Ivy-Jane Smith hopes her push towards a place at next year’s Paris Olympics will continue to help shift perceptions and blaze a trail for young Romany and traveller girls to pursue careers in elite sport.
Like girls in her community, Smith left school at the age of 13, but was encouraged by her parents to continue her successful junior boxing career, which has lifted the Dorset light-flyweight to the brink of a place at the Games.
Smith, now 24, concedes that others within her wider community may not always have been so happy to see her pursue a less traditional path, but is comfortable assuming a role in helping to slowly change those attitudes.
“As a young girl (in my community) you usually marry and have children early, and I haven’t followed that path and some people will probably have a problem with it,” Smith, who fights on home soil for the first time in six years in the GB Open in Sheffield next week, told the PA news agency.
“It’s my personal life and and at the end of the day you’ve got to be proud of who you are. I know there’s still an idea out there that everyone’s got to follow a certain way, and that’s the way it is.
“It’s not a nasty way, it’s just tradition, but if you keep following tradition you’re never going to know anything different. You see a lot more young girls staying in school these days and I think it’s slowly changing for the better.”
Smith’s boxing career has been fully supported by her parents, John and Ivy, since she was first encouraged to try boxing at the age of three. In her teens, Smith won a series of national titles and caught the eye of GB performance director Rob McCracken, who rated her one of the best young prospect he had seen.
But no sooner had Smith established her place on the GB development squad at the age of 18, than she chose to abruptly walk away from the sport, ignoring her coaches’ entreaties to return and barely so much as wobbling a punchbag for the next four years.
“I was quite a young 18-year-old and travelling up to the GB gym from Southampton got too much for me,” continued Smith, who maintains her decision had nothing to do with external pressure from others.
“I hit a point where I thought, I just don’t want to do this any more. I could feel myself not giving everything in the gym. It wasn’t because of any pressure, I just don’t think I was ready for it back then, and I just quit completely.”
Seemingly lost to the sport, Smith settled into a part-time job before feeling the familiar urging to lace back on the gloves at the beginning of last year.
“I was fed up in my job so I just went back for something to do,” said Smith, who by a twist of fate also happened to move to Sheffield, home of the GB Boxing set-up, during her extended lay-off.
“I started really pushing for it, I got selected for England again and I won a gold medal in a tournament in Poland in September, which got me back onto the GB squad.
“I’d always wanted to go to the Olympics, and even when I quit I had a few regrets and thought, ‘what if?’ Now it’s almost there, I won’t disappear again. I want to go to the Olympics in Paris and make a difference.”
Novak Djokovic is the greatest male tennis player of all time, according to Marcos Baghdatis.
Djokovic is the most decorated player in the history of the men's game, boasting 24 grand slam triumphs over a magnificent career. Even with Djokovic turning 36 in 2023, the Serbian won three of the four majors on offer throughout the year.
Rival Rafael Nadal, who has the second most grand slam titles among male players with 22, recently conceded Djokovic is the greatest ever.
Baghdatis agrees with Nadal that Djokovic's numbers make him the best of all time, with the 2006 Australian Open runner-up telling Stats Perform: "I think that yes, Rafa is right. He's the GOAT [greatest of all time].
"I mean, statistically, he has the best history written in tennis. Of course, he has written more history than any other player.
"It's tough to say who is the best and who's not. I can say, the three players from Rafa, Roger [Federer] and Djokovic, I think he [Djokovic] is the most complete, if you understand what I mean.
"He's still there, he's still winning matches, still winning Grand Slams.
"So yeah, he's the best of all time because of the stats, but it's very hard to just get the other two out."
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer are often referred to as the 'big three', and Baghdatis believes the trio helped to move tennis forward. However, he also says Andy Murray deserves greater recognition despite failing to match his rivals' grand slam accomplishments.
"I cannot take Andy Murray out of there," Baghdatis said. "Because, you know, he was always taking them to their limits too.
"I think it's a package that these four people changed the sport for the better. Yeah, they helped each other improve themselves, but at the same time, they helped so many other players improve themselves and be better at what they do. So they left a legacy behind."
