World Boxing has reached “an advanced stage” of its investigation into the gender eligibility row that blighted the sport at the Olympic Games last year, and expects to announce its findings in a matter of “weeks rather than months”. Boris van der Vorst, the president of boxing’s governing body that was given a green light … Read more
“He is the type of person who will sit in a room and watch 5,000 throw-ins,” John Coleman says of the England assistant head coach, Anthony Barry – but, if anything, he is selling his former Accrington Stanley player short. Barry once sifted through 60 hours of footage to analyse all 16,154 throw-ins from the … Read more
Mikel Merino sits in a briefing room on the second floor of Spain’s Las Rozas headquarters, an A1 tactics sheet covering the table. Felt tip in hand, he is making his way up the paper pitch, neatly marking the positions he has occupied, starting out in goal at school. “No more: I have to protect … Read more
Amid the somewhat murky details emerging from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s call on Tuesday – the two leaders discussed a halt on attacking energy infrastructure, then Russia immediately bombed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – one deal, at least, was clear: the US and Russia would resume playing ice hockey. Although benign enough on the face … Read more
A lucrative new seven-a-side global women’s football series has been announced with the first event set to take place in Portugal from 21-23 May. The new competition has been named the ‘World Sevens Football’ and it is understood there is a commitment to invest $100m (£77m) in the series over a five-year period. The new … Read more
As the fourth official’s board was raised into the air at the start of the second half, you could almost feel the mood among the home fans inside the Joie Stadium lifting, their heartbeats stirring, their underbrewed cups of tea feeling just that little bit warmer. Not because the half-time DJ was wrapping up a … Read more
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has recovered from a slow start to beat American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round of the Miami Open. Kyrgios dropped the opening set before storming home to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. The win was his first in a tour-level match since 2022 and sets up a second-round encounter with … Read more
New Zealand’s Sam Ruthe has made history by becoming the youngest athlete and the first 15-year-old to run a mile in under four minutes, breaking the record by two seconds on Wednesday at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland. The middle-distance prodigy completed the race in a record 3:58.35, with pacemakers Sam Tanner and Ben Wall … Read more
Rangers have described the behaviour of a minority of their fans as “embarrassing” after being charged by Uefa over incidents during last week’s Europa League last-16 victory over Fenerbahce at Ibrox. Rangers confirmed on Wednesday that they faced significant sanctions after what Uefa described as a “racist and/or discriminatory banner” was unveiled by a group … Read more
Chelsea are hopeful that Cole Palmer will make a swift return to action despite sending the attacker for a second scan on a hamstring injury. Palmer sat out his side’s defeat by Arsenal last Sunday and further checks are being made after he went for a scan earlier this week. Chelsea are treating the injury … Read more