Dave Heeley, 49, will begin his Seven Magnificent Marathons Challenge on April 7, with the aim of increasing awareness of visual impairment around the globe and raising funds for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

His gruelling week begins in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands (Antarctica), followed by Santiago, Chile (South America), Los Angeles, USA (North America), Sydney, Australia(Australasia), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Asia) and Nairobi, Kenya (Africa).

The final leg will bring him back to Europe, where he will run the Flora London Marathon on April 13.

Brian McKeever won his second gold medal at an IPC World Cup cross-country ski stop in Vuokatti, Finland on Tuesday.

 
McKeever, of Canmore, Alta., clocked 26 minutes 59.8 seconds to win the 10-kilometre race for the visually impaired with his brother Robin guiding the way to the golden spot on the podium. The pair also teamed up to win a 20-km race Sunday.

 
Russian skier Nikolay Polukhin was second and Frank Hoefle of Germany was third Tuesday. McKeever beat both men by more than three minutes.

A special dinner held to celebrate the life and achievements of England and Yorkshire cricketer Fred Trueman has raised £3,000 for disabled cricket to help fund the England Blind team's bid to win the upcoming Ashes series for cricketers with visual impairment.

ECB National Disability Cricket Manager Ian Martin received the £3,000 cheque from Geoff Hastings, chief organiser of the dinner held in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord's in November where raffle prizes included a round of golf with Sir Richard Hadlee.

It's an annual event the visually challenged look forward to in Chennai - a volleyball tournament exclusively for them. This year, it was a fight between fifteen teams from all over south India.

In this form of the game, the ball is thrown under the net and the players 'hear' the ball advancing towards them. The rules are strict. Those with partial vision are blind folded.

''It's a team effort. Since we are all in the same school we used to practice for a week and we get good understanding,'' says one of the participant girls.

The evolution of the glorious game of cricket has seen new entrant T20 add another dimension to the sport galvanising its popularity with the mainstream masses.

Cricket in India is undeniably a religion and the country has enthusiastically embraced the Indian Premier League and all its trimmings.  In keeping with the development of the game, the Association for Cricket for the Blind in India (ACBI ) is organising the  inaugural Indian Blind Cricket League (IBCL) in February 2010 in the country’s capital New Delhi.