Hong Kong Racing Tips: Get set for a Purton Party at the Valley February 8, 2022 NO PRIZES for guessing that former champion jockey Zac Purton will carry huge expectations when racing resumes at Happy Valley with a nine-race programme today. Purton was at his imperious best at the city-track last Sunday, riding five winners and five places on the 10-race card, sending his many thousands of supporters into raptures of [...]
Spotify set for £237m Barcelona sponsorship deal February 8, 2022 Spotify are close to agreeing a sponsorship deal with Barcelona that would be among the biggest in football, according to reports in Spain. The music streaming platform would pay the Catalan club €280m (£237m) over three years, said radio station RAC1. In return Spotify would get naming rights to Barcelona’s stadium, which would be rebranded [...]
Rugby’s domestic derbies should not be played in the international window February 8, 2022 The East Midlands derby between Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints is one of the fixtures fans look for when the schedule is released. Saracens against Harlequins, Bath against Gloucester, Tigers against Saints – these are the staples of English domestic rugby, the bitter rivalries decades, if not centuries, in the making. So its beggars belief [...]
Why UK and Ireland want Euro 2028 bid instead of 2030 World Cup February 7, 2022 The UK and Ireland have abandoned plans to bid to host football’s 2030 World Cup almost a year after Prime Minister Boris Johnson trumpeted the project. Instead the football associations of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland favour bidding to stage the 2028 European Championship. So why has the World Cup [...]
Sam Torrance: Nicolai Hojgaard is destined to be a world beater February 7, 2022 Big-money tournaments elsewhere in the Middle East may have attracted the headlines but the best golf story of the weekend for me was Nicolai Hojgaard. The young Dane and his twin brother Rasmus are going to be world-beaters and Nicolai took the next step on that journey with an extraordinary victory at the Ras Al [...]
UK and Ireland ditch 2030 World Cup bid in favour of cheaper Euro 2028 February 7, 2022 The UK and Ireland have abandoned plans to bid to host football’s 2030 World Cup but instead hope to stage the 2028 European Championship. It comes 11 months after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged £2.8m towards exploring the possibility of a World Cup bid. A feasibility study found that it would be better value for [...]
British skier Kirsty Muir, 17, reaches big air final at Winter Olympics February 7, 2022 Seventeen-year-old British freestyle skier Kirsty Muir has qualified for the women’s big air final at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Muir, from Aberdeen, finished seventh in the heats but team-mates Katie Summerhayes missed out on the final by one place in 13th. Team GB’s James Woods, a former Winter X Games champion, failed to reach [...]
Six Nations: England cannot dip favourites tag two weeks running February 7, 2022 England’s first round Six Nations defeat at the hands of Scotland on Saturday was one which initially played into Eddie Jones’s well-worn line of the Calcutta Cup rivals being “red hot favourites”. But in a 20-17 loss which sent England back south of the border with their tails between their legs, Jones’s side looked a [...]
What a night: Senegal coach Aliou Cisse savours long road to Africa Cup of Nations glory February 7, 2022 Aliou Cisse dedicated Senegal’s first Africa Cup of Nations triumph to the country’s people after a nail-biting final victory over seven-times winners Egypt. Liverpool striker Sadio Mane, who had earlier missed a seventh-minute spot-kick, converted the decisive penalty in the shoot-out after the game had finished 0-0 following extra time to spark ecstatic celebrations both [...]
‘Inappropriate text messages’ to female colleagues force Marc Overmars to resign at Ajax with immediate effect February 7, 2022 Marc Overmars has left his role at Ajax after sending a series of “inappropriate messages” to female colleagues, the Dutch giants have announced. Director of football affairs Overmars has stood down after discussions with chief executive Edwin van der Sar and the supervisory board following reports of alleged misconduct. A statement on Ajax’s official website [...]