Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said he is sad that Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia will be unavailable for the team after they quit the DP World Tour.

The trio stepped aside after being sanctioned for joining rival LIV Golf, thus rendering them ineligible for inclusion when the match against the United States begins in Rome in September.

On Thursday Westwood spoke out against the European Tour following the controversy, seemingly closing the door on any hope of a return in the future.

Donald, who will lead the Europe team as they seek to win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2018, said it was a shame that the situation had come to this.

“It’s sad we’ve got to this point but this was always a possibility,” Donald told BBC Sport. “I played with all three and they’ve been stalwarts of, and given a lot to, both the Ryder Cup and European Tour.

“I have a little more clarity now. I know they’re not an option to play in, or be any part of my team. It is a shame. They’ve got a lot of history when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

“Ultimately this is their choice and I wish them well. They feel like this was the best choice for them and now I’ve got choices to make that are best for me.

“There are generational shifts throughout the history of the Ryder Cup and maybe this is one.

“We certainly have plenty of great players to look at and pick from and I’m certainly excited about how everyone has played this year so far.”

Donald was made captain in 2022 after Henrik Stenson was dismissed for joining in the Saudi-backed LIV tour.

He will be without three of Europe’s most successful performers in the contest, with Westwood having featured as a player a record 11 times and Poulter unbeaten in singles across his seven appearances. Garcia is Europe’s all-time record points scorer.

Donald added: “There’s great momentum with European golf, we’ve already had seven winners in the US [this season] and a bunch of people who haven’t played in the Ryder Cup have played great this year on the DP World Tour so I’m excited about the make-up of this team.”

Former Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas has no thoughts of putting his bike away as he prepares to start his 18th Grand Tour this weekend.

The 36-year-old headlines the Ineos Grenadiers squad alongside 2020 winner Tao Geoghegan Hart for the 106th Giro d’Italia which will get under way in Fossacesia on Saturday.

The 2018 Tour winner described his last set of contract negotiations with Ineos in 2021 as “hard” and, with his existing two-year deal up again at the end of this season, he faces another round of talks if he wants to keep riding. However, staying in the peloton is very much his intention.

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“I’d still like to continue,” Thomas said. “I’m still really enjoying riding my bike. Especially this year when things have been a bit stop-start, you realise how much you still enjoy it and being around the lads.

“Being around the younger lads keeps you young as well and maybe keeps you immature but I still enjoy a coffee ride and I still enjoy a six-hour ride with loads of efforts and I still enjoy racing as well.

“At the moment I’m just focusing on this race and then hopefully we can sort something after this.”

Last season Thomas finished third in the Tour de France after delivering victory in the Tour de Suisse.

But his 2023 season has been interrupted by illness and on Thursday Thomas spoke more about riding to help Geoghegan Hart than he did about pursuing his own ambitions in a race which he has targeted before only to suffer crashes in both 2017 and 2020.

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When he re-signed in 2021, Thomas said he wanted to keep winning for himself, but another contract may require him to accept more of a support role.

Asked how many Grand Tours Thomas might have left in him, Ineos deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth said it was up to the Welshman, but was clear about what that might mean.

“There’s not many that have kept up the same level of intent in their cycling as Geraint has,” Ellingworth said. “He’s 36 coming on 37 so who knows. At the end of the day, age does catch up with you and you can’t avoid that. How many (Grand Tours) he has left in him is totally up to him…

“There’s riding in a Grand Tour and competing in a Grand Tour and it is very different. The thing with Geraint is, if you go to a bike race and you want somebody to help you and be your wingman, bloody hell, I’d sign him up every day. I think he’s got a few left in him if he wants it.”

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Geoghegan Hart is back at the race where he enjoyed his breakout result with victory in the pandemic-hit 2020 edition.

Since then, the 28-year-old Londoner has endured illness and injury setbacks, but delivered a timely confident boost with two stage wins and overall victory at the Tour of the Alps in April, his first general classification win since the Giro.

Although Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic are the clear favourites going into the race, Geoghegan Hart is one to watch.

