From start to finish she would not be denied as she took off from the blocks in the 100 meters finals at the Commonwealth games in Scotland.

 Blessing Okagbare crossed the line ahead of Veronica Campbell Brown and Kerron Stewart both of Jamaica and with an emphatic pump of the fist etched a notch for herself in the annals of the history of Track and Field winning the Gold Medal in spectacular fashion with a Games record time of 10.85 seconds.

Following in the heels of her performance in the semi-finals earlier where she left nothing to chance and took care of business, winning in a eye popping time of 10.93 seconds Blessing came to the finals with the ultimate intent to win and that she did as she got challenged in the mid part of the race by Veronica Campbell Brown of Jamaica but would not be hauled in pushing further out ahead of her challengers to win with a significant margin.

FIFA can today confirm the extension of sanctions imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Italian Football Association (FIGC) in relation to match manipulation. 

On 28 May 2014, CAS banned Maltese player Kevin Sammut from all football-related activities for a period of ten years following proceedings conducted by UEFA disciplinary bodies in relation to the manipulation of a qualifying match for the UEFA European Football Championship in 2007.

On 7 May 2014, the disciplinary committee of the FIGC banned Ghanaian player Mark Edusei from all football-related activities for three years and six months in relation to the manipulation of a match in the Italian Serie B in 2009.

Algerians Entente Setif moved closer to a first CAF Champions League semi-finals appearance by defeating Libyans Al-Ahly Benghazi 2-0 in Tunisia this weekend. El-Hedi Belameiri scored for the Black Eagles after 18 minutes at Stade Chedli Zouiten and Sofiane Younis claimed the other goal in stoppage time.

Victory lifted unbeaten Setif to eight points from four Group B matches, four points more than Tunisians CS Sfaxien and Benghazi. Another Tunisian club, Esperance, are bottom of the table with three points but can climb to second by winning at Sfaxien late Saturday.

Group winners and runners-up qualify for the semi-finals of a competition offering a ticket to the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco.

28 July 2014 - South African Under-17 National Team coach Molefi Ntseki has urged his charges to go for broke when they host Tanzania in the second leg of the African Youth Championships qualifier at Dobsonville Stadium on Saturday, 2 August 2014.

The two sides played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Dar es Salaam and victory for Amajimbos will see them play the winner of the Congo, Brazzaville/Egypt encounter. The junior Pharaohs beat Congo 1-0 in the first leg in Cairo and the second leg will be played in Brazzaville.

“There have been too many good stories with regards to South African soccer lately and we don’t want to disappoint the fans on Saturday.

“We are celebrating the appointment of Bra Shakes Mashaba as the Senior National coach, the Under-20s are doing well in West Africa, Banyana Banyana have just qualified for the African Women Championships in Namibia and SAFA has had several and successful junior tournaments. These are all good stories and we want Amajimbos to add to this excitement,” said Ntseki.

Ntseki said his side has been enjoying their soccer of late having beaten both Botswana and Lesotho in friendly matches.

“We could easily have come away from Tanzania with a win but we wasted some glorious chances. I am very positive we will finish off the job on Saturday.

“My only appeal to the fans is to come in their numbers to give the boys the support. In Tanzania, there were many fans that came to support their boys and we hope to see the same on Saturday,” said Ntseki.

The African Youth Championships will take place in Niger next March/April and the top four teams will qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile next year.

With just two games remaining in the CAF Champions League group stage, Egyptian club Zamalek and Tunisian giants Esperance surprisingly find themselves having to play catch-up if they want to extend their participation in the showpiece of African club football. Although Zamalek at least secured a point from their draw against TP Mazembe, they have just four points and are three behind the leading Congo DR clubs Mazembe and Vita Club. Esperance have even more work ahead of them after losing to local rivals CS Sfaxien. The winner of the competition will represent the continent at the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco at the end of the year.

