© Jean-Pierre Durand
The 2019 IAAF World Indoor Tour, a series of the six finest indoor meetings on the planet, kicks off one week from today with the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on 26 January.
Staged over the course of 26 action-packed days, the series includes stops in Karlsruhe (2 February), Torun (6 February), Madrid (8 February) and Birmingham (16 February) before reaching its final destination Düsseldorf on 20 February where the series winners will be crowned, awarded their US$20,000 prize bonuses and handed the first wildcard entries for the IAAF World Indoor Championships Nanjing 2020.
2019 marks the series' third edition, but it's already showing its widespread appeal. The Karlsruhe, Birmingham and Dusseldorf fixtures have sold out well in advance, the Polish meeting is on target to host yet another sell-out crowd of 5200 at Torun Arena, and Madrid is on target for a near-capacity crowd.
While many of the fields are still being finalised, several are filling out nicely.
World indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha, Olympic medallists Clayton Murphy and Hagos Gebrhiwet and IAAF Rising Star award winner Sydney McLaughlin are just a few of the stars who will help get the series underway on the US east coast.
Karlsruhe will feature Cuba's rising long jump sensation Juan Miguel Echevarria, world and Olympic pole vault champion Ekaterini Stefanidi in the pole vault, and European high jump champion Mateusz Przybylko.

With less than 250 days to go until Rugby World Cup 2019 gets underway, excitement for the event continues to build ahead of the general ticket sale this Saturday. 

Last year’s official ticket ballots saw record demand with more than 4.5 million applications, meaning that demand for this tournament is already higher than any previous Rugby World Cup at the same stage.  

A limited number of tickets have been made available to the wider general public from 10:00 JST/01:00 GMT on Saturday 19 January and were sold on a first come, first served basis. 

Traffic to the official ticketing website is expected to be extremely high so a queuing system will be in place. Ticket availability is limited following record sales in 2018 with very few tickets still available for the knock-out matches and pool matches involving Japan, England, Ireland and New Zealand.

The defending champion Vivian Cheruiyot and the current TCS New York City Marathon champion Mary Keitany return to the Virgin Money London Marathon in 2019.
They join their compatriots Gladys Cherono (2018 BMW Berlin Marathon champion) and Brigid Kosgei (2018 Bank of America Chicago Marathon champion) meaning the winners of the last four Abbott World Marathon Majors will be on the Start Line in London on Sunday 28 April.
Cheruiyot, who is also the reigning Olympic 5000m champion and the runner-up behind Keitany at last November’s TCS New York City Marathon, said: “It was a great moment for me winning last year’s Virgin Money London Marathon and I am very much looking forward to returning in April.
“The line-up for this year’s race is, once again, incredibly strong so I know I will need to be at my very best to repeat last year’s victory but it is a challenge that I’m really looking forward to. I will be ready.”
Also confirmed to run are the Ethiopian trio of Tirunesh Dibaba,  the three-time Olympic champion on the track and third fastest woman of all time, who finished second in London and won Chicago in 2017, Tadelech Bekele, who finished third in London last year, and 21-year-old Roza Dereje, second in Chicago and winner of the Dubai Marathon in 2018.

The best Mauy Thai Fighters in the world will be on show in Ghana this year, 2019 for an eye opening performance for the world to see how far the Pro Fighting Factory (PFF)Team has gone with no government support. 
The event is happening on March 9 at the Bukom Boxing Arena  and fight fans can Never afford to miss.It will be full of fun, action and tears. 
Watch out for other entertainment stars on the bill. Start saving towards this great event in Accra, Ghana to celebrate the independence anniversary.
Ten exciting bouts have been lined up between Ghanaians and top foreign opponent from all over the continents.
1. Jonathan Euro (Ghana) v Abdul Rushed (India)
2. Samuel Plange (Ghana) v P.Askar (India)
3. Francis Dodoo (Ghana) v Jesus Zamora Salvador (Philippines)
4. Dolphina Walter Tony (Malaysia) v Natacha De Almeida (Switzerland)

•  Over 150 eFootball teams participated in the Online Qualification of the FIFA eClub World Cup 2019
•  The best 15 teams will join reigning champions Brøndby IF
•  The FIFA eClub World Cup Online Qualification at a glance


The best 16 eFootball teams in the world are set to meet in London next month for the FIFA eClub World Cup 2019. 


