Reigning champion Ireland has opened up a 14-point gap at the top of the ICC Intercontinental Cup table after defeating Namibia by an innings and 107 runs in the second round clash, which concluded in Windhoek on Tuesday.

In a largely one-sided encounter, a 326-run second-wicket stand between left-handers Ed Joyce (205) and skipper William Porterfield (186) proved to be the difference as it helped Ireland declare its first innings for 570 for six while replying to Namibia’s 251. Trailing by 319 runs, Namibia fell to defeat with more than two sessions remaining after being bowled out for 212 in its second innings.

The ICC today announced that tender documents for the provision of non-live programming  services for the period 2016-2019 are available on application from interested parties.
 
The ICC is seeking proposals from production houses in respect of ICC event programming, including historical documentaries, event preview series and official films.
 
Programming is required in the lead up to each of the following ICC Events:

Miloud Hamdi is a man who likes to work fast. After taking the helm of USM Alger just 98 days ago, the first time he had been appointed as a coach in his own right, he recently guided the Algerian side to their first-ever CAF Champions League final.
It was in June of this year that the powers-that-be at the Algiers-based club handed him the reins on a temporary basis, an opportunity that the former youth coach could not turn down. “My appointment has since been made permanent, which meant that I was finally able to achieve something great with this team,” he told FIFA.com.

• The BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global becomes a destination for hardcore tennis fans from around the world

SINGAPORE – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Lagardère Sports announced today that more fans are traveling to Singapore to watch the tournament this year. Consumer data shows an increase of over 30% in the number of fans traveling from overseas.
 
For Ann Eley, making the 20-hour trek from the United Kingdom to Singapore didn’t seem daunting at all.  Eley is one of over 2,000 fans that have made the trip to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global so far this year in just the first two days of the tournament.

Mbulelo’OJ’  Mabizela has reportedly joined ambitious First Division side Royal Eagles.
 
The former Bafana Bafana captain has been clubless after leaving AmaZulu at the end of last season, but has now joined the likes of Katlego Mphela and Dominic Isaacs at Eagles.
 
Mabizela became Bafana's youngest skipper at the age of 20 and landed a dream move to Tottenham Hotspur in 2003.

HARARE businessman Philip Chiyangwa yesterday became the first candidate to formally fill in the official form, declaring his bid to fight for the ZIFA presidency, at elections set to be held on December 5. Chiyangwa said he was eligible to stand for the ZIFA presidency because he spent six years, from 1993 to 1999, as a director of Division Two side Chinhoyi United Football Club.
 
He said from 2001 to 2003, he was the director of Old Citrus Farm Football Club, a team that played in Division Three. The businessman claims that he has been embedded in football, from the early ‘90s and has been offering financial support to the game, including sponsoring the Chiyangwa Football Tournament from 2000 to 2005 in his home province of Mashonaland West.

NEUCHATEL/MIES, Switzerland - For the fourth year in a row, the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) and FIBA have come together to produce the International Basketball Migration Report (IBMR), a seasonal insight into the migratory trends of the sport.

The fourth edition of the report, which covers the 2014-15 basketball season (1 July 2014 - 30 June 2015), combines FIBA’s knowledge and data on international transfers with the CIES Observatory’s renowned expertise in analysis to shine light on the international migration of players in any given basketball season.

Cairo, October 28, 2015 – The CAF Executive Committee at its meeting at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt has taken note of submissions by candidates for the FIFA presidential election scheduled for 26 February 2016.
 
The meeting served the climax to the CAF annual meetings, and between 25 and 28 October 2015 audiences were granted to four declared candidates for the FIFA presidency. They are Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Gianni Infantino and Tokyo Sexwale.

Zimbabwe senior national soccer coach Callisto Pasuwa has made a passionate plea to his employers at Zifa to arrange an early camp and to mobilise financial support for the team ahead of the African Nations Championship finals in Rwanda early next year.
 
The tournament is less than three months away and Pasuwa, who led the side to a 4-2 aggregate win over Lesotho in a two-legged final qualifier, said he was not happy with the way the national team has been conducting their business.
 
