Toss Bangladesh chose to bat v Sri Lanka

Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal decided to bat against Sri Lanka in the second ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium. Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne had taken the same decision in the first game, which they won by 91 runs.

Both teams brought in an extra spinner. Sri Lanka had to make one change as Lasith Malinga retired from ODIs after the first game of this series. They brought in Isuru Udana and also dropped Thisara Perera for Akila Dananjaya.

Bangladesh made only one change, bringing in Taijul Islam for Rubel Hossain, who was more economical than the other regular pace bowlers in the first ODI. Taijul played the last of his four ODIs in September 2016.

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mohammad Mithun, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Shafiul Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Avishka Fernando, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Akila Dananjaya, 9 Nuwan Pradeep, 10 Lahiru Kumara, 11 Isuru Udana

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Cardinals released defensive end Robert Nkemdiche on Saturday, one day after he arrived at training camp out of shape.

Coach Kliff Kingsbury didn't hold back when asked Friday about how the former first-round pick showed up to camp.

"Not in shape, I guess," the usually reserved Kingsbury said. "And that's kind of where we'll leave it. I mean, he's on [the physically unable to perform list], and he's working through that. When he is cleared, we'll work with him."

Kingsbury's answer was a detour from his typical responses this offseason. The first-year coach has developed a reputation for saying little about players and not naming names.

Nkemdiche, the 29th overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, was arrested June 6 for speeding and driving with a suspended license.

A defensive lineman whose career has been riddled with injuries -- he had been recovering from ACL surgery in December -- the Ole Miss product has 44 career tackles and 4.5 sacks, the latter all coming in 2018. The Cardinals did not pick up the fifth-year option on his contract.

"I'll internally bleed red forever, thankful for the opportunity to grow as a player and experience the culture it was an ecstatic ride," Nkemdiche wrote in an Instagram post. "The fans, coaches, teammates only love and genuine moments. But, Nothing last forever time to continue the journey and keep elevating,on to the next fix ... let's go!!!!!!!!!!"

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Max Holloway has made a successful return to his featherweight throne.

After an interim title fight loss at lightweight in April, Holloway came back home to featherweight, beating Frankie Edgar to retain his UFC title Saturday night in the main event of UFC 240 at Rogers Place. The victory came via comprehensive unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 48-47) against a game Edgar, the former lightweight champion. It was Holloway's third successful 145-pound title defense.

"Everybody said I wasn't able to wrestle with this guy," Holloway said. "I wanted to prove a point and go five rounds with him, so I could let the world know I'm here to stay. The 'Blessed' express is still on the move."

The first round was very close, with Edgar having some of his best moments, landing a nice right hand. But as it got later, Holloway got better, as he has been known to do. The champion bloodied the challenger with a right hand in the second and finished the frame with a spinning back kick to the body.

Holloway nearly finished Edgar in the third round, knocking out his mouthpiece with a pair of uppercuts. Holloway moved forward and landed a combination against the cage, but Edgar scored a late takedown that allowed him to survive.

Things didn't get much better for Edgar in the fourth and fifth rounds, though. Holloway's range and precise striking was too much. Holloway busted Edgar's nose with a jab in the fourth and finished that round strong with a combination and spinning back kick. Edgar came back with a solid fifth round, but again Holloway kept him on the end of his jab and landed hard right hands.

Edgar tried to get away from Holloway's striking via his vaunted wrestling, particularly late in the fight, but failed on 13 of 14 takedown attempts. Holloway, ranked No. 6 in ESPN's pound-for-pound MMA rankings, extended his record of fights with more than 100 significant strikes landed to nine.

"Frankie is a true warrior," Holloway said. "He's the guy who inspired me to be here. You're the man, Frank."

Holloway (21-4) went up to fight Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight title at UFC 236 three months ago and lost by unanimous decision. The Hawai'ian striker took some damage in that fight, but came back no worse for wear. Holloway, 27, has won 13 straight at featherweight and owns a UFC-record 16 wins at 145 pounds. This was Holloway's first decision victory since he beat Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199 in June 2016.

Edgar (22-7-1), a future UFC Hall of Famer, was competing in his ninth career UFC title bout. The New Jersey native is now the first fighter to spend more than seven total hours in the Octagon during his UFC career. Edgar, 37, is 0-3 in featherweight title fights, with the previous two losses coming against Jose Aldo. He had not fought since an April 2018 win over Cub Swanson, the longest layoff of his 14-year career.