Game of the week
Al Ahly Benghazi 0-2 ES Setif
ES Setif are well on their way to becoming the first Algerian club since 2010 to make it to the round of the last four. The 1988 champions scored both sides of the break to take a giant step towards the semi-finals by beating Libyan club Al Ahly in Tunisia. El-Hedi Belameiri opened for the Algerians early on to take his total to the competition to six. The goal spurred Al Ahly, who stunned the title holders Al Ahly Cairo in the last round, into action, but they simply failed to find the back of the net. Instead it was Sofiane Younis who put the game beyond doubt with a header late in injury time. Setif lead Group B on eight points, while Al Ahly have four.

Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba has been named coach of South Africa in succession to sacked Gordon Igesund. National youth coach Mashaba was not present at the announcement in Soweto as he is in Mali with the U-20 squad.

The 63-year-old former Orlando Pirates defender is a former caretaker coach and coach of Bafana Bafana. Mashaba was the unanimous choice of the national football association executive committee.

South Africa has reclaimed the number-one Test position on the Reliance ICC Test Team Championship after holding Sri Lanka to a draw in the second Test in Colombo on Monday. The result has given the Proteas a 1-0 series win.

South Africa had entered the two-Test series against Sri Lanka on equal points with Australia (123 ratings points). However, Hashim Amla’s side was ranked below Australia when ratings were calculated beyond the decimal point.

The 1-0 series win has now put South Africa ahead of Australia on 124 ratings points and has also allowed it to regain the position it had surrendered to Michael Clarke’s side on 1 May following the annual Test update.

Sierra Leone’s poor showing continued at the Commonwealth Games as seven of its sprinters failed to secure qualifying times to move to the next level in the 100m, and 400m heats whilst weightlifter Jonathan Johnson also fell short of qualification.

Johnson fell short in the 77Kg group B contest after he was only able to lift a total of 200Kg for both the snatch and Clean & Jerk.

The 26-year-old lifter failed in his first attempt to snatch 85kg but went on to lift it in his second attempt which was pretty much the same story in the 90kg lift where he was only finally able to lift it  in his third attempt giving him a total of 90kg in the snatch category.

When the cat is away, the mice can play.

World 100 meter champion and record holder Usain Bolt did not feature in the 100 meters qualifying heats and Team South Africa took advantage of that by dominating the dash sprint event

Two of Team South Africa’s 100 meter sprinters went through to the semi finals of the men’s 100 meter event as the track and field competition got underway on Sunday.

National champion Simon Magakwe and runner up in that race, Akani Simbine both qualified automatically. But late addition to the team, Ncincilili Titi fell by the wayside.

First off in Heat five of nine was Titi and he ended fourth in 10.48 as big Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade won in 10.40.

Its all going according to the script for Team South Africa at the 2014 Commonwealth Games In Glasgow, Scotland.

The Blitzbokke scooped their first ever Commonwealth Games victory over previous holders New Zealand as they won the gold medal in the Sevens competition in a tense final 17-12 in front of a 50 000 crowd at Ibrox Stadium.

Two tries by the speedster Seabelo Senatla – who commentators dubbed as the Usain Bolt of Sevens Rugby – and the clincher seasoned Cecil Afrika after a 60 meter dash to the left hand corner were enough to win the game.

Kyle Brown left the field as early as the second minute when he hyper extended his right shoulder and after prolonged treatment, he was forced off the field.

Ghana’s Table Tennis Team marched into the finals after they defeated Jamaica in their semi final game 3:1 in the ongoing Commonwealth Games at the Scotstoun Campus in Glasgow.

Ghana’s win is seen as revenge after losing to the Jamaican’s in previous editions of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Melbourne prior to this encounter.

Meanwhile, the Swimming team continued their progress in the Games with two swimmers breaking national records and another setting a new personal best. Ophelia Swayne led the brilliant performances;  blazing to a new national record and a personal best of 29.66 seconds in the women’s 50m butterfly event. she erased her own previous mark of 29.86 with a 6th place finish in Heat 3. She placed 31st overall in the event.

One of Egypt's talents Mohamed Abdelhady

Larnaka, Cyprus, July 25, 2014 – Egypt only lacks one out of the three S’s to make beach volleyball work, says Egypt U21 coach and former player Ahmed Atta. “We have Sun, Sea, but unfortunately not the Sponsors yet.”

