Ama Agbeze and Geoff Thompson join Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games board

Former international athletes Ama Agbeze and Geoff Thompson have been appointed to the board of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Agbeze captained Team England’s netballers to Commonwealth gold at the Gold Coast 2018 Games, while Thompson is five-time former world karate champion.

Their appointments follow concerns over a lack of diversity among the event’s leadership.

Last year, the organising committee was criticised for its near entirely white board and executive management team.

Commonwealth Games Federation president Dame Louise Martin subsequently stepped down from the board to help improve representation, with Barbados-based Sandra Osborne taking her place.

Civil servant Hiren Dhimar then became a third BAME director.

Last week David Grevemberg, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation – and another board member of Birmingham 2022 – announced he was stepping down, less than 18 months before the event.