With Federer retired and Djokovic and Nadal in the latter stages of their careers, Carlos Alcaraz is seen by many as the next potential legend of the sport, having already claimed US Open and Wimbledon glory.
While Baghdatis feels Alcaraz is a great talent, he also believes other youngsters deserve credit, saying: "I'm not saying that Alcaraz cannot [become a legend], of course he has a shot at it.
"He's young. I think he's great for tennis, he has great energy on the court, a great personality.
"I think maybe right now he's the best of his generation, let's say, but Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune are coming up, [Daniil] Medvedev is still there.
"But it's going to be very tough. I think he has a shot. It's going to be very, very tough to achieve what they [the big three] have achieved."
Barcelona boss Xavi hopes retaining the Spanish Super Cup can help his side get their season back on track.
LaLiga champions Barca face 2022-23 Copa del Rey runners-up Osasuna in the semi-final of the competition on Thursday evening in Riyadh.
The Catalan giants travelled to Saudi Arabia sitting third in the league, seven points adrift of both leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Girona.
Xavi, who guided Barca to a 3-1 win over fierce rivals Real in the final of last year’s Supercopa de Espana, told a press conference: “We want to find our game again and keep it going.
“We need to play a complete game against a solid side, who have a great coach (Jagoba Arrasate) and who can generate all kinds of different scenarios.
“The click we need to win might come from winning the Super Cup, it certainly helped us last season.
“Hopefully we win this title and it helps us get back on track.”
Barcelona’s two league defeats this term have come against title rivals Real and Girona.
They dropped seven points in four games played between late November and mid December but recovered to register successive victories before the trip to the Middle East.
Barca defender Ronald Araujo echoed his manager’s comments.
“We hope (the Super Cup) marks a turning point,” said the Uruguay international. “It’s a title and is very important for the team and the club.
“We have a great team. We aren’t quite clinical enough in both areas. But we have top quality players to turn this situation around.”
Xavi has selected a 25-man squad for the Super Cup.
Defenders Joao Cancelo and Inigo Martinez and midfielder Pedri travelled, despite not being fully fit.
Real face city rivals Atletico Madrid on Wednesday evening in the other semi-final.
Prince Zaltar will miss the Coral Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday after suffering a minor setback.
Philip Rothwell’s charge has run two fine races in Britain already this season, finishing sixth at Cheltenham in November before filling the runner-up spot behind Sonigino at Aintree last month.
Rothwell had been eyeing a third successive trip across the Irish Sea for this weekend’s feature handicap, but said on Wednesday: “I’m not running. He’s had a little setback, so he won’t go.
“He worked well yesterday, but we just weren’t happy afterwards. I haven’t a clue how long it will hold us up for, it won’t be long I’d say, but we’re not going to make Kempton anyway.
“The horses are flying, thank God, but their welfare is the most important thing and we’ve got to make sure they’re 100 per cent right. If it was an Irish race I might still plan on going, but when you’re going across to Kempton and things aren’t 100 per cent right I’m definitely not going to go.”
Prince Zaltar’s non-participation is a rare blip in an otherwise excellent campaign for Rothwell.
Numerically the Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer is enjoying his best ever season, with a tally of 33 winners and prize-money totalling over €390,000 putting him fifth in the trainers’ table behind the powerhouse quartet of Gordon Elliott, Willie Mullins, Henry de Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell.
He added: “We’re doing really well and getting huge support for a small yard. We’re just trying to turn them over and thrash the winners out as best we can and we’re really happy with how it’s going.
“The last three or four seasons have been very strong and we have a very strong team of staff and people working here in a very small environment.
“We’re very specific about what we’re doing, the whole thing is a team job and I’m just very lucky that the players on my team at the moment are very good.
“We’ve been building this for the last few years and hopefully we can keep at the kind of level we’re at now as we’re not going to get further. I’m fifth in the trainers’ table, we’re not going to hassle the top four and I’m sure some of the lads behind us can pass us at some stage.
“We have 55 or 60 boxes, whereas the lads in front and some behind have 200 boxes. Their average spend is in excess of £80,000 and my average spend is about £5,000, so we’re boxing way above our weight and we’re very happy to be doing that.”