Training camps are underway, so now we really have something to get excited about. Universal optimism for NFL fan bases is probably never higher than it is this week, before preseason injuries and regular-season losses can put a damper on things.

Before turning the calendar to August, our ESPN Fantasy staff got together for our latest mock, a 10-team, non-PPR setup featuring the following participants (in order of draft position): Jim McCormick, Eric Karabell, Damian Dabrowski, Kyle Soppe, Mike Clay, Keith Lipscomb, Mike Triplett, Tristan H. Cockcroft, KC Joyner and Field Yates.

While the first round was expectedly running back-heavy, the biggest surprise of Round 1 came when a tight end came off the board before a wide receiver did. Cockcroft selected Travis Kelce eighth overall, which was seven spots earlier than the Chiefs star went in each of our first two mocks, both of which were PPR setups.

"I didn't feel great about Todd Gurley at that spot -- I was really hoping either David Johnson or Melvin Gordon would slide," Cockcroft said. "But knowing this group, I was confident Gurley would make it back to my pick at 13 -- which he did -- anyway."

Cockcroft went on to explain his thoughts on having a later draft slot in this mock.

"The problem with a back-end pick in a non-PPR draft is that you're not going to get any of the premium running backs," he said, "meaning you'll need to maximize every other lineup spot you can, which also explains the Deshaun Watson pick later [third QB selected]. We project Kelce for roughly 40 points more than any other tight end in the format. That's huge."

The first wideout (DeAndre Hopkins) didn't go until the final pick of the first round, and quarterbacks lasted a long time, like always in our staff mocks. Two of our drafters (Clay and Karabell) even waited until the final round to select one. Clay said he "drafted his kicker and defense before QB on principle" after seeing how many quality signal-callers were still available late.

That's the state of the position right now, and especially in a 10-team league, it's why many use the middle rounds to load up on backs and receivers instead of taking QBs and tight ends (once the top three are gone).

Here are the round-by-round results:

ST. LOUIS -- Carlos Correa launched his first career grand slam and drove in five runs. Paul Goldschmidt homered for the sixth game in a row.

But after Correa and the Houston Astros beat Goldschmidt and the St. Louis Cardinals 8-2 on Saturday, it was another hit that attracted all the attention.

With Houston holding a seven-run lead in the eighth inning, Yairo Munoz went hard into second base on a grounder to break up a double play. Munoz slid through the bag and took out Correa, spiking the star shortstop's right elbow in the process.

"It was a brutal slide," Astros manager AJ Hinch said. "You're supposed to hold the base. He's not holding the base, there's not a mechanism to really get an automatic double play if he can't try to turn a double play. It's an unnecessary slide, he didn't need to go all the way through the base and hit Carlos. The slide rule fails again. It didn't protect Carlos there."

Hinch said the umpires told him an automatic double play was not an option since Correa made no attempt to throw to first base.

Correa, activated from the injured list Friday after recovering from a broken rib, had numbness in his fingers immediately after the collision. He finished the inning, but was lifted for pinch hitter Aledmys Diaz in the ninth.

"My fingers got numb, so that's when I started to worry at first, but right now I feel great," Correa said. "I should be good for tomorrow. . I know him (Munoz). I don't think he would try to play to hurt me. It didn't look clean, but I don't think he would try to take me out and try to get me hurt."

Goldschmidt tied a Cardinals record with Matt Carpenter and Mark McGwire for consecutive games with a home run. St. Louis had won six in a row before this loss in an interleague matchup of division leaders.

"It's an impressive feat," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. "That's who he is, what he's capable of, and just goes out, takes good at bats and lets his talent work."

Gerrit Cole (12-3) improved to 7-0 with a 1.87 ERA since June 1. He struck out seven, raising his major league-leading total to 212, and allowed four hits in seven innings.

Goldschmidt's 24th homer was a solo drive in the fourth and accounted for the only run off Cole.

"My command was just not really there today but we did a good job of missing in good spots and mixing pitches," Cole said. "I thought they did put some good swings on balls, some of the contact worked in our favor in especially regards to keeping the pitch count down and getting a few double plays and getting some quick outs, saved a few bullets for some situations were maybe we could get a little cute kind of around the zone with runners in scoring position."

