The Guardian

Power-hitting co-hosts are hot favourites despite playing in strongest group, while Sri Lanka and New Zealand will fancy chance of making final Pakistan Continue reading...

The world No 1 won his 21st global title by defeating his old rival Fabiano Caruana in Freestyle chess at Weissenhaus in Germany Magnus Carlsen notched up yet another world crown last weekend when the Norwegian, 35, continued his decade-long campaign aiming to edge ahead of Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer on the game’s absolute pantheon. This time it was Freestyle chess, where the back row piece…

Joep Wennemars went under the previous Olympic record in the men’s 1500m speed skating. But so did three others Picture this: you are on the verge of breaking an Olympic record. The cheers, the spotlight, your name etched in history. The magical initials – OR – next to your name until it is next broken. You have got a gold medal waiting to be draped around your neck? Wait, no gold? Silver, maybe?…

F1 chief executive ‘is listening to drivers’ complaints’ He admits the rules could change if racing isn’t exciting Stefano Domenicali, the chief executive of Formula One, has issued an urgent plea for calm after the damning driver criticism of the sport’s new regulations that has emerged during pre-season testing. But the Italian conceded that F1 is prepared to intervene and enforce changes shoul…

Tottenham’s Tudor age begins with a north London derby, Guardiola ponders Haaland’s role and Wirtz has a chance to flummox Forest Aston Villa, third in the Premier League, chasing Champions League qualification and the Europa League title, will be expected to beat Leeds on home soil. But Unai Emery’s side have struggled of late in games where the pressure is on and the onus is upon them to be the…

Five changes to the XV that stunned England Wales call up Bath-born Gabriel Hamer-Webb Gregor Townsend expects Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe to be fuelled by “huge determination” against Wales after they were restored to Scotland’s starting XV for Saturday’s Six Nations meeting in Cardiff. The British & Irish Lions duo were high-profile omissions from the 23 for the first two championshi…

It is just as well Martin O’Neill wanted no celebration of his 1,000th game in professional management. Stuttgart used the occasion of their visit to Glasgow to demonstrate the chasm between themselves and Celtic. Men against Bhoys. Next week’s return leg in this Europa League playoff feels a formality. O’Neill’s selection in Germany will be intriguing, given lingering battles on the domestic fro…

Olympic champion breaks indoor 800m mark in France In great form for world indoor championships in March Britain’s Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has obliterated the world indoor 800m record, which has stood since 2002, by nearly a second in a stunning performance in Liévin. Hodgkinson had made no secret that she believed the record of 1min 55.82sec, set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak on the sam…

For Nottingham Forest, and particularly Vítor Pereira and the 1,200 supporters who signed up to this trip, an evening in Istanbul they will not forget in a hurry. After just three training sessions, Pereira’s first match in charge could scarcely have been more impressive than the statement victory Forest recorded at Fenerbahce to put themselves in command to reach the Europa League last 16. By th…

20-year-old delivers near-flawless free skate Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai win silver and bronze Alysa Liu delivered the US its first women’s figure skating Olympic gold medal in 24 years, performing a near-flawless free skate on Thursday night to upstage Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai. The 20-year-old, who had walked away from the sport after the Beijing Games four years ago only t…

Men’s team edge tense semi-final battle 8-5 They go for gold in Saturday’s final against Canada Great Britain’s men’s team will play for the curling gold night against Canada, after they beat ­Switzerland 8-5 in an ­extraordinarily tense semi-final. The GB quartet, who only scraped through the round-robin stage because the Italians lost to the Swiss earlier in the day, had promised that they woul…

Jess Park provided a timely demonstration of her qualities as her superb, long-range goal capped off a confident individual performance that helped Manchester United progress to the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals with a resounding win over Atlético Madrid. The German champions, Bayern Munich, will be Marc Skinner’s team’s quarter-final opponents, between 23 March and 1 April, with United…

Hull KR 30-24 Brisbane Broncos Rovers add World Club Challenge to last year’s treble Hull KR are champions of the rugby league world for the first time in their history, after holding off a late rally from the NRL premiers Brisbane Broncos to win a first World Club Challenge. Bottom of Super League as recently as 2020 and on the brink of financial ruin at the turn of the century, Rovers have emer…

Canadians led 1-0 in regulation before late US goal Megan Keller clinches title with overtime winner Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results Rescued from the brink of defeat by a deft touch from their captain in her final Olympics, the US beat Canada in Milan on Thursday to claim the women’s ice hockey gold medal. Hilary Knight got engaged this week to the American speed skater, Brittany…

Team have been in Chicago since 1921 Indiana committed to helping build new stadium The Chicago Bears’ potential move to Indiana took another step forward on Thursday when a key committee approved a plan to create an agency that would help get a stadium built. The Indiana House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee passed a bill establishing a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance,…