The 36-year old Atta competed at the Chennai Challenger and The Hague Open in 2010 and still plays on the national tour, but is also coach of all the national teams in Egypt. This week he coaches Mohamed Abdelhady and Mohamed Sayedin at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Cyprus.

It is only the second time that Egypt has taken part in the U21 World Champs, having played in Umag in 2013. In Croatia his team Farag/Fayed did not pass the pool. First timers Abdelhady and Sayedin hope to

Didier Drogba will begin his second spell at Chelsea next season after agreeing a one-year deal with Jose Mourinho's side. The 36-year-old striker and Blues favourite returns to Stamford Bridge after leaving in 2012 for stints at Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray.

"It was an easy decision - I couldn't turn down the opportunity to work with Jose again," Drogba said. "Everyone knows the special relationship I have with this club and it has always felt like home to me."

Drogba became a free agent upon leaving Galatasaray at the end of last season so there is no transfer fee involved in the deal. The Côte d'Ivoire marksman was named Chelsea's greatest ever player in a poll of fans in 2012 after scoring 157 goals in 341 appearances.

Kenya's women's national team will play in World Grand Prix Pool Q

Mexico City, Mexico, July 25, 2014 - Kenya's women's national team arrived in Mexico City on Tuesday evening after a 27-hour journey from Nairobi. Coach David Lungaho's team will play hosts Mexico in Pool Q on Friday at the Olympic Gymnasium Juan de la Barrera.

The team is one of two African representatives in the competition – alongside Algeria. The team departed Nairobi on Monday at 19.00 local time for an eight hour flight to Amsterdam. After an eight hour wait for a connecting flight, they boarded another flight at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam at 14.00 for a twelve hour journey that saw them arrive in Mexico City on Tuesday at 18.00 (Wednesday 02.00 – Kenyan time), before going through another grueling one-hour checking-out process.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced Yao Ming as the latest Ambassador for this summer’s 2nd Youth Olympic Games (YOG) taking place in Nanjing, China.
 
The Chinese basketball legend will share his advice and experience of international competition with the next generation of young athletes, while inspiring young people around the world to get active and embrace the Olympic values.

Yao Ming is no stranger to the Olympic Games having competed at the 2008 Beijing Games, where he scored the first basket of the tournament in his home nation, a moment which he described as “the proudest of my career”. A popular athlete in China, Yao Ming has also enjoyed success further afield after spending the majority of his career within the illustrious NBA.

Nigeria and Africa’s number one female sprinter and 100 Meters record Holder Blessing Okagbare is ready to take the stage at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Scotland beginning tomorrow Sunday July 27th 2014 starting with the 100 meters heats.

Blessing who has been putting up some phenomenal performances at the IAAF Diamond League series, despite silently battling some health issues is the favorite to win Gold in the 100 and 200 meters and the Long Jump. She recently clocked a seasons best of 10.97 seconds at the Monaco Grand Prix and is looking forward to capitalizing off of that seasons best performance at the Track in Scotland.

 The Head Coach of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association, Jimmy Wright has said that there are possibilities for his athletes to win medals in relays as well as individual events like the 100, 200 and 400 meters respectively.


He revealed that this is one of the best athletics team the country the country has produced in many years and one can boast of them as the athletes are ready to compete and bring laurels to the nation.


He stated that he is happy for the crop of athletes both foreign and home based that are representing the country in the Games and with determination hope they can achieve their aims and objective.

Blantyre, Malawi, July 25: South Africa’s Bloemfontein Celtic has agreed to release two Malawi national team players it blocked from playing in the second preliminary round first leg match qualifiers of 2015 Africa Nations Cup against Benin last Saturday.

The decision to release defender, Limbikani Mzava and the team’s talismanic striker, Frank Gabadhinho Mhango followed Thursday talks between Malawi FA Chief Executive Officer, Suzgo Nyirenda and senior Celtic officials.

Mzava and Mhango were barred by their club Celtic as it  was involved in a Charity Shield tournament on the day Malawi national team  faced Benin on the grounds that the game was not on FIFA calendar.

Sierra Leone started the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on a poor footing after two of its squash players; Issa Kamara and James Fayia were unable to get past the preliminary rounds as they were knocked out of the Games.

