AFCON 2017: Best photos from 20 January

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will assess the need for harsher sanctions in response to a racist incident in Ukraine and plans to pressure leagues around the world to amend their rule books to define sanctions for racist behaviour, the new IIHF president said. Luc Tardif took office as head of the IIHF a day before the hockey world was rattled by footage of Andriy Deniskin, a forward at HC Kremenchuk in the Ukrainian Hockey League (UHL), taunting HC Donbass defenceman Jalen Smereck, who is Black, by pretending to peel and eat a banana. Smereck, 24, took a leave of absence after the incident. HC Donbass announced on Sunday it had reached a mutual agreement to terminate the American's contract.

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in the heart of Beni territory, plagued by extreme violence from Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, employees of the Virunga National Park are battling to keep a chocolate factory running. Their aim is to process cocoa locally to prevent it being smuggled to neighbouring Uganda and to create jobs to combat enrolment in illegal armed groups.

Chinese and foreign figure skaters train ahead of the 2021 CS Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, which will be held in Beijing this week as a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics. All journalists and Winter Olympics staff are required to wear masks inside the stadium as Covid-19 prevention measures.

An Australian long-distance swimmer breaks the world record for the most number of swims across the Channel between England and France. Chloe McCardel, 36, made the swim for the 44th time, breaking the previous record of 43 she had held jointly with British swimmer Alison Streeter.

Three sisters of Diego Maradona - Claudia Nora 'Cali' Maradona, Ana Estela Maradona and Rita Mabel 'Kitty' Maradona - were summoned to testify as witnesses Wednesday at the office of Argentine prosecutors, who are investigating the cause of the soccer star's death, the judicial sources told EFE.

Thirteen couples competed in the North American Wife Carrying Championship on Sunday in Newry, Maine, in which husbands run a 278-yard (254 meters) obstacle-filled course carrying their wives, in hopes of winning the wife's weight in beer and five times her weight in cash. The winning couple, Jerome and Olivia Roehm, took home the prize for the third consecutive time. "This year it was a really tough. We went up, I think, higher than we've done in the past, so running up that hill was tough," said Jerome. In addition to the beer and cash, the two were entered into the world championship held in Finland next summer.  

Egyptian female soccer coach, Farida Salem, started her own academy to help aspiring women footballers achieve their dreams and challenge stigma and social boundaries in a male-dominated sport.

Allyson Felix says she is proud of fellow sports stars speaking out on mental health issues, although more has to be done to support athletes including those with young children. Felix was speaking shortly before being confirmed as Sportswoman of the Year at the Annual Salute to Women awards in New York. Tennis player Naomi Osaka, who spoke about her mental health problems earlier this year, was given the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award. Felix, 35, is now the most decorated female track and field athlete of all time at the Olympics, and no American has won more than her 11 medals, which included a gold and a bronze in Tokyo.

Amid reports that EA may be severing ties with FIFA, and are looking to rename their annual football series, it has come out that FIFA are asking for more money to retain the license.

From planting trees to raising awareness and developing new solutions for waste, three young environmental activists in Abidjan are looking for inclusive ways to stop global warming.

A nine-year-old Indian boy known as Sharvesh was seen running in Tiruchirappalli on Sunday, as he covers the distance of 750 kilometres (466 miles) from Kanyakumari to Chennai to raise awareness about the 17 aims of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. "No poverty, eradicate the poverty, zero hunger and everyone should get food, good health means everyone should live healthily, quality education and each one should get quality education, gender equality - boys and girls should be considered equally. Clean water and sanitation. Like this, there are 17 Goals, to achieve those goals I am running today.", said the young marathon runner, as he posed with supporters.  

The ceremony to light the Olympic flame was disrupted as Tibetan and Hong Kong activists held banners protesting human rights abuses in China.