Paisley Park is on course to attempt a fourth win in the McCoy Contractors Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on January 27.
Big Buck’s won the race twice while Lady Rebecca won three in a row from 1999-2001, but a victory for Emma Lavelle’s stalwart would see him stand alone as a four-time winner.
In two outings this year the 12-year-old has been beaten a head by Dashel Drasher at Newbury and a short head by the young pretender Crambo in the Long Walk Hurdle – a race which Paisley Park has also won three times in his stellar career.
“He’s great. He’s come out of the race (Long Walk) so well, he cantering away and I just can’t believe he’s run two such fantastic races and just got beaten in both of them,” Lavelle told Sky Sports Racing.
“We’re so proud of him. He’s just turned 12 and we’ll head to the Cleeve, all things being equal.
“It would be nice if he could just get his head in front there, to win the Cleeve four times would be extraordinary.
“I’ve always said he’ll tell us when he’s had enough and clearly his first two runs this year have shown us he hasn’t had enough.
“If he keeps running the way he is then I don’t see why we would necessarily retire him at the end of the season.
“We’ll keep going with him as long as he is happy to keep going and quite clearly at the moment he is very happy.”
Stable stalwart Thomas Darby spearheads Olly Murphy’s bumper squad of horses on Saturday afternoon, with the trainer poised to saddle key runners across the country.
The 11-year-old is part of the furniture at Murphy’s Warren Chase base and was one of the horses who helped put the trainer on the map when finishing second in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2019.
Since then the seven-time winner has been a regular on the big days and counts victory in Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle as one of his greatest accolades.
He will now seek another major prize in the rearranged Unibet Veterans’ Handicap Chase at Warwick, returning to the scene of his comfortable course-and-distance success in November.
“He’s in good form and obviously he’s off a lofty mark now but he has course-and-distance form round Warwick and seems in good order,” said Murphy.
“He was second in a Supreme behind Klassical Dream and has had success at a high level throughout his career.
“He has been a very good horse, just probably 7lb short of being a proper Grade One horse. But we’ve had some very good days. He’s won a Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury and he’s run well on many occasions at the highest level so to win a nice handicap like this would be great.
“Harry Skelton rides him and if he gets into a good rhythm I don’t see why he wouldn’t have a good each-way chance in a valuable race.”
Sporting the same silks of owner Diana Whateley is Chasing Fire who has always threatened to be a quality operator and is upped in class at Wetherby for a shot at the Grade Two William Hill Towton Novices’ Chase.
“He definitely runs at Wetherby and is in good form,” continued Murphy.
“He’s a horse that hasn’t achieved what I think he should have achieved yet, but it is still really early days for him.
“It will be a competitive race, but we’re looking forward to it and Brian Hughes rides him.”
Meanwhile, Thunder Rock could be tasked with a stiff-looking recovery mission if taking his chance in Kempton’s Coral Silviniaco Conti Chase.
The eight-year-old fluffed his lines when sent off favourite for Cheltenham’s December Gold Cup prior to Christmas and with Murphy toying with the idea of reverting to hurdles, is keen to give his charge another chance to prove himself over fences back in a small-field contest.
“We’re short of options and running him back in a handicap is probably not the right thing to do with him at the moment,” explained Murphy.
“We would rather run in a smaller-field Graded race if possible, but options are far and few between.
“He’s in good form, he just got a terrible fright at Cheltenham last time. If he runs it will be very much a confidence boosting run.
“Unfortunately I think he’s rather well-handicapped but we’re not able to put that to good use just yet. He’ll have a run back over fences whether that is Saturday or not and see how we go, and if it doesn’t work out we’ll go back over hurdles.”
Rory McIlroy is focused on finding the “final piece of the puzzle” as he bids to end his major drought in 2024.
McIlroy won two Rolex Series events on the DP World Tour last year to claim the Race to Dubai for a fifth time and enjoyed a career-best performance to help Europe regain the Ryder Cup in Rome.