Over 150 teams participated in the Online Qualification which took place in January and the 15 qualified teams will join the reigning Champion Brøndby IF, the only team to win the FIFA eClub World Cup so far by claiming the first place in the inaugural event in 2016 and in last year’s edition. The FIFA eClub World Cup will take place from 09 - 10 February 2019 in London.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) awarded Full Membership Status to two member-national federations during the organization’s Board of Directors Meeting, January 12-14 in Philadelphia.
The FIL Board of Directors unanimously agreed to recognize the Peru Lacrosse Association and Jamaica Lacrosse Association as Full Members of the international federation.  The national federations were first accepted into FIL in 2012 (Peru) and 2013 (Jamaica), and now meet the requirements for Full Membership.
As stewards of a sport that is enjoying explosive growth in participation and popularity around the globe, FIL now has 62 member-national federations worldwide.
The decision to award Full Membership Status highlighted a busy three days of activity for the FIL Board of Directors, which met in Philadelphia alongside the highly successful LaxCon Convention and Fan Fest, organized by US Lacrosse.

The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the IOC Athletes’ Commission held their annual joint meeting today in Lausanne. As part of the agenda, the Commission presented the key achievements of 2018 and the milestones for 2019, including the International Athletes’ Forum, to be held from 13 to 15 April 2019 in Lausanne. 
Communication with athletes:The IOC maximised its communication effort at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018. This led to record participation in the IOC Athletes’ Commission election of 83.9 per cent at the Olympic Winter PyeongChang 2018. 
The Athlete365 online platform is proving to be a very successful electronic communication tool for the IOC Athletes’ Commission to engage and communicate with athletes from all around the world. It has had more than 410,000 unique users and three million page views since it was launched in February 2016.
The regular conference calls with the global network of Athletes’ Commissions from all around the world and all sports have been hugely helpful to keep athletes updated on the relevant issues and topics. The IOC Athletes’ Commission held five conference calls with the global network in 2018.

MIES (Switzerland) - The Austin Spurs, the 2018 NBA G League champions, will join the reigning title holders of the Basketball Champions League, AEK (Greece), and of the DIRECTV Liga de las Americas, San Lorenzo de Almagro (Argentina), at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from February 15-17.
They will be joined by tournament hosts Flamengo, who are the last Brazilian team to win the DIRECTV Liga de las Americas and FIBA Intercontinental Cup in the same year (in 2014) and are five-time champions of Novo Basquete Brazil (NBB).
The competition will take place at Carioca 1 Arena, the iconic venue that hosted the Olympic Basketball Tournament during the Rio 2016 Games. It will be played in a Final Four format, with two Semi-Finals on February 15, followed by a 3rd-Place Game and Final two days later.
The Semi-Finals matchups are as follows:

• San Lorenzo de Almagro v AEK
• Flamengo v Austin Spurs

The protection of clean athletes and the fight against doping are top priorities for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. The IOC is currently conducting additional analyses on the samples collected from the Olympic Games London 2012. This programme, which uses the latest scientific analysis methods, aims to test samples for all substances prohibited in 2012.As the International Testing Agency (ITA) is now operational, the IOC has delegated the selection of samples to be reanalysed and the results management to the ITA, which will therefore review all the test results and notify the athletes concerned. 
The notification gives them the choice to have their case heard before the CAS or before an IOC Disciplinary Commission. This choice is given as the Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) for the Olympic Games London 2012 still apply for cases that arise from the current reanalyses.
As part of this process, the IOC today announced that one athlete has been disqualified from the Olympic Games London 2012. The details follow.

• Coach Media Days will be expanded in 2019
  
•  Nearly 100 coach profiles published on wtatennis.com
• Media and fans will get unrivalled access to WTA coaches

ST PETERSBURG, FL, USA - As part of the WTA’s (Women’s Tennis Association) continued efforts to promote all aspects of the sport, the organization is excited to announce several new resources and updates to enhance the coverage of one of the most important groups on tour – the coaches.

Following the introduction of the WTA Coach Program in 2017 to formalize and professionalize the coaching role and its subsequent success the following season, 2019 will bring more positive developments as coaching profiles continue to rise.

David Weir – the most successful athlete in the history of the London Marathon – will return to the race for a remarkable 20th consecutive year in the 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday 28 April.
Weir, who started his wheelchair racing career in the Mini LondonMarathon, has won the Virgin Money London Marathon on a record-breaking eight occasions.
His first London Marathon was in 2000 when he finished fifth at the age of 19. Two years later, in 2002, he won the event for the first time. Further victories came in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2018.
Weir said: “It’s amazing to be getting ready for my 20th race at the 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon. It has been an incredible journey from my first London Marathon back in 2000 and I feel very proud that I have not missed a single race since that very first one.
“Every year I say to myself that even if I only do one race, it has got to be the London Marathon. It is such a special event for me.”

The World Taekwondo Peace Corps and the Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF) in collaboration with Dreamland Sports Plus have introduced the sport of Taekwondo to school pupils in Dansoman in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
First day of the programme dubbed “S2S Tkd campaign” was successfully held at the St Bernadette Soubirous School in Dansoman.
Over 70 Children made up of 39 boys and 31 girls took part with the whole school including teachers and parents watching in admiration.
The World Taekwondo  Peace Corps (WTPC) together with the Technical Director, Stephen Amegashie taught the beneficiaries the basic kicking techniques and courtesy.
The WTPC before the introduction did some demonstrated to the large audience.

