The 2022 World Athletics Continental Tour will commence in just five days with an expanded schedule featuring meetings in all six continental areas, beginning in New Zealand.

More than 130 meetings have been included so far in this year’s Tour, which will be divided into four levels – Gold, Silver, Bronze and Challenger. The status of each meeting is determined by the quality of competition and prize money on offer.

Spanning the globe over the next eight months, the Tour is designed to provide athletes with more high calibre competitive opportunities to earn prize money and world ranking points while reaching fans in nearly every corner of the world.

In 2021, 6682 athletes from 147 countries were involved in the Continental Tour, with two world records, 12 area records, 99 national records and 1377 personal bests set across the 69 meetings.

• FC Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder and FC Bayern München’s Polish striker claim top player prizes
• Christiane Endler, Édouard Mendy, Emma Hayes and Thomas Tuchel among other winners 
• Christine Sinclair and Cristiano Ronaldo receive The Best FIFA Special Awards in recognition of their respective international individual goalscoring records

The Best FIFA Football Awards™ 2021 ceremony, held as a virtual TV show from the Home of FIFA in Zurich, crowned two household names, Alexia Putellas and Robert Lewandowski, as the outstanding players in women’s and men’s football respectively.
Poland and FC Bayern München striker Lewandowski was recognised as The Best FIFA Men’s Player for the second year in succession. For her part, Spain midfielder Putellas, who had made The Best FIFA Women’s Player shortlist for the first time, capped her exploits with FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team by winning the prestigious award.  

The ICC Commonwealth Games Qualifier 2022 commences at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday as Bangladesh, Kenya, Malaysia, Scotland and Sri Lanka vie for the lone remaining slot at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.

The round-robin T20 tournament to decide who joins the seven teams already qualified for Birmingham - Australia, Barbados, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa – commences with a match between Bangladesh and Malaysia and will see Bangladesh and Sri Lanka face off on the last day.
England and six other highest-ranked ICC Members in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings as of 1 April 2021 qualified directly for the Commonwealth Games, with the slot for the West Indies going to Barbados since athletes from the Caribbean will be representing their countries and not the West Indies (as they are affiliated with the ICC). Barbados were nominated by Cricket West Indies (CWI) on the basis of their win in the 2019 CWI T20 Blaze Tournament.

Boxing Clubs/ fans within Greater Accra region should expect mega and exciting events in 2022. 
All the  major events including GIRLS BOX , BOOKSB4HOOKS,  GABA HOMOWO TOURNAMENT,NOVICE TOURNAMENT will return bigger and better ! New exciting programs will soon be announced. 
Present at the meeting were Chairman Mr. Bernie Johnson, General Secretary Alex Ntiamoah, Ist Vice Mad. Edith, Coach Naa Amerley Turkson Member and Sarah Lotus Asare(Administrator and Assistant Organizer)

World Athletics has launched 'Road to Oregon', an online tool to help athletes, fans and media track the qualification process for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Searchable by event, country and qualification status, the tool provides a real-time view of each event over the course of the qualification period, which ends on 26 June 2022 (29 May 2022 for the marathon and 35km race walk). The World Championships will be held from 15-24 July 2022.
Athletes are able to qualify through one of four ways: by achieving an entry standard, by virtue of their placing at area championships or Platinum Label marathons (considered as having achieved the entry standard), by wild card entry or by world rankings position.
At the end of the qualification period, based on target numbers for each event, World Athletics will determine the number of athletes with an entry standard, eligible wild cards, and universality places. Any remaining places within an event’s target number will then be allocated to athletes based on their world rankings position to complete the field in that specific event.

Implementation of MOU signed between Ghana Basketball Association and Lithuania Basketball University has begun in earnest with the arrival of Lithuanian representative in the country. 
The Memorandum of Understanding between the two bodies and the visit to Ghana  by the representative of the LBF, Jonas Vainauskas.
Mr Vainauskas who is currently in the country on a 10-day working visit is expected to assess the state of Ghana basketball and propose ways the two countries can benefit from the partnership
The joint projects covering grassroot development of the sport up to establishment of a formidable national team will be across the entire country starting from four (4) at the moment.

No fewer than 54,739 transfers across borders were recorded in 2021: 19,372 involving professionals (men and women) plus another 35,367 involving amateurs

ZURICH, Switzerland, January 14, 2022/ --  A total of 54,739 transfers across borders recorded; Consistent growth in women’s football; Transfers in men’s football back to pre-pandemic levels

FIFA has today published the 2021 edition of the Global Transfer Report, which charts the transfers of men’s and women’s players in both professional and amateur football.

No fewer than 54,739 transfers across borders were recorded in 2021: 19,372 involving professionals (men and women) plus another 35,367 involving amateurs.