The world number two has also recorded seven top 10s in his last eight majors but remains without a win since the 2014 US PGA Championship at Valhalla, which will also host the second major of the year in May.
“I’m excited for the year,” McIlroy said before getting his season under way in the inaugural Dubai Invitational, with a title defence of the Dubai Desert Classic following next week.
“This is my 18th full season on tour, which is mad to think about. But I’m as excited as I was for the first one. I think every new year [brings] new opportunities, new goals.
“My consistency has really been there over the last couple of years, without winning one of the big ones.
“I think that’s the final piece of the puzzle for me, especially coming out of Covid and sort of going through some dips in my game and then coming back up and playing so well the last couple years.
“The final piece of the puzzle is trying to knock off one of those four.”
McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood expressed similar sentiments as the Dubai-based world number 15 set his sights on a first tournament win since the Nedbank Golf Challenge in November 2022.
Fleetwood, who has recorded six top 10s in his last 10 starts worldwide, said: “I played really well last year, particularly from like early summer onwards, late spring. I think my consistency levels were great.
“Like most people in the world of golf, I don’t win anywhere near as much as I would like, so you’re always looking to that missing piece that would lead to you more victories.
“But overall, in terms of the depths of my performances throughout the year, I was very, very pleased, and to finish the world ranking in a high place again, knocking on the door of that top 10. Hopefully I can just carry on with that consistency and doing the right things and try to kick on.”
The Dubai Invitational features a 72-hole strokeplay tournament played concurrently with a three-day pro-am team event, with Sunday featuring professionals only.
Andy Farrell is expected to be named British and Irish Lions head coach for the 2025 tour to Australia on Thursday.
A month after agreeing a contract to remain in charge of Ireland until the end of the 2027 World Cup, Farrell is set to be confirmed as Warren Gatland’s successor in the Lions role at a lunchtime press conference in central London.
The 48-year-old Englishman is seen as the outstanding candidate for one of the game’s most prestigious posts, having masterminded last year’s Grand Slam and an historic 2-1 series victory in New Zealand in 2022.
Ireland also enjoyed a lengthy stay at the summit of the world rankings under his guidance until they were forced into second place by repeat World Cup winners South Africa last autumn.
Farrell would be leading the Lions for the first time, having impressed as an assistant coach under Gatland on the 2013 and 2017 tours, and his appointment would have the blessing of the Irish Rugby Football Union.
“We’d be ecstatic if Andy was named coach of the Lions so hopefully that accolade is the next one for him,” IRFU performance director David Nucifora said in December.
In addition to his management credentials, Farrell has the benefit of coaching the nation that is expected to provide the bulk of the touring party unless England, Scotland or Wales threaten Ireland’s ascendancy over the next 18 months.
View this post on Instagram
The dual code international won eight caps as a centre in 2007 following his move from Wigan rugby league club and then moved into coaching, first with Saracens and then with England, serving as an assistant under Stuart Lancaster.
He joined Ireland after the 2015 World Cup and succeeded Joe Schmidt as their head coach four years later.
An inspirational figure, he has yet to experience series defeat with the Lions having helped clinch a 2-1 victory over Australia in 2013 and a drawn series with New Zealand in 2017.
He was unavailable for the most recent tour to South Africa due to his commitments with Ireland but there is no objection this time from the IRFU, which is likely to grant him a sabbatical.
It will be the first time the Lions have been led by anyone other than Gatland since 2009, with Wales’ Kiwi boss having already ruled himself out of the running.
Next year’s tour schedule launches against Western Force on June 28, with the first Test taking place in Brisbane on July 19.
Fontwell’s meeting on Thursday has been abandoned with parts of the course frozen and another cold night forecast.
Temperatures dipped to a low of minus 3.5C on Tuesday evening and were only due to rise to a high of 2C on Wednesday.
To make matters worse there was a windchill of minus 4C preventing conditions from improving.
Given it could get even colder on Wednesday evening all hope was lost that the track would thaw and having originally called an inspection for 8am on raceday, that was brought forward to 1pm on Wednesday and an early decision was made.
Wincanton on Friday is also under threat due to frost.
