA’s world 100m bronze medallist Trayvon Brommell when they line up over 60m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix on 20 February. Kilty added the European indoor title to his World Indoor Championships gold earlier this year and has a personal best of 6.49.

Held at Wembley Stadium and in association with Sky Sports, BBC Sport, BBC Asian Radio Network, Zee TV and Inventive Sports, the Asian Football Awards brought out some of the biggest football names to pay homage to Asian players in the game. Stars past and present, like; Sunderland’s former England striker, Jermain Defoe, ex-Chelsea FC and England defender Graeme Le Saux and Steve Coppell (ex-Manchester United FC, Crystal Palace FC, Reading FC and England) were on hand to make their judgment on the night’s winners.

Qatar Airways, as presenting sponsor of Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), brought sports fans from around the world to witness the dramatic second season of competitive tennis in Kobe, Manila, New Delhi, Dubai and Singapore. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “We are pleased to see an overwhelming response across the world to the latest season of IPTL.

The Government reiterated its manifesto commitment to reduce the number of road users killed or seriously injured on our roads each year in their road safety statement. Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, says it’s critical that funding is allocated to cycling and walking to meet this commitment. The Statement reiterates the importance of the forthcoming Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in setting out plans for investment in safer cycling and walking infrastructure.

WBO Inter-Continental middleweight champion, Tommy Langford (15-0) extended his unbeaten run with a fifth round stoppage of Polish national champion, Robert Swierzbinski (15-5) in Manchester, live on BoxNation TV. The Bideford-born, Queensberry Promotions star defended his title for a second time over 10 rounds against the worthy challenger from Bialystock, resulting in the third stoppage in his last four fights, capping off an amazing year for the 26-year-old prospect that has seen him reach the top five in the British and WBO World rankings.

Sport Relief is calling on the people of Birmingham to step away from the stuffing, reject those spare sprouts and start the New Year as they mean to go on by signing up for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games, taking place on Friday 18th to Sunday 20th March. People all over the West Midlands, from a variety of ages and fitness levels, are encouraged to go fit themselves as they get ready to walk, run, swim or cycle themselves proud by signing up to the Sport Relief Games.

An exciting year of sport has thrown up some potentially classic head-to-head battles to win Laureus World Sports Awards. Usain Bolt v Lewis Hamilton; Serena Williams v Katie Ledecky and All Blacks v FC Barcelona are among the contests that we could possibly see when the Laureus World Sports Academy cast their votes for the most prestigious honours in sport. First, though, the leading sportsmen, sportswomen and teams of 2015 have to receive enough votes from the world’s media to reach the shortlist.

56 year old IT Business consultant Chris is walking over 1000 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End (JOGLE) between April 15th and June 12th 2016 to raise funds for three charities that are very close to his heart - Cure Leukaemia, Breast Cancer UK and the Holt School Trust. For most the standard walk would be a serious challenge however father of two Chris has decided to make it ‘Big’ by adding climbs of the three highest peaks in the UK; Ben Nevis, Scafel Pike and Snowdon to his route.

The Worcester Wolves have swooped to sign one of the UK's most exciting talents as Orlan Jackman joined the Wolf Pack today. He left CAB Madeira in Portugal and is delighted to be joining the Worcester outfit and make a return to the BBL, where he last played for London Lions in 2012 as one of the League's most impressive rookies and was named in the All-British BBL team.

Current European record holder and 200 metre world champion Dafne Schippers will face Britain’s fastest ever woman, Dina Asher-Smith, over 60m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix on 20 February. Each athlete has beaten the other once over 60m with both setting their personal bests at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Prague; 7.05 for Schippers and 7.08 for Asher-Smith, the first of five British records she set during 2015.

Diabetes UK is searching for runners to join the Edinburgh Marathon Festival and run what is known as Britain’s fastest marathon course. Over 70 per cent of people entering the Edinburgh Marathon are from outside Scotland and members of Team Diabetes UK come from all corners of the UK. Over 30,000 runners are expected to take part in races during the Bank Holiday weekend on Saturday 28 May and Sunday 29 May 2016, running in the marathon, half marathon, 10k, 5k and junior races.

Commonwealth boxing medallist Qais Ashfaq attended the Boxing in Mosques session, as the Lycamobile British Ethnic Diversity Sport Awards extends its deadline for accepting nominations until 30 November. Qais Ashfaq, the Commonwealth and European Games bantamweight medallist from Yorkshire, showed his support of the local project which last year won the Sport England Community Sport Project of the Year at the inaugural BEDSAs.