International Netball Federation President Molly Rhone praised the impact of Malawi’s Mwai Kumwenda on netball after accepting the International World Games Association (IWGA) Athlete of the Year on her behalf at SportAccord Convention here.

President José Perurena.Kumwenda, who plays for professionally for Mainland Tactix in Christchurch in New

Zealand, was announced as the winner of the award in February.It followed an online poll, which saw

United States began the Rio 2016 Wheelchair Rugby Qualification Tournament with two victories in the round robin phase in Paris today,

London 2012 bronze medallists, began by easing past Germany 64-43 before proving to be too strong for New

Zealand, 54-34.Host nation France also began in fine style with a pair of wins in front of their home

then book their place at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.In other matches played today, Denmark pipped the New

The United States and Canada maintained their 100 per cent records at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Karlstad today.

United States took charge of Group E as they made it three wins from three by beating Netherlands 11-1.New

Zealand recorded their first victory ©WCF/Hamish IrvinePoland recorded their first win at the Championship

points in the first, and Norway hammered Luxembourg 14-1.Turkey managed to edge past Japan, 7-6, and New

Zealand recorded their first win of the week, 11-7 over Spain.With the game tied at 7-7 after eight

England claimed their first tournament victory this season as they thrashed New Zealand 31-14 in the

the break they then pulled away with Alice Richardson and Jo Watmore’s tries putting the match out of New

It was a really tough match against New Zealand but we stuck to the system.

New Zealand came through their semi-final 12-7 against France, who then lost 19-12 to Australia in the

Zealand eased past Russia 43-0.Australia still have a comfortable lead overall, with 76 points ahead

of New Zealand on 64.It means that only an unlikely scenario would see them miss out on being crowned

Rio 2016 have faced heavy demand for tickets to the Olympic men’s and women’s football tournaments after 32,000 were sold within 24 hours of Friday’s (April 15) competition draw in the Brazilian city.

debutantes Zimbabwe will join Germany in Group F.Defending champions United States will lock horns with New

Zealand, France and Colombia in Group G in the 12-team tournament in which players of any age can participate.Fans

Kenya stunned defending champions Fiji with a superb performance to clinch their first-ever World Rugby Sevens Series crown as the event in Singapore drew to a dramatic close.

ensure they didn’t lose further ground on Fiji.It proved to be a disappointing outing in Singapore for New

Zealand, who dropped to third on the standings after losing 26-21 to Samoa in the plate final.Scotland

The host nation began the World Rugby Women's Canada Sevens with three victories in Langford today - and they didn't concede a point.

scored a hat-trick for Australia against Russia ©Getty ImagesPool B was topped by reigning champions New

Zealand who eased past Fiji 26-5 in their first contest.

Fiji.Canada are set to meet France - second in Pool A - while England will meet the US, second in Pool B.New Zealand

France were in fine form on day one of the Singapore Sevens as they cruised into the quarter-finals with three victories from three.

They began with a surprisingly comfortable 24-0 success over New Zealand as the eighth leg of this season's

crossing the whitewash in all three matches and bringing up his 50th career try in the process.New Zealand

would grab the second qualification spot.Tomorrow's quarter-finals will see France play Kenya, with New

Zealand meeting South Africa.Argentina will play Samoa with Fiji colliding with Australia.

The United States will begin as favourites to claim one of two places on offer for the wheelchair rugby competition at this year's Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when the final qualification tournament is due to begin tomorrow.

crowd.Germany and Denmark are also set to compete in the qualifying tournament ©Twitter/WREC2015New Zealand

invited to play in the tournament after Ireland were forced to withdraw, with their team now led by new

A record number of 42 teams will compete at the 2016 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, set to begin tomorrow at the Löfbergs Arena in Karlstad in Sweden.

The ninth edition of the event is the first to take place since mixed doubles was confirmed as a new

against one another in Group D with newcomers Israel meeting Belarus, Denmark, Spain, The Netherlands, New

Zealand and the United States in Group E.Qatar, another country making their debut, face Brazil, Czech

The United States have been projected to win close to 100 medals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, according to the latest version of Gracenote’s Virtual Medal Table (VMT).

Cycling Championships was one of the key events to alter the virtual medals table.China, Britain, New

Zealand and the US are now expected to gain an additional cycling medal following their performances

Former World Cup final referee Craig Joubert will lead a pool of 12 male and 12 female officials serving during the Olympic debut of rugby sevens at Rio 2016, it has been announced.

South Africa's Joubert, who refereed the 2011 15-a-side World Cup final won by New Zealand over France

©Getty ImagesThe men's list also consists of Scotland's Mike Adamson, Argentina's Federico Anselmi, New

Alexandre Ruiz.Rasivhenge will also referee women's games along with South Africa's Aimee Barrett, New

Brazil could face a semi-final clash with Germany in a repeat of their memorable meeting at the FIFA World Cup in 2014 following the draw for the men’s Olympic football tournament here this morning.

debutantes Zimbabwe will join Germany in Group F.Defending champions United States will lock horns with New

Zealand, France and Colombia in Group G in the 12-team tournament in which players of any age can

There’s a message waiting for Ernest Brown, chairman of the Little Stoke Parish Council in Britain's West Country which has caused an almighty hoo-hah this week by insisting that parkrun - the organisation which runs free, weekly five kilometers timed runs open to everyone - needs to pay for its increasingly popular local event.

globally across 12 countries including Australia, South Africa, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, New

Zealand, the United States, Singapore, Russia and France.There was even a regular parkrun for service

France’s Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion claimed gold in the men’s 470 European Open Championships after winning the medal race on the final day of action in the Bay of Palma in Spain.

against one another.Once again, it was the London 2012 silver medallists Peter Burling and Blair Tuke of New

Zealand who got the best start of all.The duo, unbeaten in 24 consecutive 49er regattas, passed Beijing