The 2022 Commonwealth Games get under way at the end of July as Birmingham prepares to welcome 72 nations across two weeks of action.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the talking points ahead of the Games.
Birmingham takes centre stage
1️⃣ 1️⃣ days1️⃣ 9️⃣ sports? home soil
? 28 July – 8 August 2022?️ Tickets from £22Buy now: https://t.co/HczklAOMRA#B2022 pic.twitter.com/ccbdz6gSAP
— Birmingham 2022 (@birminghamcg22) July 1, 2022
The 2022 edition of the Games sees Birmingham take centre stage as the city prepares to host the event for the very first time. This will be the seventh time a UK city has hosted since the inception of the Games in 1930, with Glasgow being the most recent such host back in 2014. Sport will take place across the region, with events staged at venues including Arena Birmingham, the National Exhibition Centre, Alexander Stadium, Edgbaston and the new Sandwell Aquatics Centre. Coventry and Wolverhampton are among the other West Midlands locations set to host events, while the track cycling will be staged at Lee Valley VeloPark in London.
Bumper sport schedule
Can Australia dominate again?
Over to you #BrumCommonwealth Sport is well and truly back and more relevant than ever before as we head to the Commonwealth’s City, Birmingham @birminghamcg22 @andy4wm @TeamEngland https://t.co/osbbXnlqlz
— Commonwealth Sport (@thecgf) April 15, 2018
Australia will be looking to pick up where they left off on the Gold Coast in 2018, when they produced a dominant performance on home soil to top the medal table, finishing with 80 gold medals and 198 overall. The Gold Coast saw some outstanding performances from the Australians, with Mitch Larkin picking up five golds in the pool, the men’s team pursuit squad breaking a then world record to win gold and Ken Hanson becoming the country’s oldest Commonwealth gold medallist at the age of 68 in the B6/B7/B8 para lawn bowls.
Home hopes
More UK record performances?
Rail strike concern
There are concerns that travel to the Games could possibly be disrupted by train strikes concerning eight rail companies. Aslef announced that strike action will take place on Saturday July 30, just days after the competition gets under way, with events starting on Thursday July 28.