The Women In Sports Association (WISA) has honoured Madam Alice Annum, a former top athletics champion at her family residence at La in Accra.
The USA based international super star expressed her surprise, joy and feelings that indeed the nation of Ghana must recognize and honour its sporting heroes to encourage the youth and rising stars.
Alice Annum now 70 years old and living in Maryland in the United States said the government of Ghana only put her name in a Hall of Fame, but she wants to receive the promise of a house a Dansoman as she also paid for her trip to the USA in 1971.
According to the original “Baby Jet” aka “Flying Queen” of Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ghana Athletics can rise again if athletes are given more respect than footballers, and there is more frequent Inter Schools / Colleges competitions as well as the return of the Ghana Nigeria Friendship Games.
She was sad that the tartan (running) tracks have been removed at the Accra Sports Stadium, and the only place for athletics in the capital is either El Wak or the University of Ghana, Legon where many people cannot go to train or run.

A new meeting in Nanjing, China, is among the key changes to the IAAF World Challenge calendar for 2019.
Nanjing, the host city of the 2014 Youth Olympic Games and the 2020 IAAF World Indoor Championships, will stage an IAAF World Challenge meeting at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre on 21 May.
The Grande Premio Brasil de Atletismo in Bragança Paulista has moved from 18 May to 28 April to avoid clashing with the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai and the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Osaka.
It also means that the IAAF World Challenge will start in Brazil for the first time in the 10-year history of the circuit, helping to establish a better rhythm and frequency in the calendar.

The team is currently ranked 14th on the HSBC Standings log with four points

NAIROBI, Kenya,  -- Jacob Ojee will skipper the Shujaa squad during the Hamilton and Sydney 7s deputized by Michael Wanjala. Commenting on his selection of Ojee as Captain, Head Coach Paul Murunga had this to say, “Ojee is able to lead the team. This has been noted enough times during our training sessions where he ensures all players communicate, his experience in the wing in the 15s version of the game as well as in the 7s is also very key. Wanjala’s past experience in the international sevens stage is also very crucial as we head out to New Zealand.”

"It's an honour to Captain Shujaa. It is a huge responsibility but with the current squad, I am confident that we are going to improve on our performance."- Jacob Ojee.

Former Kenya Under 19 Captain, Harold Anduvate is also part of the team on National Duty. He is one of five new call ups into the squad: Brian Wandera, Eliakim Kichoi both who were in the Safari7s squad while Eliakim was also part of the team that traveled to Tunisia for the Africa Men’s 7s. William Reeve has also received a nod from the Head Coach. They are joined by Cyprian Kuto, Johnstone Olindi, Brian Wahinya, Vincent Onyala and Daniel Taabu all who were in the Dubai and CapeTown 7s legs of the HSBC World Sevens Series. Bush Mwale makes a comeback into the squad after one season hiatus. He was last in the set up during the 2016/2017 season under former Coach Innocent Simiyu.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) a week ago opened an online portal for parties interested in staging ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 public screening events. 


Accessible at www.cricketworldcup.com/publicscreening the portal provides a registration gateway and the guidelines, permissions and licence fees for staging a public screening event.  


Public screening events are classed as any commercial or non-commercial event where the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 matches are made available for viewing by an audience, at locations which do not normally broadcast sporting events, such as beaches, parks, recreational areas, army bases, embassies and oil rigs.


Aarti Singh Dabas, Head of Media Rights, Broadcast & Digital, said: “These screenings will offer companies not usually involved with the broadcast of cricket, the unique opportunity to get involved with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and connect with their consumers through one of the biggest sports events in the world. And the opportunity to do so has been made simple through the launch of this online portal.

​The Board wishes Sylvia Kamau the very best as she embarks on this journey and requests all stakeholders to support her as she takes on this challenging but exciting responsibility
NAIROBI, Kenya, January 16, 2019/ --  The Rugby Union Board of Directors wishes to announce to all Affiliates, Sponsors and the rugby fraternity that it has confirmed Sylvia Kamau as CEO for an initial period of one year effective January 1 2019.

Sylvia Kamau took over from Ronald Bukusi who resigned in July 2018. This was necessitated by the need for continuity as KRU (www.KRU.co.ke) continues to engage partners in sponsorship initiative & restructure its operations despite the challenging operating environment.

First Major League Sports Team in Austin Will Play in a New Soccer Stadium
AUSTIN, TX (January 15, 2019) – Major League Soccer will become the first major sports league to have a team in the culturally-dynamic city of Austin, Texas as Austin FC will begin play in 2021, Commissioner Don Garber announced today. Garber was joined by Austin FC Chairman & CEO Anthony Precourt, Austin Mayor Steve Adler and hundreds of soccer fans at an event in Austin to officially launch the new team as the league’s 27th member club.
 
