Governing Bodies
See the weapons of war in Ukraine that have affected global sports
Apart from the Covid-19 pandemic, no other issue has adversely affected global sports like the on-going Russia-Ukraine war. Different international sports federations have had to take decision targeting Russian interests as the war drags on.
Reuters presents the graphics of the weapons of the war in Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24 with strikes from land, sea and air in the largest military assault by one European state on another since World War Two. Despite an initial battle plan that Western countries said was aimed at swiftly toppling Ukraine’s government in Kyiv, Russia has control of only one Ukrainian city so far – the southern Dnipro River port of Kherson.
During the first week of war, Russia shifted from 1 strategic strikes against military targets using cruise missiles to a 2 stalled ground attack and, currently, a broader 3 siege of major cities, including bombardments using rocket artillery and cluster munitions, sometimes against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. Moscow denies targeting civilians, and calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbour and remove leaders it considers dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and Western allies call it an unprovoked invasion that has killed hundreds of civilians.
As the invasion heads into its third week, hundreds of thousands of people in Mariupol, the main port of eastern Ukraine, have been surrounded and under heavy bombardment, with no water or power or way to safely evacuate the wounded, officials there say. In Kharkiv and Kyiv, missiles hit residential buildings. Millions of Ukrainians have already fled the country as refugees.
Left – Surveillance footage shows a missile hitting a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 26, 2022, in this still image taken from a video obtained by REUTERS
Right – People walk past the remains of a missile at a bus terminal in Kyiv, Ukraine March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
1 Targeted missile attacks
During the initial hours of the invasion, cruise missiles were widely deployed, and precision short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) were fired en masse in a war for the first time. According to U.S. estimates, the first Russian onslaught included more than 100 missiles launched from land and sea.
First day of attacks
Russian air and missile strikes against Ukrainian military sites and infrastructure on Feb. 24
Source: Janes, open-source defence intelligence provider; Natural Earth; United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); Worldpop.org
Russia most likely used its only SRBM in active service, the Iskander-M, said Timothy Wright, a research analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Ukraine has a limited supply of much older ballistic missiles, the OTR-21 Tochka, and in the first days of the war used at least one to attack a Russian air base inside Russia, according to media reports.
According to the IISS, the Iskander-M has greater range than the Tochka and its launchers can carry more than one missile. Each Iskander launcher has an armoured cover for the missiles, and its cabin is hardened against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards, as well as extreme temperatures. The vehicle can drive off-road and can travel at speeds up to 70 km/h (43 mph) for 1,100 km (684 miles). The Iskander-M has circular error probable (CEP) of 5-7 metres, meaning half of the projectiles fired will land in a circle with a radius of that size. The Tochka, by contrast, has a CEP of 90m.
On Friday, Feb. 25, Ukraine’s military command said areas near the cities of Sumy, Poltava and Mariupol were hit by Russian 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles launched at the country from the Black Sea.
The Kalibr is a land-attack cruise missile (LACM) with an estimated range of 1,500 to 2,500 km. Meant for precision strikes, its exact CEP is unknown but is estimated to be less than 5m.
Some Russian strikes at air bases appeared relatively limited, however, and in instances missed vital targets, such as hitting stored rather than operational aircraft, said Joseph Dempsey, a defence researcher at IISS. Ukraine has the Cold War-era Russian-made S-300v anti-aircraft missile system, which also has anti-ballistic missile capabilities, Wright said. It is unclear whether any engaged the Russian missiles, and some S-300v vehicles appeared to have been destroyed by strikes, he added.
As Moscow failed to swiftly overthrow Ukraine’s government in the first days of the attack, the results of its missile campaign appear to have been mixed at best. Although vastly outmatched by Russian airpower in terms of size, Ukraine’s air force is still operating, and experts say its air defences remain viable – a fact that has baffled some military analysts.
2 Stalled ground war
In the two main fronts in the east and north, Russia so far has little to show for its advance, with Ukraine’s two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, holding out in the face of increasingly intense bombardment.
