SuperSport United defender Bongani Khumalo acknowledged the limitations of his talent as a footballer, but says that his attitude made up for his shortcomings.
 
In 2010 Khumalo made a dream move to English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur after winning three consecutive Premiership titles with SuperSport.
 
However, Khumalo never played a competitive game for Spurs and was shipped out on loan throughout his time in England.

Photo Courtesy: endurohub.co.za
 
South Africa’s canoe king, Hank McGregor (Jeep Team), was named KwaZulu-Natal Sportsman of the Year at the 2015 KwaZulu-Natal Sports Awards ceremony in Durban on Saturday, 14 November.
 
Award winners were decided by a panel of KZN sports experts based on their achievements over the last 12 months. Judges included Bongani Yengwa (SABC Sports Analyst and Sports Management lecturer at the Durban University of Technology), Zwelakhe Ngcobo (Isolezwe Weekend Sports Editor), Vicky Masuku (UKhozifm Sports Broadcaster) and Tommy Ballantyne (freelance journalist).

MIES, Switzerland - The suspension placed on the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF) on 29 July has been lifted with immediate effect by FIBA’s Executive Committee, it was announced on Friday.
 
The decision came after the receipt of a report by the FIBA Task Force - chaired by FIBA Europe Vice-President and FIBA Central Board Member Cyriel Coomans - outlined that the three main issues which gave rise to the suspension had been dealt with by RBF in a very positive manner.

Zimbabwe Sports and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane has stepped in to avert the pending ZIFA presidential elections from exploding into a nasty and violent battle at the expense of the image of the game, with the minister yesterday urging peace and calm as candidates go about their campaign trail.Hlongwane’s call comes amid genuine fears that the trend which the campaigning for posts on the board presidency had taken had deviated from norms of football administration and degenerated into a barrage of threats on one another by aspiring candidates or camps aligned to the contestants.
 
This, Hlongwane is worried, could turn the December 5 poll into a farce.

Dynamos team manager Richard Chihoro has acknowledged the difficulty of their upcoming semi-final clash against Highlanders in the NetOne Easy Call Cup.
 
Dynamos will have to be at their best against an opposition they have not beaten in the league victory since 2006 against the opposition.
 
Chihoro is wary of the threat Highlanders will pose at the Barbourfields on December 6.

© IAAF
The IAAF has sent a detailed response to the allegations that it has "idly sat by" and tolerated rampant blood doping in Athletics, ahead of next week’s appearance by the IAAF before the UK Parliament’s Culture Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into ‘Blood Doping in Athletics’.
The document, which is now published on the IAAF website here, demonstrates that:
- The IAAF has consistently been a pioneer in the war against blood doping in sport, using every tool available to it to catch blood dopers in athletics and with considerable success.
The Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) began in 2009. The IAAF in consultation with WADA was the first sports organisation to adopt the ABP across the whole sport.

- Prior to 2009, the IAAF screened nearly 8000 blood samples for potential markers of blood doping, and followed up with thousands of urine tests to detect the presence of rEPO.

The match officials for the opening matches of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations Senegal 2015 have been announced.
 
Moroccan Redouane Jiyed will be at the helm for the tournament opener between host Senegal and South Africa, on Saturday, 28 November 2015 at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium, Dakar. Kick-off is at 15H00 GMT.
 
He will be assisted by Berhe O’Michael of Eritrea and Nigerien Yahaya Mahamadou with Cameroonian Antoine Effa Essouma as the fourth official, for the Group A clash.

The Sports and Recreation Commission will tomorrow unveil nominees for this year’s Annual National Sports Awards with big names like Charles Manyuchi and Kirsty Coventry expected to feature prominently. The Sports Commission closed the entries on Monday and have given the selection committee ample time to verify the candidates.
 
The winners will be announced at a banquet next month.
 
Sports Commission corporate communications officer, Tirivashe Nheweyembwa, said they have moved the nomination date to tomorrow with athletes battling for honours in 17 categories which include Sportsperson of the Year; Sportsman of the Year; Sportswoman of the year; Junior Sportsperson; Junior Sportsman; Junior Sportswoman; Junior Sportsman with a Disability; Junior Sportswoman with a Disability; Technical Official (Umpire/Referee) of the Year; Coach of the Year and Team of the Year.