Correa's opposite-field blast drive to right off Michael Wacha blew open the game in the third and was the Astros' major league-leading 10th grand slam this season. Wacha was brought in to face Correa after starter Daniel Ponce de Leon walked the bases loaded.

Ponce de Leon (1-1) went 2⅓ innings, his shortest career start and the third straight in which he failed to last past the fourth inning. He walked four and struck out none.

Correa added an RBI single in the first as the Astros won for the eighth time in their past 10 games. George Springer drove in two with a triple in the eighth and Yuli Gurriel extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

Correa's homer was the lone run Wacha allowed through 4⅓ innings of relief. He struck out five and walked none.

"I felt good throughout the whole night," Wacha said. "I felt like I was throwing strikes and quality strikes down in the zone, getting ahead of guys. I just wish I could have that one pitch back."

CRYSTAL ANNIVERSARY

Members of the Cardinals' 2004 team were on hand to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the franchise's 16th National League pennant. That club went 105-57 and defeated the Astros in seven games in the National League Championship Series before being swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

HOT TICKET

The attendance was 46,518, the 13th sellout of the season at Busch Stadium.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Astros: RHP Ryan Pressly (right knee soreness) is day to day.

"Everybody's got to work through something," Pressly said. "I'm in the training room getting treatment and I've got all the faith in my training staff to get me right."

Cardinals: OF Dexter Fowler is day to day and was not in the starting lineup after leaving Friday's game in the eighth inning after fouling a ball off of his left foot. INF Jedd Gyorko (back strain, right wrist) will begin a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Astros: LHP Wade Miley (8-4, 3.18) will pitch in the finale of a three-game series at St. Louis on Sunday. Miley is 2-3 with a 4.41 ERA in six career starts against the Cardinals.

Cardinals: RHP Dakota Hudson (10-4, 3.61 ERA) will make his first career appearance against the Astros. In his previous start, Hudson became the first Cardinals rookie to notch 10 wins in a season by game No. 100 since Shelby Miller in 2013.

MILWAUKEE -- The Chicago Cubs say they are in disbelief as losses continue to mount on the road, many coming in late-inning, heartbreaking fashion.

The latest? Saturday's 5-3, 10-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, which dropped them into a second-place tie with their National League Central rivals.

"I've never seen anything like this," reliever Steve Cishek said. "I have no answers. I really don't."

Cishek blew a 2-0 eighth-inning lead Saturday night. The Cubs retook the lead in the 10th inning on an Albert Almora Jr. home run. But hot-hitting Brewers Christian Yelich and Keston Hiura both went deep off Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel in the bottom of the 10th, sending Chicago to 19-31 away from Wrigley Field this season.

"It's disappointing," Kimbrel said. "We need to win games like that. It sucks."

The Cubs are 1-4 on their current road trip, and in each loss, they were leading or tied in the eighth inning or later.

It has led to some ugly moments:

• Their eight blown saves in July is tied for the most in baseball.

• On Saturday, they blew multiple save opportunities in the same game for the second time this season. Only the Mets have done that more.

• In 542 appearances before this season, Kimbrel had given up multiple home runs in the same outing just only once. In 12 games as a Cub, he has done it twice already.

The meltdown Saturday came after starter Jon Lester asked out after seven innings due to an illness that led to him being scratched from a start earlier in the week. He was pitching a gem against Milwaukee but said he was "gassed."

"Not too many times I go up to Joe [Maddon] or Tommy [Hottovy, pitching coach] ... but tonight was one of them," he said. "Tonight was very tough. I felt like we were in pretty good control of that game. That's how quick things can turn around here."

Maddon went to Cishek despite the right-hander throwing 26 pitches over two innings in Friday's 3-2 loss to the Brewers. He was greeted with a home run by Ben Gamel and a double by Lorenzo Cain on the next pitch.

Was he gassed, too? Maddon didn't think so.

"Cishek was ready to go today," the Cubs manager said.

The Cubs are 5-11 in one-run affairs away from Wrigley this season. There are many questions but no answers right now for the disparity between their stellar 36-18 mark at home and the results on the road.

"It's tough to be on this end," first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. "Seems like when it doesn't go your way it pours on you at different times of the season. This is one of those stretches. We just have to keep fighting.

