18 Jul 2021 - KURUME, Japan, Jul 18 – Coach Bernard Ouma believes staying out of competition in the COVID-19 era and not burning out will trigger great times for the athletes in Tokyo Olympics. Ouma, one of Team Kenya coaches, cited the recent stellar run by Kenyan middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon who broke…

18 Jul 2021 - Tokyo (AFP), Jul 18 – Two athletes have tested positive for the coronavirus in the Tokyo Olympic Village after a team colleague was also infected, officials said on Sunday, raising fears of a cluster just days before the opening ceremony. The first cases involving athletes in the Village came a day…

18 Jul 2021 - PHOENIX, United States, Jul 18 – Powered by 32 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo and late heroics from Jrue Holiday, the Milwaukee Bucks moved within one win of their first title in 50 years by defeating the Phoenix Suns 123-119 on Saturday in the NBA Finals. Khris Middleton added 29 points while…

18 Jul 2021 - CASABLANCA, Morocco, Jul 18 – Egyptian giants Al Ahly beat 10-man Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in Casablanca on Saturday evening to successfully defend their CAF Champions League crown and secure their 10th overall title. Goals from Mohamed Sherif, Magdy Afsha and Mohamed Elsoulia handed Ahly the title with…

17 Jul 2021 - SILVERSTONE, United Kingdom, Jul 17 – World championship leader Max Verstappen won Formula One’s inaugural sprint race on Saturday to take pole position for the British Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver finished the 100km dash around Silverstone ahead of defending world champion Lewis Hamilton with…

17 Jul 2021 - KURUME, Japan, Jul 17 – Team Kenya Physiotherapist Nassib Twaha believes the current high temperature in Japan is nothing to worry about. Twaha has nevertheless advised athletes to rehydrate a lot more in order to stay nimble and focused for the multi-sport Summer Games. The physio is glad that the…

17 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – The Kenya Lionesses roared to perfection, stunning pre-tournament favourites Egypt 99-83 in Kigali on Saturday evening to qualify for the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket which will be staged in Cameroon in September. The Lionesses rose back from a poor start to the tournament to…

17 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – Gor Mahia came from a goal down to pull back a point in a 1-1 draw with Nairobi City Stars in a BetKing Premier League match played at the Ruaraka Complex on Saturday afternoon. In their first match since the departure of head coach Carlos Manuel vaz Pinto, Jules Ulimwengu…

17 Jul 2021 - MOSCOW, Russia, Jul 16 – The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee, an organisation weighed down by a protracted doping scandal, believes his athletes are headed to the Tokyo Games with an unfair disadvantage. Still, Stanislav Pozdnyakov wants his Olympians to haul home dozens of medals. “The national…

17 Jul 2021 - MILAN, Italy, Jul 16 – Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella has conferred ‘Order of Merit of the Italian Republic’ honours on coach Roberto Mancini and his Euro 2020 winning football team. The honours were “a sign of recognition of the sporting values and national spirit that animated the Italian…

14 Jul 2021 - SYDNEY, Jul 14 – Bemused rugby star Quade Cooper has had his application for Australian citizenship denied despite playing 70 times for the Wallabies, a decision he called “awkward”. The mercurial fly-half was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia with his family as a 13-year-old and has never…

14 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 14 – The national Under-23 team, the Emerging Stars, jetted out for Bahir Dar, Ethiopia on Wednesday morning ahead of the CECAFA Under-23 Challenge Cup which kicks off on Sunday. The Stanley Okumbi-coached side is confident they can battle for the title as it changes to an Under…

14 Jul 2021 - MILWAUKEE, United States, Jul 13 – Devin Booker wants to forget his worst playoff performance while his Phoenix Suns teammates try to use a lopsided loss as motivation to seize a commanding NBA Finals advantage. The Suns lead the best-of-seven championship showdown 2-1 entering game four Wednesday…

14 Jul 2021 - LOS ANGELES, United States, Jul 14 – Kevin Durant scored 17 points as the United States bounced back from consecutive defeats to score a convincing 108-80 victory over Argentina in a pre-Olympic exhibition on Tuesday. Gregg Popovich’s US squad, the reigning Olympic champions, had been jolted by…

14 Jul 2021 - LOS ANGELES, United States, Jul 13 – The United States will send the second-largest team in its history to compete at the Tokyo Olympics this month with women athletes making up more than half of the delegation for a third straight Summer Games, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said…