Increase in international transfers in men’s professional football, with a further decrease in transfer fees paid

There were 18,068 international transfers in men’s professional football, representing an increase of 5.1% compared to 2020 and signalling a return to the levels of 2019 despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Cricket Council has today announced coverage plans for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022, the event which showcases the future stars of the game, with ICC TV set to produce live coverage of 20 matches. In addition, there will be 23 live streamed matches and digital clips coverage from the five remaining matches.

• 20 Broadcast and 23 live streamed matches for fans to enjoy 
• Digital clips coverage from the remaining five matches

The International Cricket Council has today announced coverage plans for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022, the event which showcases the future stars of the game, with ICC TV set to produce live coverage of 20 matches. In addition, there will be 23 live streamed matches and digital clips coverage from the five remaining matches.
The tournament which is being hosted by the West Indies for the first time starts on Friday 14 January in Guyana with the Final in Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday 5 February, with St Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago acting as the other two host countries.

India battled to a hard-fought heavyweight triumph over South Africa as the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup entered full swing on Saturday.

• From selected matches throughout the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 rights free images available here; Reaction from the captains available on video here and as transcripts here

India battled to a hard-fought heavyweight triumph over South Africa as the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup entered full swing on Saturday.
The four-time champions edged a gripping Guyana clash against the 2014 winners as Yash Dhull and Vicky Ostwal starred to get their Caribbean campaign off to the perfect start.
And that was just one game on a jam-packed day of action, as Joshua Cox’s majestic unbeaten century fired Ireland to an opening game victory over Uganda and United Arab Emirates toppled Canada in Group A.

​The most dreaded team ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was Algeria. And that was not only because the Fennec Foxes are defending champions, but for the solid squad they were able to maintain from the previous edition.
Their post-Afcon 2019 form was brilliant, across the qualifiers for the ongoing edition, in friendly matches and on Fifa rankings. Many pundits had tipped them to be among the top three finishers of this tournament.
Although, that may not have changed and it remains too early to crucify the North Africans, their showing so far in Cameroun has been disappointing, even to their own fans.
Their philosophy of one-touch movement, blazing through the flanks and air superiority could not prosper against Sierra Leone in Group E opener, which ended in a frustrating goalless draw, to the Algerians, but was much of a victory to the Leone Stars.
Many thought it was only a slow start and that the Fennecs would hit the ground running in their second outing, but it turned out a worse scenario than the first.

​What happened at the Limbe Stadium on Wednesday during Tunisia and Mali’s game shocked many around the continent and beyond.
Both teams were playing their Group F opener in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. 
Mali, known as the “bête noire” of North African teams, snatched a lone-goal win from the encounter, which was widely seen as controversial, leaving the Tunisians broken-hearted. 
The blame, all the blame, for the terrible meeting fell on the referee.       
The Zambian official, Janny Sikazwe, ended the match unconventionally. Firstly, he blew the final whistle in the 85th minute before taking the same action moments ahead of the 90-minute mark.
The game saw no added time which could have been up to five or six minutes according to pundits, taking in account the stoppages for two penalties and a red card.
About twenty minutes after end of the match, players from both sides were invited to return to the pitch to see out the remaining minutes which were supposed to have been added during normal time.

 Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in recent times have not ceased to surprise Africa and the world of football as a whole with their shocking performances.

​First they sent a shockwave in one of their African Cup of Nations AFCON qualifying return leg against Nigeria on the 13th November, 2021. The Nigerian side was seen as favourite after leading by four nil, until their was an abrupt turn in things when Leone Stars did the seemingly impossible by leveling up the score to four all. The Mighty Super Eagles were left agape as points were equally shared with a team they saw as the underdog. Fast forward into the AFCON, Sierra Leone was placed in Group E, with contenders like the reigning AFCON Champions, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Ivory Coast. Their opening match fixtures versus Algeria was another shock, as all ended in a stalemate at the Japoma Stadium in Douala, Cameroon leaving a frustrated Algerian side in bafflement. Leone Stars were considered underdogs that can thoroughly pummeled with a little or less resistance, but they turned out to be extraordinarily adamant to conceive a goal, as the goal stopper, Mohamed Kamara was awarded Man Of The Match.

• Stage set as Costa Rica prepares to welcome future superstars of the women’s game 
• 32 matches to take place across two Host Cities
• Official Draw for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2022™ to take place in San José on 5 May

Preparations for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2022™ have taken an exciting step forward today after the match schedule and date for the Official Draw for the tournament were announced by FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC).
With the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 ™ just over 18 months away, some of the world’s best young players and future superstars of the women’s game will showcase their skills later this year at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Costa Rica from 10 to 28 August 2022.
As part of the match schedule that was unveiled today, 32 matches involving 16 women’s national youth teams from around the world will be played in two Host Cities – San José and Alajuela.