"It's strange. It's something this era of Cubs baseball hasn't experienced. It should even out [on the road]. Not to where we want it. This year it hasn't, but we can start writing our own script tomorrow."

The Cubs and Brewers are a game behind the first-place Cardinals in the Central. The Cubs head to St. Louis after Sunday's series finale. With a 4-14 road record within the division, the Cubs are desperate for a victory.

"You see the division," Cishek said. "It's close all the way through. We just have to think of it as a rough stretch."

BOSTON -- At the end of arguably the worst week a New York Yankees pitching staff ever has gone through, pitching coach Larry Rothschild stood before reporters in the team's clubhouse Saturday evening and took ownership of the poor performances his group has posted in recent days.

"It's my responsibility to get it right," he said.

Rothschild's comments came moments after the Boston Red Sox blasted the Yankees for a third consecutive game at Fenway Park, this one by a 9-5 decision. New York's loss marked the sixth straight game in the rivalry in which Yankees pitching has allowed eight or more runs.

It also marked the seventh game this week in which New York allowed opposing teams to score seven or more runs. After the Colorado Rockies scored eight in a victory at Yankee Stadium last Sunday, the Minnesota Twins scored eight, 12 and seven runs in a series New York actually won. Since Thursday, the Red Sox have beaten the Yankees by plating 19, 10 and nine runs in respective games.

"It's been really tough," Rothschild said. "It's tough on [the pitchers], it's tough on the team."

Mostly, it has been the Yankees' starting pitching that has let them down in recent days. Since June 29, the rotation has posted a 7.09 ERA, the second-worst ERA in the majors across that span. Only the Detroit Tigers' 7.30 mark is worse.

Masahiro Tanaka's 12 earned runs allowed on Thursday -- the second most a Yankees starter ever has given up in a single game -- certainly helped inflate that figure. His individual ERA this season shot up from a 4.00 to a 4.79 following that horrid outing.

Prior to June 29, the day the Yankees beat Boston in a 17-13 offensive explosion in London, the New York starters' ERA was a more respectable 4.13.

Saturday's ineffective pitcher was lefty CC Sabathia, who actually cruised to a 1-2-3 first inning. It was the first time a Yankees starter had a clean opening frame since Tanaka did it last Saturday at home against Colorado.

"Had his slider, had the changeup, had his cutter going early," manager Aaron Boone said of Sabathia.

And then?

"They got some balls on the plate, and that hurt him a little bit," Boone added.

Sabathia gave up a 310-foot solo home run to Andrew Benintendi -- the second shortest non-inside-the-park homer in the majors since 2015 -- with two outs in the second inning, then let three more runs come across in the fourth. Another run chased him from the game in the fifth inning.

"Just didn't make enough pitches," Sabathia said. "That's a good lineup over there, and left too many pitches over the middle."

Sabathia, a noted ground-ball, weak-contact pitcher since developing his cut fastball in 2015, failed to induce a groundout on Saturday. Everything the Red Sox put in play against him was either home runs, fly-ball outs, line drives off the Green Monster or line-drive singles that cleared the infield.

He became the fourth big league starter this season to fail to get a ground-ball out in an outing of at least 4⅓ innings.

"With the stuff I have now, I have to be pitching to the corners," said the 39-year-old Sabathia, whose days as a power pitcher are long behind him. "A lot of balls left middle."

Asked what has been the common thread to the struggles his staff has had of late, Rothschild said there wasn't one specific aspect to point out.

"It's not one thing. It doesn't just happen with one thing; it's different things for different guys," Rothschild said. "But first-pitch strikes and things like that haven't been good. It's just a bunch of different stuff that has been reviewed and talked about and tried to be corrected.

"With each individual, you go with what you've seen and what needs to get corrected. We talk about it, and if it's something mechanical or pitchwise or gripwise or whatever, we do it in the bullpen and try to correct it there."

The day after Tanaka's 12-run outing, he and Rothschild were in the visitors bullpen at Fenway Park, working on his famed splitter. It didn't have the bite in his previous start it had at earlier points this season.

The Yankees also have spent time reviewing their pitchers to see if any are tipping pitches, Boone said earlier this weekend.

"It's a matter of just continuing to dive in with each guy, where we can make small little adjustments, and attacking the game plan in the best way possible," Boone said. "Making sure we're leaving no stone unturned in terms of making the guys make whatever little adjustments or subtle things they need to change -- and also not overreacting to a bad week of baseball."

