​South Africa will tackle Namibia in the final of the COSAFA Under-17 Championships on Sunday after both came through contrasting semifinal matches in Mauritius on Friday.

The South Africans thumped Kenya 4-0 in their Last 4 fixture, while Namibia needed a late equaliser to take their tie against Malawi to penalties, where they eventually won 6-5.

Guyana Amazon Warriors 161-4 (C Lynn 57, J Mohammed 57, R Reifer 2 for 22) beat Barbados Tridents 158-6 (K Pollard 47, S Tanvir 2 for 24) by 6 wickets. 
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The Guyana Amazon Warriors claimed a tight victory in the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) against the Barbados Tridents at the Central Broward Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida. 

​Olympic record
South Africa’s women will be making their second appearance at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. At London 2012, Banyana Banyana – as the team is affectionately known – failed to progress beyond the group stage, losing their opening game against Sweden 4-1 but managing to score their first-ever Olympic goal in the process. A 3-0 defeat against Canada in their second game saw the team all-but eliminated ahead of their final match, where they secured a morale-boosting goalless draw against Japan. Japan and Canada going on to secure the silver and bronze medals respectively, is an indication just how competitive the group was.

​Olympic record
For Zimbabwe, Rio 2016 will be their first appearance on a global footballing stage, having previously always fallen short in the qualification competition for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. They secured a convincing 6-1 victory against Guinea in their first match on the road to China PR 2008, but were then knocked out by regional rival South Africa, who managed to win both legs – 3-2 and 2-1. They failed to enter the qualifying tournament for London in 2012.

Although Jody February goes to lengths to explain that he is no hero, tens of thousands of South African football fans would beg to differ. After all, it was the young goalkeeper who proved the match winner as his side qualified for this year's Men's Olympic Football Tournament in Rio de Janeiro.
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Having lost the semi-finals of the CAF Africa U-23 Cup of Nations to Algeria, the Amaglug-glug had one last opportunity to book their ticket to Rio 2016, but to make it to South America, the team needed to beat hosts Senegal in a play-off. Having already lost 3-1 to the west Africans in the tournament's opening match, it was always going to be a tough ask of the South Africans. And with 15 minutes to go in the scoreless affair, their fate seemed sealed as Senegal were awarded a penalty.

Refugees say 'queijo' in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue (Photo: Rio 2016/André Naddeo)
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Seven of the 10 athletes that make up the team of refugees visited the most famous monument in Brazil this Saturday (30 July)
An obvious choice for any tourist, but that does not stop it from being 'breathtaking'. This was the adjective used by the Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini to describe Christ the Redeemer, the most famous of all Brazilian postcard images. Accompanied by most of the Refugee Olympic Team, Mardini visited the monument on Saturday morning (30 July), six days before the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games.

​31 July 2016 – Banyana Banyana midfielder Stephanie Malherbe has always wanted to play football, but she never imagined in her wildest dreams that she could some day be at the Olympic Games as an athlete.

The 20-year old, who was born and raised in Temecula, California in the USA, now finds herself at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where she is part of the South African Women’s Olympic Team.

​Trinbago Knight Riders 138-2 (D Ramdin 52*, J Louis 1 for 25) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 137-6 (L Simmons 60*, DJ Bravo 4 for 13) by eight wickets with 18 balls remaining.


The Trinbago Knight Riders have finished the group stages of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a win over the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots to give themselves a much needed boost in confidence going into their playoff match against the St Lucia Zouks on Thursday. 

UTSUNOMIYA (FIBA 3x3 World Tour) - Canadian sensation Jordan Kilganon absolutely killed the Iris Dunk Contest at the 2016 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters on 31 July.
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Kilganon made a lot of new fans in Japan after performing some of this signature dunks, including the amazing scorpion dunk, which seems him lifting his arm behind this back and dunking without looking.

© Getty Images
With the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics only days away, do not miss out on the chance to see some of the greatest athletes in the world – not to mention many of the top men’s and women’s footballers – go for gold in Brazil.
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The Rio 2016 Games are almost here and you can catch both the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Football Tournament live in action! Check out the Rio 2016 Ticketing site to find out how to get your tickets today. 

​At the age of 54, South Africa coach Owen da Gama is right to consider himself a well-travelled person. Thanks to football and his keen eye for goal, he built up an impressive collection of passport stamps in his playing days. “I’ve already been around the world. I played for Beerschot in Belgium, for Figueres in Spain, when they were in the first division, and I played in Ireland too, for Derry City, where I won the player of the year award. I didn’t play in the top leagues but I made a habit of scoring my goals,” he told FIFA.com in the bowels of the Maracana, following the draw for the group phase of the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016.