It’s not a surprise that FIFA’s recent proposal of turning their biggest money-churning event into a biennial tournament has divided the football fanbase. According to the latest numbers presented by SafeBettingSites.com, 71% of Indian football fans and 61% of US football fans say that they are supportive of the biennial World Cup idea.
In football-powerhouse Brazil, 56% Fans Want World Cup Every Two YearsFIFA recently floated the idea of turning their quadrennial World Cup event into a biennial one. The World Cup has been in existence since 1896, and it serves as the biggest international tournament in the sport. Expectedly, FIFA’s proposal has received a significant backlash from fans and players alike. However, according to the recent Morning Consult survey, this backlash is mostly limited to football-playing European nations. As part of the survey, 400-789 self-identified football fans were asked about their opinions in every country.


In non-European nations, the idea has received a much better response from football fans. Surprisingly, the majority of fans from South American football-loving nations like Brazil and Argentina seem to support the idea of the biennial Cup.​

Mr Carrard chaired the FIFA Reform Task Force in 2015

ZURICH, Switzerland, January 11, 2022/ --  Former International Olympic Committee Director General has passed away in his home city of Lausanne, aged 83; Mr Carrard chaired the FIFA (www.FIFA.com) Reform Task Force in 2015.

FIFA has paid tribute to the former director general of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) François Carrard, who has passed away at the age of 83.

Mr Carrard led the IOC administration for 14 years, playing a key role in reshaping and reforming the organisation during his tenure, which ran from 1989 until 2003.

Following his work at the IOC he headed FIFA’s independent reform committee and was chairman of the Reform Task Force – upon which FIFA President Gianni Infantino also sat before being elected president the following year.

Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and Scotland all recorded impressive victories as the warm-up matches for the 2022 ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup continued in the West Indies.
In Guyana, Sri Lanka notched a 128-run triumph over Ireland and Scotland were winners by 107 runs over Uganda, while the biggest win of the day came in St Kitts for UAE, as they were 250-run victors over Papua New Guinea.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s scheduled warm-up match against England was postponed due to delays in the Afghanistan squad obtaining the necessary visas to enter the West Indies.
The ICC U19 Men’s CWC starts on January 14, with all teams now entering the final stages of preparation.

Dear Mr. Bach,


We wish you and your team an exciting and prosperous new year with good health and great things for the Olympic movement around the world. 
  
We want to share two new things with you and your team: 


1. Akwasi Frimpong tested positive for Covid-19 on December 29, 2021 while preparing for his last three Olympic qualification races in Altenberg, Germany. This development has made qualifying for the Olympic Games impossible for him. 


https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/59859236

East / West Africa, January 10th, 2022 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Epson has announced a partnership with Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, across the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Russia (EMEAR) region, where Bolt will be the face of a brand awareness campaign for Epson’s cartridge-free EcoTank printers. 

Eight-time Olympic gold medallist, and widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, Bolt will promote Epson’s EcoTank range to include Outdoor, POS and Social Media. 

Over 60 million EcoTank high-capacity ink tank printers have sold worldwide since their launch in 2010, saving customers up to 90% on printing costs2. The printers come with high yield ink bottles instead of cartridges. One set of ink bottles is the equivalent of up to 72 cartridges worth of ink. 

Epson has recently refreshed its award-winning range of EcoTank printers enabling busy households and small offices to enjoy hassle-free printing at an ultra-low-cost per page. All Epson’s new EcoTank printers feature its Micro Piezo Heat-Free Technology so users can enjoy reduced energy consumption with less need for replacement parts.  ​

Mohamed Kallon one of the most outstanding footballers to hail from Sierra Leone, is a 42 year old veteran and now retired striker, who capped 39 times for the Sierra Leone national team: "The Leone Stars". He came to the spotlight in 1994 after a stellar stint with Old Edwardians FC in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. 
   
Relentlessly with high determination, Kallon scooped a contract with Lebanese side Tadamon Sour between 1994 to 1995. His impressive performance caught the eye of European teams amongst which was the Italian Series A side, Inter Milan that secured his signature in 1995. He would go on to play in Italy for series of clubs in top flight leagues since 1995 to 2004 before moving to France where he would go on to play for Monaco.
He then moved to the UAE and Asia where he won the Asian Champions League with Al-Ittihad Jeddah as the highest goal scorer in 2005. He played in other clubs around Asia before making his way back home to play for his own club FC Kallon in the Sierra Leone Premier League (SLPL) in the 2012/ 2013 season.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is deeply saddened to learn of the death of its long-time Director General, François Carrard, at the age of 83. Mr Carrard led the IOC administration from 1989 until 2003, and served IOC Presidents Juan Antonio Samaranch and Jacques Rogge during his 14-year term.

