The Guardian

Global game celebrates centenary event in London as players of all ages showcase their skill, style and speed “Table tennis is very good for the mind as well as the body, whatever age you are,” says 73-year-old Wang Qi, the oldest competitor at the Table Tennis Team World Championships in London. Incredibly the Fiji player, who hails from China, is 61 years older than the youngest player, Enya Hu…

The tiny Italian club are flying high with the help of the former Arsenal player, ambitious owners and a scouting guru inspired by Football Manager The serene sound of lapping water is broken only by the whir of a seaplane engine swooping to land. Outside the hangar to which the aircraft will soon return, a crowd has gathered well before kick-off. Later, most will scale the steep steps of the adj…

Seamer has been given the cold shoulder since February 2024 but is back in the conversation this summer Pop quiz: in the last five years, who is the only England seamer to have sent down 50 overs in a Test match more than once ? The answer, if the headline and picture haven’t given the game away, is a certain Ollie Robinson. Yep, the same seamer who has been overlooked by England since February 2…

Former Australia batter has worked at Durham since 2018 New selector expected to have final say on squads Marcus North, the former Australia middle order batter, has emerged as the leading candidate to become the new England men’s selector, with an official announcement expected in the coming days. The 46-year-old has worked as director of cricket at Durham since 2018 and was among those intervie…

The Wellington Phoenix coach reflects on the aftermath of the Olympic spying scandal and leading her team into a first A-League Women’s finals campaign Football is not the kind of profession that lends itself to time off for birthdays and the like. Especially when one is preparing to lead the Wellington Phoenix into their first A-League Women’s finals campaign, as Bev Priestman was last week. Yet…

Bradford Bulls, York Knights and Toulouse are holding their own and the league needs more reach and diversity By No Helmets Required With the Rugby Football League’s next round of talks with the NRL due on 15 May, the decision whether Super League will remain at 14 clubs or expand again to add London Broncos is imminent. The club could squeeze into a 14-team league via the IMG gradings but that w…

700 riders will be in initial testing pool for weekly race Testing is part of wider programme of integrity measures First came the boom in virtual cycling, with thousands of people from across the globe competing against each other. Then came cash prizes. Now one major online platform has taken the next logical step by launching anti-doping testing for e-racers. MyWhoosh , which hosts the UCI Esp…

Prices will rise by 3% next season but frozen for 2027-28 Liverpool fans directed yellow cards against owners Liverpool supporters have achieved a significant victory in their protests against ticket costs at Anfield after the club scrapped plans to increase prices for the next three seasons. Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), went against the wishes of their Supporters Board in March…

Jamaica striker decides to go when contract ends in June City could not match other offers to the 29-year-old Khadija “Bunny” Shaw has decided to leave Manchester City this summer at the end of her contract, the Guardian understands, after extensive talks over a new deal concluded with her opting to pursue a new challenge. The Jamaica striker, who is on course to win the Women’s Super League’s Go…

The Philadelphia Eagles selected the Nigerian defensive lineman before he had even played a down of football. More teams should take risks on global talent Uar Bernard has become a source of borderline indecent fascination in the NFL – the kind of prospect who underscores how athletes are identified and the inherent limits of pro football scouting itself. A swole 6ft 4in and 306lbs, Uar (pronounc…

Who will join Coventry and Ipswich in the top fight: Millwall, Hull City, Middlesbrough or Southampton? By Opta Analyst For a while it looked as if Millwall would secure automatic promotion, but they finished a point behind Ipswich. Millwall have only spent two seasons in the English top flight. They won the Division Two title in 1987-88, finished 10th in their first season in the top flight and …

After 10 years without a Women’s Super League title, City are champions once more – here’s how they did it The sight of Rebecca Knaak fighting back tears on hearing the full-time whistle last Sunday summed up what this means. The Manchester City defender had sustained a painful shoulder injury during a victory over Liverpool snatched by her late header so probably had her own reasons for finding …

Something of an obsessive with tidiness, the interim coach has beaten all the club’s closest rivals in his short time in charge We’ll get on to the more pressing business of whether Michael Carrick deserves the full-time Manchester United job in a moment. There’s plenty to discuss: tactics and philosophy, character and comportment, the squad he inherited from Ruben Amorim and how United might str…

Briton, who defends his WBO title against Daniel Dubois, talks Fury-Joshua, doping and his punditry sideline “The only expectation I have is that it will end in a knockout,” Fabio Wardley says cheerfully as he looks ahead to his dangerous first defence of the WBO world heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois in Manchester on Saturday night. “Don’t Blink” is the promotional tagline for a battle be…

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s trickery and imagination in Munich gave a reminder of the challenge facing Arsenal in the final Well, it was never going to be quite the same. You only get one all-time high, one first kiss, one Catcher in the Rye, one loved-up alien-ball dreamscape of a game like the first leg between these two teams . In the event Bayern Munich never really laid a glove on Paris Saint-Ge…