Six members of the IAAF Athletes’ Commission have been appointed by IAAF Council.

The six new members who have been appointed to join the Athletes’ Commission for the period 2016-2019 are Fabiana Murer (BRA), Paula Radcliffe (GBR), Alina Talay (BLR), Ashton Eaton (USA), Michael Frater (JAM) and Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN).

A new chairperson will be decided by the commission when they hold their next meeting in January/February 2016 (date tbc.). Frank Fredericks, the out-going chairperson, will continue in an honorary capacity to assist the commission during the transition and in their general contact with the IAAF Council.

With Christ the Redeemer looking down from Corcovado Mountain, Rio promises to be one of the most spectacular Olympic regattas (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)
 
With three courses inside Guanabara Bay and two in open ocean, competitors say diversity of racing areas means best all-round sailors will top the podium

Some of the world's leading sailors have voiced their approval after the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) announced the provisional competition schedule and courses for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Zimbabwe Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions Chicken Inn’s participation in the 20th edition of the Caf Champions League championship hangs in the balance as the club leadership said yesterday that they are unlikely to take part citing prohibitive costs. Chicken Inn, who clinched the title with a game to spare following their 3-1 win over Harare City at Luveve Stadium last Saturday, are bankrolled by conglomerate Innscor Africa.
 
“Nothing final yet but indications are that we are unlikely to participate in the safari although we are still weighing our options,” said Chicken Inn chairman Lifa Ncube yesterday. He said the club had to make a decision to either put resources to retaining the title next year or participate in the Caf Champions League.
 
Ncube said the club did not want to blindly decide to participate in the Caf Champions League like what other teams did in the past without assessing the costs to the team.

Four games were played on Wednesday at the ongoing CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup in Addis Ababa.
 
The Harambee Stars of Kenya were locked in a one all draw with Burundi in a Group B at the Awassa Stadium.
 
Amissi Tambwe, making a return to the starting line-up drew first blood for the Burundians on 11 minutes before Michael Olunga restored parity 30 minutes later with his second of the competition.

The final second leg of the 2015 Orange CAF Confederation Cup takes place on Sunday, 29 November 2015 at the Olympic Stadium in the Tunisian Mediterranean resort city of Sousse.
 
The first leg in Johannesburg last week ended one-all.
 
Ahead of the meeting, Cafonline.com provides some numerical highlights of the competition;

26 November 2015 – The South African Men’s u23 National Team arrived in Dakar, Senegal in the early hours of Wednesday and have stepped up preparations for the upcoming CAF u23 Africa Cup of Nations tournament which gets underway on Saturday, 28 November.

Owen da Gama’s men arrived in this bustling city after an 8-hour flight from Johannesburg.

They were in the company of COSAFA counterparts Zambia who are also in Group A, who together with Tunisia and the hosts, Senegal complete the exciting group.

Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and Mali make up Group B.

ZIFA presidential candidate Phillip Chiyangwa has said that he will not make the mistake that ousted president Cuthbert Dube made of using his personal funds to run and bail out the beleaguered national association. Chiyangwa said he was a financial engineer who does not have to inject his money into the association.
 
Instead, Chiyangwa said, once in office he will make sure that the football association is remodelled into a viable business entity that will be able to generate revenue on its own.

Four 3x3 courts - complete with backstop unit - are to be donated to the national basketball federations of Andorra, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Uruguay.

MIES (IBF) - The FIBA Foundation (IBF) has announced that the Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) is to donate a 3x3 court – complete with backstop unit – to fellow national basketball federations and FIBA members Andorra, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Uruguay to support their continuous efforts in developing 3x3.

The QBF-funded initiative aims at helping those less-affluent federations who have excelled in growing the young urban discipline in spite of their scarce resources.

Rio 2016 Olympic Games mascot Vinicius takes the first shot on the new Olympic golf course (Photo: Rio 2016/Felipe Varanda)
 
Rio 2016 venue will challenge the world’s best players at first Olympic golf tournament since the St Louis 1904 Games
Golf’s 112-year absence from the Olympic Games will come to an end next year, and a course fit for its return was unveiled on Sunday (22 November) in Rio de Janeiro. Designed by American Gil Hanse, the 970,000m² course will have capacity for 15,000 fans during the Games and afterwards will help increase public participation in the sport in Brazil.