A Doctor of Law from the University of Lausanne, François Carrard spent two years at a law firm in Stockholm before being admitted to the Bar in 1967, when he joined the firm of Carrard & Associés. He specialised in sports law before becoming the IOC’s Director General.
Mr Carrard developed the IOC administration during his time as Director General and made it fit for purpose. With his legal background, he played a crucial role supporting the IOC in driving its fundamental reforms in 1999 and 2000. Mr Carrard also played a key role in the setting-up of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the introduction of the first World Anti-Doping Code. In addition, he was heavily involved in revamping the Olympic Charter and in the IOC Commission on Apartheid and Olympism. Mr Carrard acted as an outstanding communicator for the IOC after being appointed spokesperson for the IOC Executive Board (EB) under President Samaranch.

The Afghanistan squad is yet to arrive in the West Indies due to delays in obtaining the necessary visas, whilst discussions attempting to resolve the issue are ongoing.
The warm-up matches in St Kitts and Nevis against England at Warner Park on 10 January (tomorrow) and the 12 January fixture against the UAE at St Paul’s have both been cancelled. England will now play UAE at Conaree Cricket Centre on 11 January.

The International Cricket Council today announced the umpire and match referee appointments for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022, which will be staged in the West Indies from January 14 to February 5. 
Experienced English umpire David Millns will stand alongside Nepal’s Buddhi Pradhan for the opening match of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup after the officials were confirmed for the West Indies.
Millns, who has been a first-class umpire for nearly 14 years, and Pradhan will oversee hosts West Indies against Australia at National Stadium in Guyana on January 14.
Millns’ compatriot Martin Saggers will be the TV Umpire for the first of 48 games, with a 22-strong team of match officials confirmed by the International Cricket Council.
Among those taking charge will be Pakistan’s Rashid Riaz who reprises his role from the 2020 tournament and takes charge of England’s opening fixture against Bangladesh with Ireland’s Roland Black, who also officiated two years ago.

Host nation Cameroon (The Indomitable Lions) kick off the 33rd African Cup of Nations on Sunday, 9 January 2022 against the Stallions of Burkina Faso with the aim of reaching the final on February 6th, like the other favourites, Algeria, the defending champion or Senegal which still hopes for its first title. 
According to experts of African Football, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt And Senegal are favourites to win AFCON. The African Cup of Nations is the biggest football tournament in Africa, and every qualified team wish to win for their nation.
Group A
The Indomitable Lions, and five-time champions who were recrowned in 2017, are the favorites in this group. They will have the advantage of playing in stadiums that are 80 percent full, as opposed to 60 percent for the other matches in the tournament. Cape Verde’s “Stopira” (Ianique dos Santos Tavares) and “Platini” (Luis Carlos Almada Soares) trail, as does Burkina Faso’s Bertrand Traoré. Coincidentally, the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde (quarter-finals) and the Stallions of Burkina Faso (final) both had their best performances in CAN-2013. Ethiopia, which was victorious in 1962 despite being in the midst of civil war, is no longer a tenor. This is only her third appearance in 40 years.

Assistant Trainer at the Charles Quartey Memorial Boxing Gym, Mr. Prince Asiedu is optimistic that they can turn out more African and world boxing champions in the near future. 
In an exclusive interview during the birthday celebration of head trainer, Charles Quartey who chalked 50 years last Friday, the assistant coach said the gym has many plans for the youth living in and around Timber Market and its environs. 
He observed that most of the youth are very intelligent, brave and courageous, whose talents must be polished to become stars. 
He disclosed that they currently have seven professionals including Wahala Oluwaseun, the current WBO Africa Super Featherweight Champion, Joseph Akai Nettey, the current Royal Boxing Organization Light Flyweight Champion, Michael Ansah, the National Lightweight Champion, 25 amateur boxers and several juvenile boxers plus two female boxers.

A quick glance at the make-up of Group D of ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup shows just how challenging it will be to make it out of the first round.

Hosts West Indies won the tournament back in 2016, Australia are three-time champions and Sri Lanka also have a final appearance to their name. 
Scotland round out the group in their ninth appearance in the competition, qualifying after New Zealand were forced to withdraw due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Australia (13th appearance) 
Only India have won the ICC U19 Men’s CWC more times than Australia’s three titles, with Australia also second in terms of matches won and win percentage. 
In fact in 12 previous appearances, Australia have made it through to at least the semi-finals on eight occasions, they are remarkably consistent. 
The last win came back in 2010, a team featuring Mitchell Marsh, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood, who 11 years later would play key roles as Australia claimed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.