“I feel like from the back end of last year he’s started to piece it together, get a bit of rhythm and he’s got his mojo back,” Ellingworth said. “He’s really shown now he can be consistent.

“What’s changed for him is he’s gone through a journey. He’s had a lot more experience now, good and bad. Sometimes you’ve got to get your arse kicked to move on and he’s had his arse kicked and he himself has moved on.”

Chris Gunter will join the Wales staff as a national team development coach after announcing his retirement from playing at the end of the season.

Gunter was part of Rob Page’s coaching team for European Championship qualifiers against Croatia and Latvia in March, and his new part-time role will provide support for young Wales players as they transition into senior football.

The 33-year-old will take up the role following AFC Wimbledon’s final game of the Sky Bet League Two season at Grimsby on Monday.

“After taking some time for consideration, I’m announcing my retirement from professional football at the end of the season,” Gunter wrote on social media.

“I feel incredibly fortunate and blessed to have enjoyed the highs and lows of the past 17/18 years.

“Over 700 games have brought many challenges and opportunities which through all of it I’ve always given my absolute all.

“I feel ready and excited for the next chapter of my career. I’m hugely thankful to the FAW, and Rob Page especially.

“Having completed my coaching badges, I will begin my new role from the summer.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to work alongside Rob and the staff.”

Gunter won 109 caps for Wales, a figure surpassed only in the men’s game by Gareth Bale’s 111 appearances.

He became the first Wales men’s player to win a century of caps in March 2021.

Newport-born Gunter made over 600 appearances at club level for Cardiff, Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Charlton and AFC Wimbledon.

Inverness manager Billy Dodds has argued the traditional Scottish Cup final kick-off time should not be moved to suit anyone else.

Both Caley Thistle and Celtic expressed major disappointment after it was announced their Hampden meeting on June 3 would kick off at 5.30pm in a break with a long-standing convention.

The evening kick-off for the game, which will be shown live on the BBC and Viaplay, appears to have been moved so as not to clash with the Manchester derby FA Cup final, which kicks off at 3pm and will be screened in Scotland by both the BBC and STV.

Celtic criticised a lack of consultation after the Scottish Football Association made the announcement and Dodds feels the situation is unfair.

In a clip shown by BBC Scotland, the former Rangers striker said: “Any time I have been involved in Scottish Cup finals as a player and a coach, you can’t beat three o’clock on a Saturday for your showpiece but suddenly it’s gone to 5.30 which is a shame for our game up here because, for me, others are getting looked after better.

“It’s not ideal. I don’t think we should ever move our showpiece final to suit anybody.

“I can only imagine it’s for TV rights or something and we don’t want to clash.

“It’s not ideal for me but I’m just glad we’re there. I would rather, like everybody else, 3pm on Saturday should be your showpiece final.”

From a players’ perspective, Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley was not too concerned but expressed sympathy with Inverness fans, the majority of whom are set to spend their post-match Saturday night out on buses.

O’Riley said: “I don’t mind. I suppose because it’s a bit later we get to sleep a bit more, so that’s one positive.

“It’s another game, a different time of day and if you win it you win a trophy, that’s the main thing.”

Asked about the possible problems Inverness fans could have in getting back home after the game, he said: “I didn’t really think about that but I’m sure that’s quite brutal, but they can probably make the most of a night out in Glasgow if they chose to.”

Lewis Hamilton said it is a “dream” to be in Miami ahead of the city’s second Formula One race this weekend.

The sport is back in the Sunshine State for the fifth round of the new campaign, which marks the first of three races to be staged in the United States this year.

A debut event on the Las Vegas strip will take place in November, while Austin’s grand prix at the Circuit of the Americas has been a permanent fixture on the F1 schedule since 2012.

“It is a dream for us to be in Miami and in the United States,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

“They have the Miami Heat and the Miami Dolphins, too.

“They are massive sporting fans here so to be in such an important city like Miami where sport is huge – and now Formula One is part of that – it is great to see.