Mamadou Ndiaye (University of California at Irvine) and Tacko Fall (University of Central Florida). Photo courtesy of www.espn.com

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - It was unofficially billed as the "biggest college match-up ever" or the "tallest game in history". Well, Mamadou Ndiaye and Tacko Fall both showed why they were the headliners.

University of California at Irvine versus University of Central Florida is not exactly the showdowns of legendary collegiate programs. Sure the thought of the schools' mascots going against one another is a bit amusing - the UCI Anteaters facing the UCF Knights.

InterClube de Luanda of Angola won the 2014 Africa Champions Cup Women and will be looking to defend their title when the 2015 event gets underway on Friday

LUANDA (African Champions Cup Women) - Angola's InterClube de Luanda have won three of the last four editions of the African Champions Cup Women (ACCW) and will be chasing their fifth continental title when this year's event gets underway on Friday.

This year's event runs from 26 November to 6 December in the Angolan capital city of Luanda where 12 teams from across the African continent are expected to do battle for the top prize in FIBA Africa's top women's clubs competition.

Photo Courtesy: icc-cricket.com

·Thailand captain Sornrin says squad primed to “put in our best effort” as excitement builds

Two places in next year’s ICC Women’s World Twenty20 India 2016 will be up for grabs when eight sides go head to head in a week-long ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier Thailand 2015 in Bangkok from Saturday.

Leaders of European national federations and FIBA officials met in Rome on Thursday to discuss the current remodeling of European club competitions

ROME, Italy - Seven leading European national federations met in Rome on Thursday to discuss the current remodeling of the European club competitions.

Under the leadership of FIBA President Horacio Muratore, FIBA Vice-President and FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel and FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann, the basketball governing bodies of France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain and Turkey took note of the new European competitions announced recently by Euroleague Basketball.

26 November 2015, Lausanne – APB boxers David Graf (GER) and Anton Pinchuk (KAZ) will face each other on the undercard of one of the most awaited bouts of this year, the Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury event on the 28th of November in Dusseldorf, Germany. This event will mark the beginning of a new era and a natural step forward in the expansion of AIBA boxing initiated by President CK Wu since the beginning of his Presidency in 2006.

“We are very pleased with the results of the first year which crowned APB champions across the globe in 10 weight categories. This is a unique opportunity for both boxers to compete in front of more than 40,000 fans in Germany, which participates in our vision for APB development in the future” said AIBA President CK WU.

© Philippe Fitte
The full suspension of ARAF and the formation of an IAAF Integrity Unit were confirmed today at the 202nd IAAF Council Meeting in Monaco.

The meeting was chaired by IAAF President Sebastian Coe. Two members were absent: individual member Mikhail Butov (RUS) and African Area Association representative David Okeyo (KEN).

In his opening address Sebastian Coe said: “We must work hard to restore trust and to show the real values and potential of Athletics. We have a unique opportunity now to face the future with optimism. Let us make sure that we have the right people, in the right places and the right structure to take the sport to a better place.”

USA’s Ashton Eaton and Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba were named the male and female IAAF World Athletes of the Year for 2015 on Thursday (26).

Both athletes set world records during 2015, Eaton in the decathlon and Dibaba in the 1500m, and won gold medals in these events at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.

Ashton Eaton became the first decathlete to win the male World Athlete of the Year award after his spectacular performance in the Chinese capital, his only decathlon of the year, when he set a world record of 9045 and improved his own three-year-old mark by nine points. Notable among his individual events in Beijing was a 45.00 400m at the end of the first day, the fastest one lap of the track ever run within a decathlon.

USA basketball legend, who could win a third consecutive gold medal, expresses desire to be part of team for the first time
 
Bryant in action against Australia in the quarter-finals of the London 2012 Olympic Games (Photo: Getty Images/Christian Petersen)
Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant has said for the first time that he wants to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where he would be among a select group of USA players going for a third consecutive gold medal.

Bryant, who will be 38 two days after the gold medal match at Carioca Arena 1, had previously said he would not take part in the Rio Games, with speculation rife that he will retire at the end of the season, after 20 years with the LA Lakers.