13 Jul 2021 - GENEVA, Switzerland, Jul 13 – Roger Federer announced on Tuesday he has withdrawn from the upcoming Tokyo Olympics after a “setback” in his recovery from a knee injury. The 20-time Grand Slam champion was knocked out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals by Hubert Hurkacz last week. The 39-year-old…

13 Jul 2021 - KURUME City, Japan, Jul 13 – The national women’s volleyball team is leaving nothing to chance as they prepare to make a return to the Olympic Games for the first time since 2004, with technology taking center stage. The Malkia Strikers have made great strides thanks to the watchful eyes of top…

13 Jul 2021 - WEST DIDSBURY, United Kingdom, Jul 13 – Anti-racism demonstrators gathered on Tuesday at a mural of striker Marcus Rashford after it was vandalised amid a deluge of abuse against England players. Throughout the day, hundreds gathered at the mural to the England player in the Withington area of…

13 Jul 2021 - PARIS, France, Jul 13 – Proclaiming himself “full of hope and desire” for fresh glory Spanish veteran Sergio Ramos insisted on Tuesday he has joined Paris Saint-Germain in the twilight of his career with the intention of winning a fifth Champions League. “Why PSG? Because it’s a pleasure to be here…

13 Jul 2021 - KURUME City, Japan, Jul 13 – A section of Japanese pupils on Tuesday got a rare opportunity of interacting with Team Kenya’s superstars in a virtual cultural exchange program on the sidelines of the team’s training camp in Kurume. The 43 pupils aged 11 and 12 years (class five and six) from Kawai…

13 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 – The 100m duo of Ferdinand Omanyala and Mark Otieno as well as 400m sprinter Hellen Syombua left the country on Tuesday evening for a 10-day training camp in Kurume City ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The three will join up with the men and women’s rugby sevens teams as well…

13 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, July 13 – The annual Nairobi Marathon, sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, will return this year after last year’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s race, scheduled for October 31 will involve both physical and virtual participation. The newly adopted hybrid…

13 Jul 2021 - KURUME, Japan, Jul 13 – The national men’s rugby sevens team says it is not worried despite the absence of fans at the Tokyo Olympic Games which kicks off in Tokyo on July 23. Shujaa, as they are popularly known, have often been a crowd favourite throughout the World Rugby Sevens Series and often…

13 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 – As he continues to prepare for his first ever Olympics, sprinter Mark Otieno has received a Sh1mn sponsorship boost from telecommunication giants Safaricom ahead of the Tokyo Games. The 28-year-old will now have access to the best quality shoes as part of the sponsorship…

13 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 – Kenya’s Emerging Stars have been drawn in Pool C and will face Djibouti and South Sudan in the CECAFA Under-23 Challenge Cup set to be staged in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia from this weekend. Stars have been training for the last one month getting ready for the tournament which…

13 Jul 2021 - NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 – Malkia Strikers head coach Paul Bitok has warned the team will not merely be participating at the Tokyo Olympic Games, but will be going to compete with the world’s best. Kenya’s last involvement at the Olympic Games was in Athens, 2004, where they ended up losing all their…

13 Jul 2021 - KURUME, Japan, Jul 13 – Kenya Sevens head coach Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu says the humidity in Kurume City, Japan will favor them during competition as the team had the first training at the Fukuoka Prefecture Kurume Sports Center on Tuesday. The squad of 12 players led by skipper Andrew Amonde who…

13 Jul 2021 - Tokyo (AFP), Jul 13 – Olympics chief Thomas Bach praised Tokyo on Tuesday as the “best-ever prepared” host city, as athletes began entering the Olympic Village 10 days before the opening ceremony. The final countdown to the Games comes with Tokyo under a coronavirus state of emergency and…

13 Jul 2021 - MILWAUKEE, United States, Jul 12 – A frustrated Phoenix Suns squad, struggling to slow Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, risks losing its NBA Finals lead unless it can find some answers in the next two days. The 26-year-old Greek star scored 41 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the host…

13 Jul 2021 - WASHINGTON, United States, Jul 12 – Facebook and Twitter said Monday they were scrambling to take down racially abusive comments directed at members of the England football team following a heartbreaking loss in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final. The US social media giants said they were taking down racist…