Having performed a minor miracle to get the course raceable on Saturday, clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team now face a different problem.
The course is currently frozen in places and temperatures overnight could reach minus 3C before racing but a daytime high of 5C offers hope.
The meetings at Doncaster and Leicester on Wednesday both passed inspections before racing.
There were no issues at all at Doncaster but Leicester did need three inspections before getting the go-ahead, the latter at 12 noon.
Fastorslow will have two options at next month’s Dublin Racing Festival, as Martin Brassil looks to put the finishing touches to his Cheltenham Gold Cup contender.
Having inflicted a shock defeat on Galopin Des Champs in the Punchestown Gold Cup in April, Fastorslow proved there was no fluke about that when again getting the better of last season’s Cheltenham hero in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase on his seasonal debut.
The trilogy was expected to take place in Leopardstown’s Savills Chase over the festive period, but Fastorslow was withdrawn on the morning of the race due to the deteriorating ground conditions.
In his absence, Galopin Des Champs got back on the winning trail with a brilliant victory, cementing his status in the eyes of the bookmakers as the one to beat in the blue riband at Prestbury Park in March, while trainer Willie Mullins is considering taking in the Irish Gold Cup before the defence of his Cheltenham crown.
Fastorslow is also in Irish Gold Cup contention, but Brassil will also consider the two-mile-one-furlong Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at the same fixture should testing conditions again prevail.
“The entries closed today for the Dublin Racing Festival, so we’ve entered him up for there,” Brassil told the PA news agency on Wednesday.
“He’s in the Irish Gold Cup and we’ve put him in the shorter race as well, just in case the ground came up heavy, then we might run in the shorter race with it being close to the (Cheltenham) Gold Cup.”
Brassil has no regrets about sidestepping the Savills Chase, adding: “It was a horrible evening there, I’d had a couple of runners in the Paddy Power Chase the day before and the ground had well opened up.
“We’ve never ran him on it (testing ground) before, we said we had another option (Dublin Racing Festival) and we said we’d take it.”
While admitting to being impressed by the 23-length success of Galopin Des Champs, he is not shying away from taking him on again.
He said: “He was great wasn’t he? He really was. It’s two-nil at the moment anyway.”
Emma Raducanu will no longer take part in the Kooyong Classic on Thursday.
The former US Open champion was set to take on 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the Melbourne suburbs but is not featured on Thursday’s schedule of play.
She withdrew from a charity match earlier in the week and was reported to have been feeling “sore” following practice on Monday.
Raducanu will continue to prepare for the Australian Open, which will be just her second tournament back from wrist and ankle surgery which decimated her 2023 season.
The Brit, currently ranked 299 but using a protected ranking for the first grand slam of the year, made her comeback in Auckland last week, losing in the second round to Elina Svitolina.
Raducanu has had a raft of injury problems since her breakthrough win in 2021 and ended last week’s match with Svitolina with strapping on her right leg.
The 21-year-old has since trained at Melbourne Park ahead of next week’s tournament, where she is in the main draw.
Anthony Davis and LeBron James felt the Los Angeles Lakers had impressively executed their gameplan to beat the Toronto Raptors, whose coach Darko Rajakovic hit out at the officials.
The Lakers have won back-to-back games for the first time in a month after edging to a 132-131 home win on Tuesday.
Davis scored 20 of his season-high 41 points in the fourth quarter and was was 13 of 17 from the field and 13 of 14 from the free throw line while adding 11 rebounds and six assists.
He made all eight free throw attempts in the final minute as the Lakers held on despite late 3-pointers by Toronto's Dennis Schroder and Gary Trent Jr.
LeBron James had 22 points and 12 assists to help the Lakers win their second straight after a four-game skid.
Scottie Barnes scored 26 points and RJ Barrett added 23 with 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who had won three of four.
The 14 free throw attempts for Davis were a season high and ultimately proved decisive.
"He was able to get a lot of touches and guys were finding him," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said about Davis.
"And it was his ability to get to the free throw line and knock down free throws. It is just a matter of reading the game and seeing how it's going."
Davis added: "It was all of us, it was not just me.
