ATHLETICS… Former Great Britain and Northern Ireland long jumper, Darren Ritchie, has been appointed as Scottish National Jumps Manager. Along with a team of event specialists, Ritchie will work to develop the athlete and coach pathway throughout Scotland, with a strong emphasis being placed on boosting the number of coaches capable of taking athletes to the elite level. More@ Scottish Athletics
BADMINTON… Robert Blair picked up two titles at the Bank of Scotland Centenary International Championships in Glasgow. Blair and David Lindley beat the number one seeds Alexander Nikolaenko and Vitalij Durkin 21-18 21-12 in the doubles, before he teamed up with Imogen Bankier to win the mixed doubles, winning 15-21 22-20 21-9 against Nikolaenko and Nina Vislova. Elizabeth Cann came second in the women's singles after narrowly losing to Japan's Kanako Yonekura. Elsewhere, Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms' bid to reach the China Open final ended at the semi-final stage. The third seeds lost 21-19 21-16 to world champions Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia. More@ Badminton England
CYCLING… The UCI World Track Cup season starts in Sydney tomorrow, with Britain having sent a strong squad to Australia. Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish are amongst the male contingent, whilst the female team members include Victoria Pendleton and Rebecca Romero. More@ British Cycling
DISABILITY SPORT… Wheelchair basketball players Simon Munn and Clare Strange won the awards for outstanding male and female achievement at the British Wheelchair Sports Awards at the weekend. Britain's wheelchair rugby team, who won their third successive European Championships this year, won team of the year, whilst cyclist Rachel Morris won best newcomer. Two lifetime achievement awards were given to wheelchair tennis' Jayant Mistry, and long serving member of the men's wheelchair basketball team, Colin Price. More@ The British Paralympic Association
JUDO… Britain won five medals in total at the European U23 Championships in Salzburg at the weekend. Tom Reed won silver in the -81kg, whilst bronze medals were claimed by Sarah Adlington in the +78kg, Sally Conway in the -70kg, Faith Pitman at –57kg and Andrew Burns at –100kg. "We have a lot of strong players coming through in this group, which is encouraging as this is the age group that contains many of our 2012 hopefuls," said Kate Howey, Head of Delegation and Lead Coach of the Development squad. More@ British Judo
HOCKEY… Great Britain's men lost 4-0 to the Netherlands in their Champions Trophy opener in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The holders never looked back after taking the lead as early as the second minute and Britain now go on to face Germany in their next round-robin game tomorrow. Meanwhile, Britain's women lost the test series against Argentina 3-1 after defeat with just seconds remaining in the final match yesterday. Following a win and a draw in the first two games for the tourists, Argentina recovered to win the next three with a 2-1 victory in Salta yesterday securing the series. "The team are bitterly disappointed to lose the game with the last hit of the match, however that experience will stand us in good stead for the future," said Head coach Danny Kerry. More@ Great Britain Hockey
SAILING… Yngling World Champions Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson were crowned BOA Athletes of the Year at Skandia Team GBR's second annual Awards Dinner. The trio clinched the British Olympic Association's prize for sailing performance after their dominant year on the water, in which they claimed podium finishes at every regatta they took part in including gold at the World Championships and Olympic Test Event. Both sailors and backroom staff were honoured at the black tie event, which reflected on the team's achievements during 2007. "It's been another fantastic year for Skandia Team GBR, with the sailors and support staff all really rising to the challenge under all the pressures that come with being an Olympic qualification year," said RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park. More@ Skandia Team GBR
TABLE TENNIS… Butterfly Skills, a new initiative for teaching the sport, was launched this week at the Youth Sport Trust School and Sports Partnerships' Conference in Telford. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, James Purnell, launched the initiative – developed in partnership between the English Table Tennis Association, English Schools' Table Tennis Association and equipment manufacturer Butterfly - which provides an exciting and progressive framework to deliver table tennis in schools, clubs and sport centres nationwide. "This is a fantastic programme that will enable table tennis to increase its presence within schools and the community, and will inevitably increase participation in the sport, a vision which all partners share and are keen to facilitate," said Richard Yule, Chief Executive of the English Table Tennis Association. More@ The English Table Tennis Association
VOLLEYBALL… Britain's men, playing as Club Martinus, were three points away from their first win of the season at the weekend, after a five-set thriller against HvA in the Dutch League. After dropping the first set, Martinus hit back to take a 2-1 lead. HvA then recovered to level the game before edging the final set 15-12. Martinus play Ortec Nesseland on Saturday in their next fixture. More@ Volleyball England
