Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s highest court has rejected Oscar Pistorius’s request to appeal against his 13-year jail term, ending the long legal battle over his killing of his girlfriend in 2013. The former Paralympic athlete, 31, had asked the Constitutional Court to review the jail term, which …
Read More »Arrests after Burundi president ‘roughed up’ on football field
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two Burundi officials have been arrested after their town’s football team allegedly “roughed up” President Pierre Nkurunziza who was playing during a match with his personal team, legal sources and witnesses said Friday. A legal source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the administrator …
Read More »FIFA report details spending of Blatter era
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | A copy of a report seen by AFP into the state of FIFA commissioned by Gianni Infantino after his election as president shines a light on the murky ways of the old regime at world football’s governing body. The 98-page “Progress at FIFA – Status Report” …
Read More »Ghana looks to convert grassroots rugby into global success
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Some of the girls wear hijabs, others are barefoot and the sandy pitch is marked out in charcoal. But the 14 players could be Ghana’s rugby stars of the future. One of them, Maimuna Dawda, used to watch matches on television before she got the …
Read More »From Russian doping to FIFA bribery, 2017 proves dark time
Paris, France | AFP | Russia being banned from the Winter Olympics stole the headlines but may also have overshadowed an otherwise sorry year for sport in terms of scandals. It was a particularly damaging year for sporting officials, not least from the world of football and FIFA in particular. Former …
Read More »Farah shock winner of BBC award
Paris, France | AFP | Britain’s four-time Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah was named BBC sports personality of the year for the first time on Sunday, edging out motorcycling champion Jonathan Rea to the award. Farah, 34, successfully defended his 10,000-metre title at the World Championships in August, although he missed …
Read More »London to host world chess championship in 2018
London, United Kingdom | AFP | London will host the world chess championship match on November 9-28 next year against current incumbent Magnus Carlsen of Norway, organisers said on Wednesday. The 12-game match will see Carlsen defend his title against a challenger to be decided at a separate tournament in …
Read More »UAE and Qatar stake billions in ‘soft power’ showdown
Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | The opening this week of the glittering Louvre Abu Dhabi museum marks the latest stage in a multi-billion-dollar “soft power” showdown between energy giants Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Culture, media and sports have turned into battlegrounds for branding and global recognition. “There …
Read More »Trump feud exposes racial divide in US sport
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s feud with black athletes in the NBA and NFL has drawn attention to the racial fault lines which divide sport in the United States, analysts say. Trump triggered a firestorm of controversy last week after taking aim at American football players who knelt …
Read More »Trump v NBA, NFL – Who’s saying what
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump has triggered a furious backlash across the US professional sports world after branding NFL players “sons of bitches” for protesting the national anthem and withdrawing a White House invitation to NBA champion Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. AFP Sport …
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