Ukrainian civilians are supporting regular troops as they try to repel Russia’s advance, including through civil defence units and independent militia that have formed across the country.
Urban guerrilla
The use of unconventional warfare in urban environments has become one of the main challenges for Russian forces. Buildings and trees in densely populated areas serve as hiding places for the Ukrainian soldiers.
Russian forces are becoming increasingly frustrated by what the United States believes is a viable and very determined Ukrainian resistance even as Moscow has committed almost all of the forces set aside for the invasion, U.S. defence officials said this week.
Left – A destroyed Russian Army all-terrain infantry mobility vehicle Tigr-M (Tiger) on a road in Kharkiv, Ukraine February 28, 2022. REUTERS/Vitaliy Gnidyi
Right – People take part in a military exercise for civilians conducted by veterans of the Ukrainian National Guard Azov battalion, amid threat of Russian invasion, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
The United States and European nations have supplied Ukraine with a variety of hardware, including advanced weapons that can destroy armoured vehicles. These missiles can be particularly effective in urban settings, with more opportunities for teams to conceal themselves for ambushes.
Among these weapons are the NLAW, the next-generation antitank missile system developed jointly between UK and Sweden, and the FGM-148 Javelin, a U.S. lightweight system that can destroy tanks from several kilometers away.
Photos from Ukraine have shown abandoned Russian vehicles, including tanks, raising questions about logistical failures alongside Ukranian attacks. “They simply don’t have a lot of experience moving on another nation state at this level of complexity and size,” a senior U.S. defence official said of the Russian army.
The official said it was unclear whether it was a failure in planning or execution, but added that Russian forces were likely to adapt and change the way they operate.
Left – Ukrainian service members unload a shipment of military aid delivered as part of the U.S’s security assistance to Ukraine on January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Right – Lithuania’s military aid including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, delivered as part of the security support package for Ukraine on February 13, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Another tool that has become important for Ukrainians in their fight is the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle – a Turkish-made drone that can carry small anti-armor weapons. Ukraine’s ambassador to Ankara, Vasyl Bodnar, has said the drones had been very efficient; videos posted by Ukraine’s military showed them being used to destroy vehicles in Russian convoys. Turkey has sold Kyiv several batches of TB2 drones, which it had deployed against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The drone can carry small anti-vehicle weapons, most likely the Roketsan MAM-L “smart micro munition,” which follows a laser to its targets and can glide up to 8 km before impact, according to its manufacturer. The bombs weigh only 22kg but are designed to use a small charge to punch through armor and destroy a vehicle.
Illustration showing the technical specifications of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone used by Ukraine. The drone has a wingspan of 12 metres, a shooting range of 15km and a communication range of 300km.
3 Siege tactics
Russia has shifted its strategy from directly attacking Ukrainian defences to siege warfare in recent days. Russian forces warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes last week before bombarding the city and rained rockets down on Kharkiv, flattening homes and other civilian infrastructure.
Kharkiv region head Oleg Synegubov has said Russian missile attacks had hit the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city, including residential areas and the regional administration building.
The Mariupol city council said Russian forces were constantly and deliberately shelling vital civilian infrastructure in the southeastern Ukrainian port, leaving it without water, heating or power and preventing it from bringing in supplies or evacuating people.
Kirsty Coventry became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.
The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.
Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who, like her, is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.
Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.
Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.
Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, who Bach addresses as “princess”, and Lily, just seven months old.
“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday (2200 GMT).
“But if one little bit breaks it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful and strong but it only works if we remain together and united.”
‘Pure passion’
Coventry said she could not believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamt of Olympic glory in 1992.
“How lucky are we creating a platform for generations to come to reach their dreams,” she said to a packed audience in a marquee in the Olympic House garden, which comprised IOC members, including those she defeated, and dignitaries.
“It is amazing and incredible, indeed I cannot believe that from my dream in 1992 of going to an Olympic Games and winning a medal I would be standing here with you to make dreams for more young children round the world.”
