Tokyo 2020: Members of the Japanese public lined up to donate unwanted mobile phones that will be recycled into medals for the 2020 Olympic Games, as a project aimed at promoting sustainability was launched yesterday. The campaign kicked off at Tokyo’s Metropolitan Government building where more than 100 people dropped the used handsets into a box that displayed the number of donations. “I came today because I thought it’s great that my old mobile phones will become medals for the 2020 Olympics Games,” said Hiromi Sakushima, a 55-year-old resident of Kawasaki, near Tokyo.

Basketball, NBA: New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony was named on Wednesday to ħreplace injured reserve Kevin Love in the NBA All-Star Game. Anthony, a 10-time All Star, was originally left off the roster for the first time since 2009 but will now participate in Sunday’s game in New Orleans. Love had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Tuesday and is expected to be sidelined about six weeks. The announcement by NBA Commissioner is a bit of rare piece of positive news for Anthony, who has endured criticism from team president Phil Jackson this season amid rumors that the organization will trade him.

Rugby Union: A permanent three-man committee will review all incidents of foul play in Super Rugby this year in an effort to bring more consistency to the disciplinary process, southern hemisphere rugby bosses said yesterday. The three-man panel, headed by New Zealand’s Nigel Hampton, will review all disciplinary procedures recommended by match citing commissioners and make an initial determination as to whether a player is to be sanctioned. Players will then have the opportunity to accept the recommendation or continue to a formal disciplinary hearing.

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Cricket: Joe Root (picture) has promised to captain England with a smile on his face – because he wants people to enjoy watching his Test team win. Root will stay true to the instinctive approach which has made him one of the world’s best batsmen, and the only logical choice as Alastair Cook’s successor. “You have 10 to 15 years to enjoy being at the pinnacle of the sport – and the more I can get that across to the lads, the better,” he said. “That’s always been a big part of why I want to play – to enjoy the sport.”

Biathlon: Members of the Kazakh team raided by police at the biathlon World Championships in Austria last week will face no disciplinary action as tests on samples all returned negative, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) said yesterday. Ten members of the team had urine and blood samples taken after the police raided their hotel and seized “numerous medical products and medicines” last week. The raid followed last month’s seizure of a box containing used syringes, drug ampoules and IBU event accreditations at a petrol station near the Italian border.

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