He might be avoiding the overreaction, but Sabathia admitted that this stretch has been "frustrating."

"We've been the reason why we've been losing games," he said, speaking for the pitchers. "We want to turn that around."

New York gets its chance to do just that Sunday night, when right-hander Domingo German takes the mound. At 12-2 with a 4.03 ERA, he has been arguably the Yankees' best pitcher this season. German's most recent start didn't go well, though, as he gave up eight runs -- all earned -- in an outing at Minnesota on Monday in which he failed to get out of the fourth inning.

German has been sharp for the Yankees when pitching immediately after losses this season, though: He is 5-0 in such appearances. New York is hopeful for that version of the slender righty to show up in the series finale as it seeks to stave off a Red Sox sweep.

"Crazy things happen in this game," Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. "You have a couple weeks where every ball is falling, pitching is doing well, and then you have a couple weeks where the offense can't get it going or the pitching can't get it done. That's just part of it. The biggest thing is making sure we can learn from our mistakes, making sure we can improve on this next time we face these guys."

The Twins have traded for reliever Sergio Romo, whose playoff experience will deepen a bullpen in need of help as Minnesota tries to hold off the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central.

The Twins on Saturday night announced the deal that netted them Romo, Chris Vallimont, a right-handed starter in High-A, and a player to be named later from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Double-A first baseman Lewin Diaz.

The 36-year-old Romo has spent the season as the Marlins' closer, racking up 17 saves to go along with a 3.58 ERA in 37⅔ innings.

"They're in a really, really good position to make a playoff push. That's exciting. It's super fun baseball to play,'' Romo said after the Marlins' 9-2 loss to Arizona on Saturday night.

"But kind of mixed feelings based on the fact I get to leave a bunch of dudes I've grown to love. Cool dudes who allowed me to be myself."

Romo won three championships with the San Francisco Giants, closing out the final game of the 2012 World Series in memorable fashion when he froze Miguel Cabrera on a down-the-middle fastball. In 23⅓ career playoff innings, Romo has a 3.09 ERA.

He provides a strong right-handed complement to left-hander Taylor Rogers, who has emerged as the Twins' closer and one of the most valuable relievers in the league for first-year manager Rocco Baldelli.

"[Romo's] ultra-competitive, he wants the ball and he's scared of nothing,'' Baldelli said. "I think everyone knows him as a pitcher. He's been around a very long time. He's had a very successful career, he's pitched in some big, big spots, and once you get to know him you can see how he's had success in those spots.''

The Twins have shuffled relievers in and out during the past week, designating veteran Blake Parker for assignment and calling up rookies Cody Stashak and Sean Poppen. The Twins, who at 63-41 hold a one-game lead over the Indians, have cobbled together a middle-of-the-pack bullpen but needed to upgrade it as Wednesday's trade deadline approaches.

"[Romo's] got a lot of experience in the big leagues and he's going to help us a lot. His experience is going to help us,'' Twins pitcher Martin Perez said.

Minnesota is expected to pursue at least one more major league pitcher before the deadline.

The Marlins continue to explore selling some of their cadre of young starting pitching in hopes of improving their future as they barrel toward a 100-loss season. At 39-63, the Marlins are six games behind the next-worst team in the National League (Pittsburgh), and in addition to dealing a starter, they could trade second baseman Starlin Castro.

"We felt like we maximized an expiring asset and were able to add, in our opinion, one of the most productive, impactful power hitters in all of minor league baseball,'' Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said of the Romo deal.

The 22-year-old Diaz was hitting a combined .297 with 19 home runs and 61 RBIs in Class A and Double-A.

The 22-year-old Vallimont was a combined 6-7 with a 3.16 ERA for two Class A teams this season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Coverage of the MK5000 PB Special at Milton Keynes, incorporating the England Athletics 5000m Championships

Jessica Judd and Ben Bradley won the elite races at the MK5000 PB Special at Milton Keynes to claim the English titles.

In good conditions of light rain and relatively cool weather after the midweek heatwave with not too much wind, athletes lived up to the PB title of the event with 11 of the 12 race winners setting PBs.

The one exception was Judd but she was probably the most impressive winner of the night.