The Warriors preparations were disrupted last week when players downed tools demanding their dues. And now it appears the boycotts have become the norm every time national teams are preparing for international assignments.

• Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki headline 2015 field

 
ST PETERSBURG, FL, USA – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced today the players that have earned the opportunity to compete in the inaugural Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai from November 3-8, 2015. The event features both singles and doubles and will be staged in the southern Chinese coastal city of Zhuhai.
 
The Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai will take place at the new, custom designed and state-of-the art Zhuhai Hengqin International Tennis Centre. With a total prize money of $2.15 million and 700 ranking points awarded to the champion, the tournament is one of the most prestigious on the tennis calendar, a status highlighted by the addition of tennis legend Li Na as an ambassador.

Poznan will receive the top international lumberjack athletes.
Poznan is the host for the eleventh STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship. The world’s top lumberjack athletes will meet at the Congress Center in this western Polish city on 13 and 14 November 2015. Over 100 athletes from more than 20 nations will line up to determine the 2015 World Champion in the team and individual competition.The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® Series is an international competition series in lumberjack sport, which has a long tradition. The history of the first contests dates back to 1870. The first Wood chopping World Champion­ships took place in Tasmania in 1891. From there, logging sport took off around the world. Even today, nearly all the disciplines - three with the axe and three with the saw - replicate traditional forestry activities. All the disciplines revolve around the athlete and his handling of the sports equipment and the wood. In the individual competition for the World Championship in Poznan and in the ten or so national championships taking place around the world between May and October the athletes have to complete six disciplines – Springboard, Stock Saw, Standing Block Chop, Single Buck, Underhand Chop and Hot Saw. The Springboard and Hot Saw disciplines are not included in the team competition for the World Championship or in the Champions Trophy.

Asad, Prasad, Wahab, Wood and Holder also achieve career-high rankings 

England’s batsman Joe Root has regained the number-one batting ranking, while Pakistan’s wrist spinner Yasir Shah has become the second highest-ranked bowler in the world in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings, which were released on Tuesday morning following the conclusion of the Colombo and Dubai Tests.
 
Root scored 88 and 71 in the Dubai Test, which has helped him reclaim the top spot from Australia captain Steven Smith. Root, who entered the Test trailing Smith by 13 points, now leads the Australian by just three points. This means the Yorkshire batsman will have to perform strongly in the third Test, starting in Sharjah from Sunday, to retain the position he first achieved following the Trent Bridge Test against Australia in August.

TSHOLOTSHO FC coach Lizwe Sweswe believes their Premier Soccer League fate is in their hands following a drastic turn of events on Saturday that saw them move just a place above the drop zone.
 
The Zhwane Boys condemned Whawha to the unfashionable Division One League on Saturday by edging the Gweru-based prison warders 1-0 to leapfrog Buffaloes, who lost by a similar scoreline at home to Hwange. Tsholotsho sit on position 12, tied on 26 with Buffaloes, who occupy the last chop zone spot with four matches remaining.
 

Any meeting between Oscar Pistorius and Barry Steenkamp will happen “away from the media spotlight”, a spokesperson for the Pistorius family told News24.
 
“I hope you understand that we simply can’t be having this conversation in the media. Any engagement with the Steenkamp family has to be handled with the necessary care and respect, away from the media spotlight,” Annelise Burgess said yesterday.
 
She had been asked to respond to a report that Reeva Steenkamp’s father, Barry, would want to meet with Oscar one day.

When Ashley Cole and Asamoah Gyan were warming up for a England-Ghana friendly at Wembley Stadium in London back in 2011, the former English Premier League stars may have noticed a small ceremony taking place pitch-side. What they might not have realised – if they had even heard of Arthur Wharton in the first place – is the debt they owe to the man being honoured.

While Cole, Gyan and scores of their team-mates flourish in an age where footballing talent supersedes colour or creed, Wharton made his name during harsher times for black men and women in all walks of life. As the first-ever black professional footballer, he was a true pioneer and, as England’s Football Association recognised at that friendly between the two nations, one well worth celebrating.

LeBron James (USA) - Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA). Photo: NBAE/Getty Images

CHICAGO (NBA) - The six teams tipping off the 2015-16 NBA season on Tuesday have something in common when it comes to international basketball.

