World Snooker Championship: wide-open tournament may herald new era

A record 10 Chinese players are in the main draw at the Crucible, where picking a winner is tougher than everIt has been fairly common in recent years to discuss the winds of change blowing through the World Snooker Championship. But this year, with talk of the Crucible’s future being quieter than usual, it is on the baize where a significant shift might be poised to take place.The usual suspects – for the most part – are still assembling in Sheffield for snooker’s most prestigious event. Some of them in quite imperious form, too. But whereas a case can often be made for no more than three or four players to take home the £500,000 top prize and world champion crown, this year there is a much more open field

Premiership’s disjointed sprint finish begins with playoff battle bonanza

The Premiership season is rounding the final bend and entering the home straight. Organisers like to call this point in the campaign “The Run-in” and they could hardly have wished for a better set of fixtures this weekend to begin it with. Sixth host fourth when Saracens entertain Gloucester, fifth go to seventh with Sale travelling to Harlequins and on Sunday, second and third lock horns with Bristol facing Leicester.As was the case last season, the race for the playoffs is shaping up to be a blanket finish. Bath are out in front in first but with five matches remaining, only four points separate Leicester in third and Harlequins in seventh

England continue pursuit of perfection in Women’s Six Nations

Two years ago the criticism levelled at England was that their attack was predictable as they relied on their maul to get them over the line. When John Mitchell took over the Red Roses before the 2024 Six Nations, the head coach and his staff, particularly the attack coach, Lou Meadows, diversified that area of their game.While the maul was still lethal, the backs were getting their hands on the ball more with the top three try-scorers across last year’s Six Nations being England’s full-back Ellie Kildunne (nine) and the wings Abby Dow (five) and Jess Breach (four).With that fixed, England last year were criticised for their lack of discipline after two red and two yellow cards during the 2024 Six Nations. But that has not been an issue in the 2025 tournament, with no cards given to an England player in their opening three matches

Stuck on repeat: NHL’s playoff format keeps delivering déjà vu matchups

From Kings v Oilers to Leafs v Bruins, the league’s divisional structure has turned once-thrilling postseason clashes into stale reruns. Is it time for a change?“It’s the stupidest thing ever.” This was Washington Capitals’ forward Daniel Winnik’s review in 2017 of the NHL’s still (somewhat) new playoff format. Three seasons earlier, along with realigning its divisions, the NHL had abandoned it’s previous, simple playoff arrangement. For 20 years, the top eight teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, with the first-placed team playing the eighth-placed team, the second-placed team played the seventh, and so on

Chess: Carlsen scores in Paris, leads Freestyle Grand Slam after two events

Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, scored a low-key triumph on Monday when he won the Paris leg of the $3.75m Freestyle Grand Slam by defeating his old rival and world No 2, USA’s Hikaru Nakamura, by 1.5-0.5 in the final. It was patient attrition over the two games, worthy of a place in the Carlsen-David Howell book Grind like a Grandmaster

US Olympic committee sidesteps transgender athlete policy amid LA28 buildup

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has said it will not set any policy on transgender athlete eligibility ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games, despite growing political pressure from the Trump administration and increasing scrutiny over access and inclusion in women’s sport.Speaking Thursday after the committee’s first board meeting of 2025, chief executive Sarah Hirshland said the USOPC had no plans to define eligibility criteria, even as US president Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14201 – titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports – threatens to upend international participation protocols.“It wouldn’t be appropriate,” Hirshland said. “It’s not our role to take on that position.”Responsibility for athlete eligibility, she said, falls to international federations in global events and national governing bodies (NGBs) in domestic competitions