"We had big-time stops. We got rebounds, and they wanted me to get the ball as far as free throws, but the team was just making the right reads and trying to finish."
It was a welcome win for the Lakers after they had also narrowly defeated cross-town rival the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
They are now back to .500 at 19-19 for the season and 13-6 at home, as they look to put their miserable 3-10 run after winning the NBA Cup behind them.
"We knew we had an advantage on the interior and we just tried to get it to [Davis] early and often and late," said James.
Los Angeles hosts the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, while the Raptors are on the road against the Clippers a day earlier.
The Lakers shot 23 free throws in the fourth quarter and 36 overall, while Toronto shot only 13 in total, with Davis going 11-for-11 at the line in the final period.
"It's outrageous. What happened tonight, this is completely B.S.," Rajakovic said, per ESPN.
"This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them, and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter?
"Like, how to play the game? I understand respect for All-Stars and all that, but we have star players on our team as well.
"How [is it] possible that Scottie Barnes, who is All-Star-caliber player in this league, he goes every single time to the rim with force and trying to get to the rim without flopping and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws for a whole game?
"They had to win tonight? If that's the case, just let us know, so we don't show up for the game. Just give them a win. But that was not fair and this is not happening first time for us."
LeBron was asked about the Raptors complaints and simply replied: "I feel like they fouled and we didn't."
West Indies' batting frailties were again exposed, as they stumbled against an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI on the first of a three-day warm-up match in Adelaide.
Despite getting some positive starts, West Indies batsmen were unable to push on against a CA XI that does not feature any players with Test experience, which basically underscores the Caribbean side's chances, or lack thereof, heading into the first Test against Australia next week.
Scores: West Indies 251 for 8 (Greaves 65, Hodge 52, Brathwaite 52, Haskett 3-57) vs Cricket Australia XI
After opting to take first strike on a dry Karen Rolton wicket, captain Kraigg Brathwaite, who showed class in their previous Test Down Under last summer, led from the front with his 52 at the top.
Kavem Hodge and Justin Greaves, both showed Head coach Andre Coley that they are ready for a Test debut, as they scored 52 and 62 respectively.
But amidst the positives, were also concerns for the Regional side. Top-order batters Kirk McKenzie (23) and Alick Athanaze (zero) were both bounced out, in dismissals that will no doubt catch the attention of Australia's seamers.
Brathwaite's dismissal also raised eyebrows. He was caught trying to paddle-sweep Doug Warren in a half-hearted shot that capped a collapse of three wickets for three runs.
Another collapse of four wickets for eight runs, came late in the day around the second new ball, after Hodge and Greaves steadied the innings and took the score to 223 for 4.
Liam Haskett led the CA XI's bowling attack with three for 57, while rising New South Wales talent Jack Nisbet finished with two for 50, and Victorian spinner Warren claimed two for 47. Between them, the three bowlers have played a total of nine first-class matches.
That adds impetus to the genuine concerns over the form of the once-proud team from the Caribbean headed into the two-Test series. They will field at least three debutants in next Wednesday's first Test in Adelaide, with seven uncapped players in their 15-man squad.
Former captain Jason Holder and all-rounder Kyle Mayers both opted out of the tour to pursue Twenty20 opportunities.
West Indies were beaten convincingly in two Tests in Australia last summer, with only five players from that tour in the current squad.
Fontwell’s meeting on Thursday must pass a precautionary inspection at 8am due to the threat of frost.
Temperatures dipped to a low of minus 3.5C on Tuesday evening and are only due to rise to a high of 2C on Wednesday.
It could get even colder on Wednesday evening but there is hope that a daytime high of 4C may help thaw the track in time.
Wincanton on Friday is also under threat due to frost.
Having performed a minor miracle to get the course raceable on Saturday, clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team now face a different problem.
The course is currently frozen in places and temperatures overnight could reach minus 3C before racing but a daytime high of 5C offers hope.
The meetings at Doncaster and Leicester on Wednesday both passed inspections before racing.
There were no issues at all at Doncaster but Leicester did need three inspections before getting the go-ahead, the latter at 12 noon.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