“For such a huge country, it is amazing that we finally have three races here. The difficult thing with Formula One is that you usually visit a country once a year. But the growth has been huge and it is such a big market for the sport.”

Hamilton finished sixth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend and he is already 45 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen.

The 38-year-old’s contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the season.

But the noise coming out from both camps is that Hamilton will agree a new deal.

Hamilton’s former McLaren team-mate, and 2009 world champion Jenson Button, said this week that he cannot envisage his compatriot walking away from the sport.

“I just want to get back to the front,” continued Hamilton, who was speaking at an IWC sponsorship event in Miami.

“That is what I am working on – trying to get this team back to the front.”

New Zealander John Mitchell has been named as the new head coach of the England women’s team.

Mitchell, who has had two spells on the coaching team with England’s men’s side in a lengthy career, is currently defence coach for the Japan men’s side and will take up his new role after the Rugby World Cup later this year.

Mitchell succeeds Simon Middleton, whose trophy-laden eight-year spell ended with another Six Nations Grand Slam last weekend.

He said on englandrugby.com: “The Red Roses have set an incredible standard and foundation for women’s rugby, being the most successful team in the Six Nations, which is a tremendous achievement.

“We now have the opportunity to build on this, mature in key areas and become a truly champion side that can rightfully contest for the World Cup in 2025.

“I would like to honour the hugely supportive Red Roses fans with successful performances as we work towards winning and selling out Twickenham Stadium for the Rugby World Cup in 2025.”

The black mark on Middleton’s reign was two World Cup final defeats to New Zealand and Mitchell’s main target will be to claim the prize on home soil in two years’ time.

Louis Deacon will keep his role as forwards coach and will be acting head coach until Mitchell joins while England’s most capped player and former captain, Sarah Hunter, has been appointed to the role of transition coach, working with the senior team and upcoming players.

Lou Meadows has been promoted from her role as under-20s head coach to attack coach for the senior team, with Charlie Hayter becoming head of women’s performance.

Executive director of performance rugby, Conor O’Shea, said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming John back to England Rugby together with Louis, Charlie, Sarah and Lou.

“This will be a formidable coaching team to take the Red Roses to the next stage in their development.”

London Irish’s game against Exeter looks set to go ahead on Saturday despite the club’s failure to pay staff, with director of rugby Declan Kidney vowing to “keep the flag flying”.

Talks are ongoing between the current ownership and prospective new buyers but, with those negotiations taking place behind the scenes, the April payroll has not been met by either party.

There have been suggestions of a potential boycott of the fixture by players, but Kidney indicated that the team’s desire to end their Gallagher Premiership season on a high remains undimmed.

“I can confirm no employee here – players or staff – has been paid as of yet, but we have been given a lot of assurances from the prospective new ownership that it will happen over the coming days,” he said.

“Preparations (for the match) are in full swing, everything is going ahead. Training has taken place fully. As far as we are concerned we are ploughing ahead to the match on Saturday.

“We are the professional arm of a club that is 124 years old. We know our responsibilities. It is our duty to keep the flag flying here and that is what we are doing.”

Kidney confirmed that all insurance premiums had been covered, removing one possible roadblock to the fixture taking place, but he was unable to shine a light on when things could be expected to reach a conclusion.

While insisting credible promises had been made, the former Ireland coach said no date had been forthcoming for delivery of overdue wages and he had not been made aware of a clear timeline for completion of the sale.

At the end of a season that has seen Worcester and Wasps go bust, such lack of clarity is an obvious worry for all associated with the club, but Kidney has been overwhelmed by the commitment his squad have shown under adversity.

“Obviously there are concerns around it, but they’re not in our control,” he said.

“We’re not the first company to have delayed payments in terms of our salaries but we can only control what we can control. You can draw too many comparisons between us and other teams but I think it would be wrong to do that.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the quality of players I’ve been working with, in terms of application and positiveness.

“These lads are about way more than money. They are just the salt of the earth, fantastic people to work with. Nobody is looking for their hand to be held, everybody is looking forward to getting on with the job.