With a superb last kilo around 2:50 world university champion Jessica Judd wins England 5000m Champs from Louise Small and Nicole Taylor @mk5000pbspecial pic.twitter.com/J42Mvw1wHn

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 27, 2019

Jennifer Walsh set a 15:30 pace but the other runners ignored it and she ran the first five laps alone as the pack ran at 15:50 pace.

The pace continued through 3km in 9:30 but the fourth kilometre slowed as they went through in 12:48.

Louise Small made the first move and took Judd away but the World University Games champion took off on the penultimate lap and covering the last kilometre in 2:49, she won in 15:37.38.

READ MORE: Jess Judd wins World University Games gold

Small took the silver medal in 15:48.39, holding off a late kick by Nicole Taylor who ran a PB 15:49.25.

Bradley won the men’s title but for most of the race he was well off the pace.

James West was the pacemaker and he led through 3km in 8:12 and only Jack Gray was able to go with the 13:40 pace. After West dropped out at two miles, Gray began to slow and his nearest pursuers Mohamed Mohamed and 10,000m champion Adam Hickey gradually closed.

In an exciting finish Ben Bradley wins English title in PB 13:56 from Mohamed Mohamed with John Sanderson putting a dive in for third after Jack Gray had led most of the race @mk5000pbspecial pic.twitter.com/0BVsNaxCLk

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 27, 2019

However, it was Aldershot’s Bradley who came from well back in the chasing pack who proved the strongest in the final kilometre and on the last lap and he won in a PB 13:57.33 for the race victory of his life, though he was treading water in the finishing straight, having kicked from some way back.

Mohamed of Hillingdon rallied strongly to take the England silver in 13:57.84 with John Sanderson throwing himself across the line to take bronze in a PB 13:58.73, three hundredths of a second ahead of Hickey. Gray finished sixth.

READ MORE: Sam Stabler’s double with a difference

In an earlier race Clare Elms improved her British W55 record to 17:42.99.

Ahead of her, Caroline Hoyte was eight seconds outside the British W45 record with 17:09.08.

Overall the event was a huge success with multiple PBs, enthusiastic crowds lining the track and the beer and food stalls doing a roaring trade – so much so that lager and some of the food stalls ran out well before the championship races that climaxed the meeting.

Elsewhere, there was further 5000m track action taking place at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Stadium and there the winners of the 5000m Track Challenge elite races were Mohamud Aadan in 13:56.37 and Naomi Taschimowitz in 16:06.06.

Results from the final 4 races of the day. Full list of results are now available at https://t.co/SLAJvZEisN …. with 71% of runners setting a new PERSONAL BEST! pic.twitter.com/KrdyWaCu69

— The 5000m Track Challenge (@Track_Challenge) July 28, 2019

A list of 45 candidates seek election to the IAAF Council in various roles

Seb Coe is set to be re-elected unopposed as the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) but there will be strong competition for a number of other positions on the IAAF Council.

The IAAF has announced a list of 45 candidates from across the globe who have put themselves forward for election to the international federation’s governing board.

The candidates seek election into 18 positions on the Council at the IAAF Congress on September 25, two days ahead of the World Championships in Doha.

READ MORE: Seb Coe elected as IAAF president

Those 18 positions include one president, four vice-president and 13 individual member roles.

Of those four vice-presidents, at least one must be female.

In addition to the 18 positions there will be six area presidents, who have already been elected, and two members of the athletes’ commission (one female and one male) who will be elected by the commission in November, making a total of 26 IAAF Council members.

The IAAF advised that a focus on increasing the gender balance on the Council, with the areas conducting gender leadership seminars, has seen a 10% increase in female candidates.

There are three women, including 1992 Olympic 400m bronze medallist Ximena Restrepo of Colombia, among the 11 candidates seeking election as vice-presidents.

Ukraine’s 1988 Olympic pole vault gold medallist Sergey Bubka also hopes to be re-elected as a vice-president. He was unsuccessful in his bid to become president when he stood against Coe four years ago.

“We have a strong list of candidates from 44 countries applying for IAAF Council positions which demonstrates the global strength of our sport,” said Coe.

“I am particularly pleased that almost 40% of the individual candidates are female, something we have seen reflected across our area elections, with four of our areas electing a female vice-president.”

The full list of IAAF Council candidates can be downloaded here.