Gregg Popovich: the NBA truth teller who held Trump, and the US, to account

The coach is stepping away from a role in which he won five championships with the Spurs. He will be hard to replace, on and off the courtRaise a glass to Gregg Popovich, the gruff teddy bear who lifted the San Antonio Spurs into the NBA’s elite. After three decades on the Spurs’ sideline, he is stepping back from coaching to become the team’s president of basketball operations. It’s a back-to-the-future move for the 76-year-old: he was the Spurs’ general manager for eight years before he became the team’s coach. (“I’m no longer the coach, I’m El Jefe,” Popovich jokingly declared this week before unveiling a T-shirt with that Spanish title

‘I’m always fighting myself’: Mohammad Abbas on Notts, Pakistan and Guardiola’s hotel room

The seamer on facing his former club Hampshire this week, family tragedy and his stop-start international career“Yes, this is true,” says Mohammad Abbas, matter-of-factly, during a chat at Trent Bridge. The question concerns the time Manchester City supposedly asked for Pep Guardiola to be billeted in the penthouse at Hampshire’s on-site hotel before a match in Southampton – only to be told a more important guest was in town.“I didn’t know about it at the time but our head coach told me the next morning that he had wanted my room,” Abbas says of Guardiola. “The Hilton emailed the Hampshire management to ask if it was possible but they were told no, I would be spending six months there. So that was what happened

Farrell’s Lions squad has the flexibility and talent to be highly competitive | Robert Kitson

At long last, significant smoke has also emerged from the British & Irish Lions’ chimney. Maro Itoje will be leading a 38-strong squad to Australia and a couple of the names on the list would raise any cardinal’s eyebrows. Henry Pollock and Marcus Smith will be heading down under with their head coach, Andy Farrell, clearly keen to make an immediate impact next month.Farrell has chosen a hefty cohort of 15 Irishmen alongside 13 Englishmen, eight Scots and two Welsh representatives, but the inclusion of the 20-year-old Pollock sends a clear signal to Australia that the 2025 Lions will be neither geriatric pussycats nor obsessive slaves to conservatism. The squad should contain enough flexibility to cope with most eventualities and sufficient talent to be highly competitive

Manx Liberty’s wildcards deliver in style to regain British team chess crown

The Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) is a bedrock of British chess. Staged over 11 rounds and five weekends from October to May at Midlands hotels, with teams of eight in the top division and six in divisions two to four, it attracts players from club level to grandmaster, many of whom do not compete in any other national event. Its organisation, by the English Chess Federation chief executive, Mike Truran, and a hardworking team of arbiters, is consistently excellent.As expected, the 2024-25 season ended last Monday with a close 11th round match between the favourites and defending champions, Wood Green, and the winners for the two previous years, Manx Liberty. The outcome was a rarity

Lions squad 2025: Farrell unveils 38-man squad with ‘wiggle room’ to add son Owen

Andy Farrell has left the door open for his son Owen to join the ­British & Irish Lions tour of ­Australia and called on Henry Pollock to showcase his “cocky” streak after Northampton’s rising star was the standout ­selection in his squad.Farrell Jr was among the headline omissions from the 38-man group that will be captained by Maro Itoje, with Finn Russell, Fin Smith and ­Marcus Smith preferred as the fly-half options. ­Pollock’s selection caps a stunning rise for the 20-year-old who made his Test debut against Wales in March as part of a remarkable breakthrough season with Northampton. Marcus Smith benefits from his ability to play full-back despite falling down the England pecking order.The former England captain Jamie George, the Ireland fly-half Sam ­Prendergast and the in-form ­Toulouse flanker Jack Willis are among the other notable absentees from a squad ­featuring 12 Leinster players

Farrell plays the O2 Arena but Lions squad reveal slips up by ripping off fans

When the scores are tied, there is 50 seconds left on the clock and you need someone who is going to step up and take that drop goal, then Andy Farrell was your man. And when the series is all square with one game left to play and you need someone to give the big speech that is exactly what everyone needs to hear in the last hours before the match, you will not find many better. He may very well turn out to be exactly who you need to lead a group of the 38 best players from Britain and Ireland through a six-week tour of Australia, too.Whether any of this means Farrell is someone you want to pay to see play the O2 Arena is another matter. But here he was under the bright lights regardless, sandwiched between Usher and Olly Murs in the (un)coveted Thursday 3pm slot at the Indigo Lounge, front and centre of the British & Irish Lions’ first live squad announcement show