Nõlvak and Mart Tiisaar were among the eight pool winners as main draw action began at the International Volleyball

Federation Beach World Tour three-star event in Jūrmala.

The 12th-seeded duo opened their Pool E campaign on the Latvian city's Majori Beach by beating Spain's

Nuttanon Inkiew and Sedtawat Padsawud of Thailand failed to reach the main draw of the International Volleyball

Federation Beach World Tour event in Jūrmala, losing to Poland's Martin Chiniewicz and Michal Korycki

through to round two of qualification, but fell to a 19-21, 16-21 defeat on the Latvian city's Majori Beach

Tiffany Keep and Tristan De Lange won cross-country gold as the cycling competition got underway at the African Games in Casablanca.

Mansouri earned bronze in 3:40.96.Gambian duo Sainey Jawo and Babou Jarra Mbye won gold in the men's beach

volleyball tournament.They defeated Moroccan pair Mohammed Abicha and Zouheir  El Graoui 21-17,

Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Jānis Šmēdiņš will aim to build on their triumph at last week's International Volleyball

Federation Beach World Tour four-star event in Moscow, at their home three-star competition in Jūrmala

behind compatriots Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Edgars Točs.Competition in Jūrmala will take place on Majori Beach

€9,000) and 600 ranking points, which will count towards Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020.Jūrmala Beach

hosted the European Beach Volleyball Championships in 2017, when Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo

defeated Samoilovs and Šmēdiņš in the gold medal match.A year later, it staged the 2018 Under-22 European Beach

Volleyball Championships.Samoilovs and Šmēdiņš topped the podium at the 2016 Jūrmala Masters in front

golden start to the African Games continued as Farida Elaskalany and Doaa Elghobashy won the women's beach

volleyball tournament in Rabat.

Indoor Sports Center today but were postponed.Medals will be awarded in six sports tomorrow.The men's beach

volleyball tournament comes to a conclusion, while the men's and women's cross-country cycling titles

The 2019 African Games have officially begun following the Opening Ceremony in the Moroccan capital of Rabat - and the "lighting" of the flame.

has his 56th birthday in two days time.Athletics, rowing, canoeing, karate, swimming, weightlifting, beach

volleyball, tennis, cycling, judo, wrestling, taekwondo, table tennis, fencing, sports shooting, archery

 Action in beach volleyball, football and judo has already taken place, with boxing, handball, rowing

More than 4.5 million website visits were registered during Tokyo 2020's second-chance Olympic ticket lottery for residents of Japan, which closed today.

sports with sessions available during the second lottery were athletics, baseball/softball, basketball, beach

volleyball, canoe sprint, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball

, hockey, modern pentathlon, mountain bike, rowing, rugby sevens, taekwondo, volleyball, water polo,

Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs of Latvia successfully defended their title at the International Volleyball

Federation (FIVB) Beach World Tour four-star event in Moscow.

 Switzerland's Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre won the women's FIVB Beach World Tour event

Morocco will end a 40-year absence from the African Games tomorrow with the country hosting the 2019 edition of the competition. 

African Games in Morocco ©Getty ImagesAthletics, rowing, canoeing, karate, swimming, weightlifting, beach

volleyball, tennis, cycling, judo, wrestling, taekwondo, table tennis, fencing, sports shooting, archery

 Action in beach volleyball, football and judo has already taken place, with boxing, handball, rowing

Brazilian players had a day to remember at the International Volleyball Federation Beach World Tour event

Eight pairs earned their places in the women’s quarter-finals at the International Volleyball Federation

(FIVB) Beach World Tour event in Moscow today and two of the players, Italy’s Marta Menegatti and the

today by claiming two wins with partner Brooke Sweat as they topped their pool at the International Volleyball

Federation Beach World Tour event in Moscow.

Nelson Mandela was bang on the button when he declared: "Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope, where there was once only despair. It is more powerful than Governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination."

female competitors at Rio 2016, though not quite to the extent of burqas being exchanged for bikinis in beach

volleyball.

and Suzuka Hashimoto reached the main draw of the women's event as action began at the International Volleyball

Federation Beach World Tour in Moscow.

The International Volley Federation (FIVB) Beach World Tour returns to Moscow for the 12th-straight season