James Fayia was beaten 3-0 by The British Virgin Islands Joe Chapman, losing by a score of 11-4 in the first match and 11-2, in the second and third match respectively.

The second match involved Sierra Leone’s Turkish based, Issa Kamara and New Zealand’s world ranked player, Paul Coll. After 22 minutes of action it was Paul who carried the day.

Sierra Leone’s Issa Kamara started poorly in the opening set as he failed to secure a single point losing 11-0 but in the second match, he tried to overcome the poor start but still could not match his opponent power losing 11-5.

It was a similar result in the third and final battle as it was another win for Paul Coll of New Zealand again who registered a win of 11-7 in his final score.

Nigeria won their first medal at the ongoing 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow thanks to weightlifter Nkechi Opara who won the bronze medal in weightlifting.

Opara won the bronze medal in the Women’s 48kg category after scoring 70 in snatch, 92 in clean and jerk for total 162 points to come behind Indian duo Sanjita Chanu, who won the gold with 173 points, and Saikhom Mirabai, the silver with 170 points.

The women’s 48 kg event was one of two in the weightlifting competition, which was one of many on the first day of competition at the games.

NEW YORK (July 25, 2014) – Real Salt Lake and Vancouver Whitecaps FC violated the League’s mass confrontation policy in the 73rd minute of their game on July 19 (VIDEO). Real Salt Lake will be issued an official warning as this is the team’s first violation of the 2014 season. Vancouver and head coach Carl Robinson will both receive fines as this is the club’s second infraction this year.

India’s Ravindra Jadeja has been found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Code for Players and Player Support Personnel for his involvement in an incident with James Anderson during the second day of the first cricket Test against England at Trent Bridge on 10 July.

Jadeja was fined 50 per cent of his match fee by David Boon of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, who found him not guilty of the offence which he was originally charged with, but found him guilty under Article 2.1.8, that relates to ‘conduct contrary to the spirit of the game’.

Jadeja was reported for a breach of Article 2.2.11 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel by England team manager Phil Neale on 16 July for his alleged altercation with Anderson after they had left the field for lunch.

Monaco - The IAAF has launched a web app telling athletes what they need to know about all aspects of the IAAF’s anti-doping programme.

The IAAF is the first international sports federation to launch a standalone app with detailed anti-doping information.

It is free to access and as a web app it is available on desktop computers, smart phones and tablets.

It can be accessed at: iaaf.org/Antidoping

The information available includes:

- What to expect from a test (whether urine or blood)

- What their rights are

- All about the prohibited list and anti-doping rule violations

- Whereabouts

Lausanne, Switzerland, July 25, 2014 - The International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) ground-breaking new competition – AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) – will start on October 24 2014.

Today, AIBA is proud to announce the field in the Bantamweight division.

The illustrious field, which consists of Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, AIBA World Boxing Championships, Asian Games, South American Games and European Championship medalists, is led by the runner-up from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Khedafi Djelkhir. The 30-year-old French boxer of Algerian origin is undefeated in 16 professional bouts, 12 of which coming by way of knockout.

“It is extremely difficult to have a career plan in professional boxing.In my past experience I was tired not having a scheduled fight and I was therefore delighted when I heard that AIBA was launching a Pro Boxing competition,” explained Djelkhir when asked what had attracted him to AIBA Pro Boxing.

Apollo XI 0-0 Angavu Stars

26 July 2014 - Apollo XI failed in their quest to gain promotion to the NFD after drawing 0-0 with Angavu Stars in a SAFA Second Division/ ABC Motsepe League playoff game at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday.

The Mpumalanga outfit side finished their Group A campaign on eight points, one point behind Cape Town All Stars, who will be promoted to the National First Division (NFD) along with Group A winners Highlands Park.
 
Apollo started the game well and had a good early chance, but Nhlanhla Mntungwa dragged his sixth minute shot wide of the left hand upright from what had been a good position inside the box.

More chances followed for the Mpumalanga club, but Ntsako Gumede was unable to beat Angavu keeper Eziel Mamatela with his free kick, the same player then failing to find the target, blasting the ball over goal after Mamatela had saved his initial effort.