England chiefs back exceptional Trott for international comeback October 28, 2014 REJUVENATED batsman Jonathan Trott will have the opportunity to take a significant step towards resuming his international Test career in the new year after being summoned for England Lions duty yesterday. The 33-year-old has not featured for England since an abrupt departure from last winter’s Ashes debacle with a stress-related illness but has been named [...]
Balotelli inspires late Reds win as Fulham collapse October 28, 2014 MUCH-MALIGNED striker Mario Balotelli inspired a late salvage operation as Liverpool kept alive their Capital One Cup hopes with a last-gasp 2-1 victory against Swansea at Anfield last night. Liverpool, who are off the pace in the Premier League and struggling to reach the knockout phase on their Champions League return, found themselves a goal [...]
Pochettino seeking remedy to Spurs slump October 28, 2014 IF AUGUST bank holiday weekend already feels like a lifetime ago then spare a thought for the managers in opposing White Hart Lane dugouts for tonight’s Capital One Cup fixture. Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino, having won his first two Premier League games in charge, has tasted top-flight victory just once in seven attempts since [...]
Basketball gets boost in £100m funding review October 28, 2014 BRITISH basketball could be set for a reprieve after UK Sport announced it is considering a radical shake-up of the way it distributes £100m of crucial central funding. The government agency’s current policy is to channel money only into sports that have demonstrated potential to provide Olympic medals within an eight-year time-frame. It has achieved [...]
Sponsors key to prize equality, says Pooley October 28, 2014 BRITISH cyclist-turned-duathlete Emma Pooley has warned that women’s prize money in some sports will continue to lag behind men’s as long as equivalent sponsorship revenue remains imbalanced. Sport minister Helen Grant yesterday called for more to be done to ensure gender pay equality after a study revealed three in 10 major sports still pay more [...]
Trainer Powell and former jockey Bradley cleared of rule breaches October 28, 2014 RACING chiefs have cleared trainer Brendan Powell and former jump jockey Graham Bradley of charges relating to the latter training horses under the former’s name. In the first case of its kind brought by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), a three-day independent disciplinary inquiry yesterday found the pair not guilty of breaching any rules of [...]
Premier League: Redknapp: A fit Taarabt can still have QPR future October 27, 2014 QUEENS PARK RANGERS 2 ASTON VILLA 0 QPR manager Harry Redknapp pledged to recall out-of-favour Adel Taarabt after an agricultural yet vital win wrenched them off the foot of the Premier League last night. Clinical finishes in each half from Charlie Austin inflicted Aston Villa’s fifth straight defeat, earned only Rangers’ second win of the [...]
10,000m must wait as Alistair Brownlee shelves plans to ditch triathlon October 27, 2014 British triathlon star Alistair Brownlee insists his desire to conquer another Olympic discipline continues to burn brightly despite the immediate focus remaining firmly on multistage competition. The 26-year-old is the reigning Olympic triathlon champion but flirted with an audacious ploy to contest the 10,000m on the track at Hampden Park during this summer’s Commonwealth [...]
Golf Comment: Keeping tour card is like winning lottery October 27, 2014 HE MAY not have walked away with the trophy or the £155,000 first prize, but David Drysdale will have felt like the biggest winner at the Perth International on Sunday. Like a handful of others, the Scot went into the tournament knowing it was his last chance to secure his European Tour card for next [...]
Optimism reigns for Solanke and Chelsea’s new golden generation October 27, 2014 IT IS perhaps the standout failing of Chelsea’s billion-pound transformation from also-rans to European superpower since Roman Abramovich snapped up the club more than 11 years ago. Despite the Russian’s lavish investment – or maybe, in some respects, because of it – the Blues’ academy has not produced the conveyor belt of talent expected of [...]