UTSUNOMIYA (2016 FIBA 3x3 World Tour) – The reigning World Tour champions Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) won the 2016 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters - the second of seven Masters - after a one-sided 21-13 final against Piran (SLO) on 30-31 July.
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The two-time winners become the second team to book their ticket to the World Tour Final in Abu Dhabi on 27-28 October, after Caguas (PUR) clinched their spot at the Mexico City Masters.

​Egypt v Angola, 2016 Afrobasket U18 Final Round (RWA), Kigali (Rwanda), Final, 31 July 2016

KIGALI – (FIBA Africa U18 Championship 2016) - Angola needed overtime to defeat reigning champions Egypt 86-82 in Sunday's Final of the FIBA Africa U18 Championship 2016 in the Rwandan capital city of Kigali.
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A 25-16 lead in the first quarter saw Angola take charge of the game early on but Egypt launched a strong comeback in the second period to trail by just one point 41-40 at half-time.

​A referee gives the signal for a challenge. Referees can also call for a challenge in case they have doubt over a decision.
 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 31, 2016 – The impressive and innovative improvements the FIVB has made to volleyball and beach volleyball through technology is set to be on show for the first time at an Olympic Games when Rio 2016 begins on Saturday, illustrating just how much the sport has improved in the last four years. 

Netherlands captain Peter Borren says Afghanistan is a “serious contender” for the ICC Intercontinental Cup 
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Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai was elated after an impressive all-round effort against the Netherlands saw his team reach the top spot in the ICC Intercontinental Cup points table, but cautioned that more needed to be done by his team.

Bulawayo Test centurions on the move; Wagner and Santner on career-high rankings 
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Rangana Herath and Kusal Mendis have charged up the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings after steering Sri Lanka to a 106-run victory over number-one ranked Australia in the first Test in Pallekele on Saturday. It was only the second Test victory for Sri Lanka over Australia, the previous one being way back in September 1999.

​Viliame Mata is a star player with Fiji's red-hot rugby sevens team, widely tipped to win the country's first Olympic medal (Photo: Getty Images/Francois Nel)
 
Contenders from Fiji, Bosnia, Rwanda and Honduras could stand where no compatriot has stood before — on an Olympic podium.

​When the Olympic Men's Football Tournament kicks off later this year in Rio de Janeiro, Nigeria's football mad supporters will be anxious for their side to emulate the memorable success of the original Nigerian 'Dream Team'. It was 20 years ago this summer that a renowned Nigerian team stunned Argentina 3-2 in the 1996 final in front of almost 90,000 people near Atlanta to become the first African football nation to win Olympic gold.

​St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 180-5 (E Lewis 79, S Narine 3 for 27) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146 all out (C Munro 46, K Santokie 3 for 27) by 34 runs.
 
The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots claimed just their second win of the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) against the Trinbago Knight Riders at the Central Broward Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida. A season best innings from Evin Lewis allowed the Patriots to reach 180-5 on an excellent pitch. It proved too much for the Knight Riders to chase as they stumbled in the face of some excellent Patriots bowling. 

Centre of attention: Bolt arrives to a media circus at Rio's international airport (Photo: Rio2016/Gabriel Nascimento)
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Cereal and milk are two must-haves for the fastest man on earth at his decidedly normal accommodation in Rio

In now familiar fashion from the quickest man who ever lived, Usain Bolt has been taking it easy since his arrival in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday (27 July).

​Photo credit: uefa.com
 
29 July 2016 – Head coach of the South African Women’s Olympic Football Team is happy the loss against New Zealand came just before the start of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
 
She says it will help bring the team back to reality.

Photo Credit: Soccerlauma.com

28 July 2016 - South Africa’s National u19 Team coach David Notoane said the team was prepared to go one up from the bronze medal they collected last season as they begin their campaign with a match against Glasgow Rangers at Sugar Ray Xulu stadium on Friday afternoon. (Kick off 16h30).

The South Africa u19 team which is taking part in the annual Durban u19 International tournament that began on Thursday will be under the tutelage of Notoane who will be standing in for Thabo Senong who is in Brazil as assistant coach of the u23 Men's Olympic Team.

​Masai Ujiri, President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors, and President and Founder of Giants of Africa, announced today that Giants of Africa will be conducting camps in six countries across Africa this summer.
 
Dedicated to supporting the growth of basketball in Africa, Giants of Africa will expand camps from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda to also include Botswana and Senegal Basketball camps will be held in Senegal from August 7 - 9, Ghana from August 12 - 14, Nigeria from 16 - 18, Kenya from August 19 - 22, Rwanda from August 23 - 25, and Botswana from August 26 - 29. 

Some of the athletes from Malawi joined in with the fun (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)
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Small delegations from Malawi, Botswana and the Maldives shake their stuff at the first welcome ceremony

Team USA are a formidable outfit but their international rivals are improving (Getty Images\Thearon W. Henderson)
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The foreign players turning out for teams in the USA are ready to confound expectations at Rio 2016

A record number of 47 active National Basketball Association players will participate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.