Coventry, who served in the Zimbabwean government as sports and arts Minister from 2019 to this year, said the Olympic movement was much more than a “multi-sport event platform.”
“We (IOC members) are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring and changing lives and bringing hope,” she said.
“These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world.
“I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”
Bach, who during his tenure had to grapple with Russian doping and their invasions of the Crimea and Ukraine as well as the Covid pandemic, said he was standing down filled with “gratitude, joy and confidence” in his successor.
“With her election it sends out a powerful message, that the IOC continues to evolve,” said the 71-year-old German, who was named honorary lifetime president in Greece in March.
“It has its first female and African to hold this position, and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. She represents the truly global and youthful spirit of our community.”
Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech, was praised to the rafters by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post.
After a warm embrace, she credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” and praised him for leading the movement with “pure passion and purpose.”
“You have kept us united through the most turbulent times.
“You left us with many legacies and hope, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”
-AFP
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry took over the leadership of the International Olympic Committee from Thomas Bach in a ceremony on Monday with the 2028 Los Angeles Games already threatening to fill her in-tray to overflowing.
Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.
Much of the discussion during campaigning focused on the IOC’s need for change in its marketing strategies with several top Olympic sponsors having left in the past 12 months.
However, with Los Angeles hit by protests against immigration raids, and relations tense between state and city officials, and the U.S. government, the 2028 Games have become the major talking point in the movement that would ordinarily be focusing on next year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games.
Coventry has long-standing ties with the United States, dating back to her time as a leading swimmer at Auburn University in Alabama. That will prove useful ahead of LA 2028, and she has said she will seek to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the Games.
Coventry will also need to find time to help secure the long-term finances of the movement. The IOC, which generates billions of dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Olympics, has secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More contracts are expected for both periods.
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Coventry is also expected to continue the IOC’s plans to expand commercial opportunities for sponsors at the Olympics with the organisation’s finances in a robust state and the privately-funded LA Olympics a good place to start.
Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates, making history for the African continent, with the IOC having been ruled for 131 years by European or North American men.
Her background and being the first female president will be assets in a diverse IOC membership and the international makeup of Olympic stakeholders.
On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was the organisation’s president for 12 years.
“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.
“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”
Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on key IOC issues.
“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.
A seven-time Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.
“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB has said after Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had his spot kick disallowed in a Champions League last-16 match.
During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and the VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right.
Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken.
Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid – Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – April 14, 2025 Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo
“(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken,” IFAB said in a circular.
“If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed.”
The decision to disallow Alvarez’s penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club’s fans outraged.
IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed.
The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1, but IFAB said it may be used in competitions that start this month.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
WAFCON 2024: Nigeria’s Super Falcons begin ‘La Decima’ quest with Tunisian clash
Supporters Club Mourns Peter Rufai: “Another Big Tree Has Fallen,” Says Rafiu Ladipo
WAFCON 2024: Morocco Held to Thrilling 2-2 Draw by Zambia in Opening Match
- OBITUARY3 days ago
BREAKING: Nigerian Goalkeeping Legend Peter Rufai is dead
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Football Agent John Shittu Demands Retraction and ₦250 Million Damages from Samson Siasia Over Bribery Allegation
- FEDERATION CUP1 week ago
Kwara United Clinch Historic First Title as President Federation Cup Final Goes to Penalties for the 18th time
- FEDERATION CUP1 week ago
Rivers Angels Crowned 2025 Female Federation Cup Champions After Penalty Shootout Thriller
- OBITUARY3 days ago
Peter Rufai looked lean when I last saw him, says mourning NFF President, Gusau
- OBITUARY2 days ago
Family issues statement on Peter Rufai
- WAFCON20 hours ago
Nigeria, Tunisia Set for High-Stakes WAFCON 2024 Clash in Casablanca
- IMMEMORIAL2 days ago
Peter Rufai’s Death Adds to Long List of July Tragedies in Nigerian Football