Each outfit has players that will be at next year's Olympic Games in Brazil.

The ICC today announced that tender documents for the provision of production services for ICC Events 2016-2019 are available on application from interested parties.
 
The ICC is seeking proposals from production houses in respect of full live and highlights programming from each of the following ICC Events:

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann (SUI)

MIES, Switzerland - The International Basketball Federation will welcome a delegation representing top European clubs, together with Euroleague representatives, at the House of Basketball on 3 November to discuss the launch of a new European top club competition.

The talks will take place following a meeting hosted by FIBA earlier this month with ULEB (Union of European Leagues of Basketball) and representatives of European domestic and regional leagues, during which important conclusions on professional basketball were agreed.

FIBA's Medical Commission

MIES - FIBA's Medical Commission, which is in place for the 2014-2019 term of office, met on Saturday-Sunday 17-18 October at the House of Basketball.

The 12-person body confirmed that 2015 saw an unprecedented number of doping controls performed in the lead-up to and during the 10 continental championships.

The Middle Player Technical Seminar participants at the Development Centre in Tunis
Tunis, Tunisia, October 27, 2015 - A Middle Player Technical Seminar was held at the Tunis Development Centre from October 21-25. National and club coaches participated in the course, which was given by Dr. Fethi Mkaouar.

Training young players is an ongoing priority in Tunisia, one of the most successful countries on the African continent at under-age and senior levels. The Middle Player Technical Seminar will facilitate putting in place training programmes which will help young Tunisian players get to grips with this important role.

Members of the Golden State Warriors look on as the 2014/15 NBA Championship Banner is unfurled on opening night
The 2015/16 NBA season started on Tuesday night with last season runner up and finalist, the Cleveland Cavaliers taking on Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose’ Chicago Bulls as the President of the United States Barack Obama in watched on live from a courtside seat.

​Xerox Golden Lions captain, Jaco Kriel, and coach, Johan Ackermann, paid tribute to the team spirit of the Johannesburg side who beat DHL Western Province 32-24 at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday to clinch the Absa Currie Cup and finish the season unbeaten.
 
The Lions achieved the rare feat of a perfect season with 12 out of 12 wins as they stormed home to lift the coveted Cup they last won in 2011 at the same ground. Although not filled to capacity, the noise of the home fans created an incredible atmosphere inside the famous Highveld stadium and carried the hosts to their eleventh title win of the competition.

IOC President announces participation of top-level refugee athletes in the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016.

The 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly today approved a resolution for observance of the Olympic Truce for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro next summer. The resolution was supported by 180 out of 193 UN member states.
​
Speaking to the General Assembly in New York on Monday, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach reiterated the important role that sport and the Olympic ideals can play at the service of society by promoting peace, fair play, tolerance and understanding.

Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco claimed the Audi Golden Boot with a league-best 22 goals scored during his debut season in MLS. The MVP candidate was awarded the trophy via tiebreaker as his 16 assists topped Columbus Crew SC forward Kei Kamara, who also finished the regular season with 22 tallies but only eight assists. Giovinco, purchased from Italian powerhouse Juventus in January, set a new MLS single-season combined goals and assists record (38) and became the first player to ever pace the League in both goals and assists. He also led TFC to its first ever playoff berth and his 22-goal campaign is tied with former Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Camillo Sanvezzo for the third-highest mark among all Audi Golden Boot winners (2005-present). The Atomic Ant’s season was highlighted by a nine-minute hat trick, a return to the Italian National Team, two Player of the Month selections, three Player of the Week nods, and 10 Goal of the Week nominations. ​

NEW YORK, NY (October 25, 2015) – The Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs begin on Wednesday, October 28 and Thursday, October 29 with two single-elimination Knockout Round Matches from each conference. All four matches will be broadcast nationally on UniMás with English-language SAP.
 
Wednesday, October 28:
Eastern Conference: #4 D.C. United vs. #5 New England Revolution – 7:30 p.m. ET (UniMás; TSN2)
Western Conference: #4 Seattle Sounders FC vs. #5 LA Galaxy – 10 p.m. ET (UniMás; TSN2; RDS2)