21 January 2012: The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations brings together 16 of the continents national teams in a combined countries festival of football in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Egypt, the most successful team in the tournament have won the Cup seven times in its 55 years history and are the current holders of the Cup but are missing from this year's tournament having been knocked out by lowly Niger!

Four teams make up each of the four groups. Group A consists of Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Senegal and Zambia. Group B draws together Angola, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Sudan. Group C is made up of Gabon, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia. And Group D has Botswana, Ghana, Guinea and Mali national teams.

Three of the 16 teams stand out among the rest. Ghana's Black Stars had a tremendous World Cup in 2010 and should have progressed to the semi-finals. They have the mecurial Asamoah Gyan up front and will certainly have an opportunity to show who is the best in Africa. Ivory Coast, the top ranked FIFA team in Africa have some of the top Premier League players in their team including Africa's Player of the Year, Yaya Toure. If The Elephants perform as well as they did in the qualifiers, winning all six games, they could run away with the trophy. However Senegal with its impressive forward line of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse could cause havoc in the oppositions goal-mouths.

The Africa Cup of Nations takes place from the 21^st. January until February 12^th. 2012.

21 January 2012: Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba two of Ethiopia's world long distance stars are banned from competing among 33 other Ethiopian athletes for not turning up to an important training camp. Technical Director for the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF), Dube Jilo said, “we have to distinguish who is in good shape. There is a lack of commitment.” The EAF indicated that the ban would be lifted as soon as any missing athlete joined the camp.

Kenenisa Bekele, the Olympic Champion at 5000 and 10000 metres has been out of sorts recently. Claiming to be injured and far from a position to be in full training let alone competing, is a huge doubt for the London Olympics in July of this year. Bekele indicated, “my injury is quite serious and I would not be able to bring back the performance of old for the time being. I'm only receiving a combination of treatment and training at the moment. It will take weeks before I return to ordinary training, and some two to three months before I return to competition.”

Ethiopia athletes have not performed to the standard that we are all used to for some months now. The World Championships in Daegu, South Korea were a big disapointment when Kenenisa dropped out of the 10000 metres, although he did redeem himself a few days later by winning the event at the Brussels Diamond League event.

The Ospreys and Wales diminutive winger has amassed 87 caps for Wales and 4 caps for the British Lions. He is the record try scorer for the Wales national team and is also third highest scorer of international Test tries behind Daisuke Ohata of Japan and David Campese of Australia.

When Shane is on the rugby field expectations sky rocket. Unfortunately today the movement of the ball along the three-quarter line to the wing is often hindered by the defensive and offensive work of the forwards. However, when the ball does get to the wing and Shane Williams is there to receive it then sparks will fly. The master of the side-step, seeing the opening in the opposition defence and then accelerating away is a sight to behold. Shane Williams touch-down in his last international game against the Australians underlined the expertise and sheer theatre of the game of rugby.

We will miss Shane Williams on the international scene but hope he will continue to display his skills with his club Ospreys.