Recently named the fastest-growing large city in the country, Austin will soon be home to a new, state-of-the-art soccer stadium located at the city-owned property at McKalla Place in North Austin. The publicly-owned $225 million project on 24 acres will feature a 20,000-seat, natural grass stadium and public park that will be entirely funded by Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV), the investor-operator of the club. Groundbreaking for the new stadium will take place later this year and officially open with the club’s historic first home game in the spring of 2021

South Africa fast bowler Duanne Olivier has reached a career-best 24th position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings after another stellar performance in the final Test in Johannesburg, which his side won by 107 runs to complete a 3-0 series sweep over Pakistan.
 
Olivier’s match haul of eight for 125 has lifted him eight slots in the list led by his compatriot Kagiso Rabada while Olivier’s 24 wickets in the series not only got him the player of the series award but also see him gain 29 slots in the rankings after starting the series in 53rd place.
 
South Africa, who have reached second position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings after their impressive series victory, also had their batsmen move up the rankings with Johannesburg man of the match Quinton de Kock (18 and 129 runs in his two innings) gaining 12 berths to reach 14th position. Former captain Hashim Amla (up three places to 10th) and opener Aiden Markram (up two places to eighth) have also made significant gains.
 
For Pakistan, Babar Azam has moved up five places to a career-best 20th position and Asad Shafiq is not far behind after inching up one slot to 23rd place. Openers Imam-ul-Haq (up 23 places to 73rd) and Shan Masood (up two places to 63rd) have also reached career-best positions.

Clubs now have sights on MLS preseason, Concacaf Champions League play
as multiple camps get underway this week
NEW YORK (Monday, Jan. 14, 2019) – The 2019 MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas concluded Monday afternoon with the completion of the third and fourth rounds, with 27 collegiate players chosen among the field. Expansion side FC Cincinnati opened the third round with the selection of Rashawn Dally, who became the first player to be drafted in Quinnipiac University program history.
 
With the second pick in the third round (50th overall), the San Jose Earthquakes chose two-time All-WAC First Team defender Nathan Aune out of Seattle University. Aune also was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. The Chicago Fire, who did not make a selection during Friday’s first two rounds from McCormick Place in Chicago, were busy on Monday with three new pieces to their roster. The Fire’s top selection was defender Ebenezer Ackon (53rd overall), a native of Cape Coast, Ghana, who earned All-MAC First Team accolades this past season with Bowling Green State.

Ghana Athletics Association General Secretary, Bawah Fuseini, has been elected the Secretary General of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Region II.
The elections took place in Lome, Togo where the CAA Region II held its congress.
The 39-year-old Bawah, a former athlete, has been running the GAA as General Secretary for the past two years, after making a return to the association.
CAA Region II comprises of 15 West African states and is in charge of administrating athletics in the Ecowas sub-region.
President of the Nigeria Athletics Federation, Ibrahim Shehu, was elected president while Mali’s Madam Aminata Keita and Sidibe of Burkina Faso will serve as his vice presidents

CHICAGO (Friday, January 11, 2019) – Major League Soccer announced today it has renamed its Coach of the Year award after coaching icon Sigi Schmid who recently passed away. The Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year Award honors the league’s all-time leader in victories who served as the head coach of the LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew SC and Seattle Sounders during his 20 years in MLS.
 
The announcement was made today at the annual MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas and United Soccer Coaches Convention in Chicago. Since 1996, the Coach of the Year award has been presented annually to the league’s top coach as voted upon by players, club technical staffs, and media.
 
“Sigi was an important part of our league from the very early years in our history, and he had a significant impact on everyone he touched throughout his life and coaching career,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber.  “While he will be remembered by many in the soccer community for his success on the field, it was his kindness and his great qualities as a father, husband and mentor that made him such as special person.”

• New sporting complex being constructed by Egyptian Football Federation
• Facilities to include hotel and headquarters, partly-funded by FIFA Forward
• Learn more about the FIFA Forward Programme

Football in Egypt is more than a passion, it runs through the veins of millions of fans who pack the stadium and cheer for the Pharaohs at every single match.
To keep this ardour alive, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) works tirelessly to ensure that all children in Egypt continue to dream about football and follow in the footsteps of their idol Mohammed Salah. To help achieve this goal, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and FIFA have started to upgrade the Egyptian’s member association “El Hadaf” National Technical Centre. The aim is to provide the facility with a fresher look and turn it into one of the most advanced and innovative ones in the region, right at the heart of a strategic neighbourhood in Cairo with the CAF headquarters only a short distance away.