“All I can say is what happened to date, I cannot guess the future but I can say for certain the quality of people here is so strong. We entrust in the owners and prospective owners will come to a positive resolution here.”

Exeter winger Jodie Ounsley will swap Premier 15s rugby for life as ‘Fury’ on the TV series Gladiators.

The Dewsbury-born 22-year-old, the first deaf player to represent England’s sevens side, has been cast on the BBC’s rebooted version of the show, which will be screened later this summer.

Former Loughborough University student Ounsley, who had a cochlear implant as a young child, is also a former British Brazilian jiu-jitsu title-holder and a five-time World Coal Carrying champion.

She told BBC Sport: “I’m buzzing. Watching Gladiators growing up, I was always in awe of their strength and power and now I am one.

“I hope contenders are ready to feel the ‘Fury’.”

Ounsley was unveiled as one of the first two Gladiators on the BBC’s The One Show on Wednesday night alongside ‘Steel’, CrossFit athlete Zack George, who won the title of the UK’s Fittest Man in 2020.

The series was first screened in Britain in 1992 on ITV, with contestants from the general public competing against Gladiators in a series of events that test speed, stamina and strength.

Gladiators ran on ITV until early 2000 and was revised by Sky for two series in 2008 and 2009.

The BBC’s revamped version will be hosted by Bradley and Barney Walsh and filming is scheduled to begin in Sheffield in June.

Ounsley was voted Deaf Sports Personality of the Year in 2018 and was included in the GB Women rugby sevens provisional squad for the 2020 Olympics.

She has scored two tries in six appearances for the Chiefs, who are top of the Premier 15s table, making her debut in November last year after joining from Sale the previous summer.

Her father Phil, a former professional mixed martial artist, appeared as a contestant on Gladiators in 2008.

Lee Westwood has accused the DP World Tour of being “fully in bed” with the PGA Tour after announcing his resignation from the European circuit.

Westwood and fellow Ryder Cup stars Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have resigned their membership and are therefore no longer eligible for the biennial contest against the United States.

The trio were among the players fined £100,000 and suspended for two tournaments after playing the first LIV Golf event last year without permission.

Westwood and Poulter were also among the 12 members of the Saudi-funded breakaway who lost an appeal against the sanctions last month and were deemed to have committed “serious breaches” of the DP World Tour’s code of behaviour by a three-man arbitration panel.

Westwood confirmed he has paid the fine and is keen to “move on”, but reiterated his criticism of the way the PGA Tour and DP World Tour have reacted to the emergence of LIV Golf.

“I’ve been a dual member of the European Tour and PGA Tour, but always said I was a European Tour member first and foremost and that I had fears about the US circuit basically being bullies and doing everything it could to secure global dominance,” Westwood told The Telegraph.

“Check my old quotes, it’s all there.

“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour and even though Keith (Pelley, the chief executive) says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour.

“The top 10 players on the tour, not already exempt this year, have a pathway to the PGA Tour – that’s giving our talent away. That was never the tour’s policy before this ‘strategic alliance’.

“Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime.

“I mulled it over and just didn’t like the thought of the tour continuously hitting us with more fines and bans that would have been hanging over me.

“I’ve paid my fine out of respect for the arbitration panel and have then taken the decisions out of the tour’s hands. I honestly want to move on.”

The Boston Celtics must take pride in their Game 2 display against the Philadelphia 76ers, and embrace the challenge of a hostile road game, says Jaylen Brown.

Joel Embiid's return from injury could not inspire the 76ers on Wednesday as Boston cruised to a 121-87 victory to tie the series.

Brown top scored with 25 points, as Embiid and James Harden, who scored 45 points in the 76ers' Game 1 win, were kept under wraps.

Next up is a trip to Philadelphia for Game 3, but Brown believes the Celtics have nothing to fear.

"I think we've just got to take more pride in ourselves. That's it," Brown told the media.

"I just feel like we underperformed last game. We wanted to come out and play to the best of our ability, and that's what we did.

"Hostile environment. But it should be fun. We should all be excited to embrace that challenge."

