qualifying tournament for the London 2012 Olympic Games will be held at the Owen Delany Park in Taupo, New

Zealand, from March 16 until 25, after they moved from Fiji following a legal row involving a leading

Eight nations are taking part in the qualifiers – American Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea

I would like to thank Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) staff, New Zealand Football staff and the

Those words were echoed by Grant McKavanagh, chief executive of the New Zealand Football Federation (

New Zealand Football has a plan to take big football games around the country and this is very much a

Zealand."

By Tom DegunFebruary 8 - The International Rugby Board (IRB) has unveiled a major new qualification pathway

qualifier finale to secure core team status alongside Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Kenya, New

Zealand, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, United States and Wales.The qualifying showpiece in the Hong

The new system provides every nation competing in their regional qualifying tournaments with a direct

By Tom DegunFebruary 5 - Canada is planning to launch a bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and has already been approached by a number of cities interested in being the candidate, it has been revealed by Brian MacPherson, the chief executive of Commonwealth Games Canada.

only six countries to have competed in every single Commonwealth Games along with Australia, England, New

Zealand, Scotland and Wales.They have hosted the competition on four occasions, including in Hamilton

Hambantota could come back for another attempt while Christchurch in New Zealand and an unnamed South

By Tom Degun at Westminster in LondonFebruary 5 - Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-winning actor Clive Owen (pictured) is to host the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards, the international sporting calendar's most premier honours event, in Central Hall, here tomorrow evening, it has been announced.

Petra Kvitova, footballer Homare Sawa and golfer Yani Tseng.After winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the New

Zealand rugby team is favourite for the Laureus World Team of the Year award in a category featuring

names into Brazilian history books and announce their arrival on the world stage as the stars of the new

New Zealand) to book their spot at the Games.The USA cruised through qualifying in style; scoring almost

DegunFebruary 2 - Sean Horan (pictured) has been appointed to the newly created role of head coach of the New

Zealand women's sevens team as the Black Ferns step up their quest to secure Olympic gold when the sport

Since it was announced in October 2009 that Rugby Sevens would be an Olympic Sport in 2016, the New Zealand

on Olympic campaign plans for both the men's and women's games with an aim to win gold medals.Sport New

Zealand (Sport NZ) investment has allowed the creation of the full time women's sevens head coach position

His aim now is to build an identification and development programme for women's sevens in New Zealand

By David GoldJanuary 31 - Crista Cullen (pictured) took her tally at the women's Champions Trophy to five as she struck twice in Britain's 3-1 win over China in the final pool A game in Rosario, Argentina.

to the same opposition in the tournament final.The other last eight games will see Netherlands face New

Zealand, Pool B winners Germany take on Japan and hosts Argentina meet China.Britain's coach Danny Kerry

due to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships taking place out of season in New

Zealand in January.I can't actually believe that, this time last year, we were coming to the end of

Zealand in front of capacity home crowds, where our athletes are expected to perform to their maximum

We've seen a tremendous increase in the number of new athletes coming into the sport and, in particular

World Junior Championships (also in April) and Shelly Woods finished second in both the London and New

Championships in Perth with three gold medals and the Kookaburras defend their hockey Champions Trophy in New

Zealand.

By David GoldJanuary 26 - Great Britain hockey forward Alex Danson says that the squad has been given a significant boost by their partnership with Investec.

was encouraging, with Britain beating eventual winners South Korea as well as defeating Argentina and New

Zealand in the three games that preceded the final.With 29 goals to her name for her country and more

insidethegames.bizRelated storiesSeptember 2011: Investec bring prize money to Women's Hockey League as part of new

By David GoldJanuary 26 - Great Britain's women's hockey coach, Danny Kerry, has criticised the new format

game against Japan on Saturday (January 28), before facing the Netherlands and China, and under the new

from Córdoba on Monday (January 23), having competed in the Four Nations' tournament with Argentina, New

Zealand and South Korea, to whom they lost in the final."

By Duncan MackayJanuary 24 - London 2012 today launched World Sport Day, which is due to be held on June 25, in which students will be encouraged to celebrate the athletes and cultures of the world.

Zoe Smith and sitting volleyball player Charlie Walker, Fijian athlete Sisilia Nsigia Rasokisoki and New

Zealand equestrian rider Jonathan Paget.London 2012 will provide resources for the day, which will open

announced former UK Sport and Rugby Football Union chief executive John Steele is taking over as its new

By Duncan MackayJanuary 20 - Mike Miller, who helped oversee the campaign to get rugby sevens into the Olympics, is to step down as chief executive of the International Rugby Board (IRB) at the end of this month, it has been announced. 

discussions with recently re-elected chairman Bernard Lapasset, it was agreed that the beginning of a new

four-year cycle following the acclaimed Rugby World Cup in New Zealand was a good time to end their

of controversy last October when he claimed that the All Blacks were not "irreplaceable" after the New

Zealand Rugby Union warned that they may not be able to afford to compete at the next World Cup in England

By Katy AndersonDavid Rudisha, the 800-metre world record holder, is Paul Blake's athletics inspiration. That's because he's run 1min 41.01sec, right? Well...not entirely, because IPC world 400m champion Blake – an 800m world record holder in his own right and a world silver medallist over 800m and 1500m – respects Rudisha as much, if not more, for his 45.50 personal best for the one-lap event.Blake is now working to reduce his own 400m time in a bid to succeed over 400m and 800m at this year's London 2012 Paralympic Games: "From a practical perspective I think it's better for me to...

disappointment Blake returned to the same venue to the equivalent meeting in summer 2011 to clock a new

vital role of his first major competition experience at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in New

Zealand: "I think it [New Zealand] was a turning point.

By Tom Degun in InnsbruckJanuary 19 - Malaysia's Prince Tunku Imran, the new President of the Commonwealth

a provisional interest in hosting the event in the near future, including South Africa, Canada and New

Zealand and Prince Imran, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), believes

Commonwealth GamesNovember 2011: Exclusive - I want lots of bidders for 2022 Commonwealth Games says new