Coach Joe Mazzulla was blunt in his assessment of his team's reaction to their defeat in Game 1.

"They were angry, frustrated," he said. "Angry and p*****. Yes [I liked that]."

While Jayson Tatum struggled to make too much of an impact, Malcolm Brogdon added 23 points from the bench for Boston, tying a playoff record for the Celtics in the process as he sunk six three-pointers.

"Our strength is our depth," Brogdon told reporters.

"The way the roster is constructed, we got guys like me, Derrick [White], Grant [Williams] that are playing behind our two superstars and ready to [contribute] when we can."

Celtics guard Marcus Smart, meanwhile, credited Brown's on-court leadership.

"We've got to tip our hats to him, he started that whole momentum for us," Smart said. "We just had to follow his lead.

"When you've got one of your best players setting the tone like that, it's hard for you not to follow. Our defense has been slipping and we wanted to come out and get back to what we do best."

Southern Brave captain Anya Shrubsole predicts women’s cricket is on a path to full professionalisation within a few years.

The former England bowler took six for 46 against India to steer her side to a thrilling nine-run World Cup victory in front of a sold-out Lord’s in 2017, arguably the most memorable moment in her impressive 14-year international career.

The women’s game has accelerated exponentially since then, particularly with the debut of The Hundred in 2021 and, this year, the inaugural Women’s Premier League in India.

“The professionalism is the biggest change,” Shrubsole told the PA news agency.

“Previously you would only be a professional cricketer if you played for England, and then apart from that it was semi-professional, almost a hobby, but you’re asking these players to train as if they’re professional.

“So to have the eight regional teams all with a minimum of 10 professionals, you add the England girls to that, that’s 100 professional female cricketers in this country, all in the last three years, which is just incredible really in such a short space of time and that will keep growing.

“I think it will probably only be a couple of years until we see a fully professional squad across all the regional teams. That’s the thing that’s been the real big difference.”

The two-time World Cup and Ashes winner, 31, stepped down from international duty in April 2022 after earning 173 caps for England across all formats and taking 227 wickets.

The pace bowler still plays domestically for Berkshire, Southern Vipers in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy as a player-coach, and is set to skipper Southern Brave in The Hundred for a third straight season.

Last Saturday saw a world record crowd for a women’s international rugby fixture, 58,498, turn out to watch the Red Roses at Twickenham, two days before Arsenal played their Women’s Champions League semi-final in front of a sold-out 60,063 at the Emirates – a record audience for a women’s club match in England.

On Wednesday, it was announced this month’s women’s FA Cup final will be played in front of a sold-out Wembley for the first time.

Cricket looks to be the next to benefit from the trend driving people to box offices for women’s sport in unprecedented numbers.

More than 66,000 tickets have been snapped up for England women’s fixtures in 2023, already exceeding the total attendance for all 2022 matches, while sales for July’s Ashes have already surpassed figures for the previous two women’s series against Australia combined.

The series finale at Taunton is already sold out, with England hoping to secure the trophy for the first time since 2014.

Shrubsole said: “Yes, you look at the record number of ticket sales but that’s at big grounds as well that England women haven’t played at for a long time.

“The Test match at Trent Bridge, playing at the Oval, playing at Lord’s, the girls are really looking forward to that opportunity to show what they can do on the big stage.

“It’s going to be really hard fought. It’s obviously an England team that’s probably still transitioning a little bit in certain areas, obviously a new coach that’s only been in the role six months, quite a young but very exciting bowling attack. They’re going to have to be at their best.”

ECB organisers hope the Ashes enthusiasm spills over to The Hundred when its third season opens on August 1.

This is the first year the hugely popular women’s Hundred implemented a draft like the men’s competition – something Shrubsole, who was relieved to find herself back in a Brave uniform, agreed was another step forward.

She said: “I think where women’s cricket is going, how much it’s grown, all of those kind of things are just incredible.

“To be in a position to be able to do a draft for the women’s Hundred, to be able to do an auction for the WPL, it’s really incredible and it adds a different dimension. It’s all really exciting.”