Chris Eubank Jr: ‘I shouldn’t be doing this. But we are the daredevils of sport’

British boxer discusses the horrors of making weight and strained relations with his dad before Saturday’s grudge match with Conor BennChris Eubank Jr sits in his hotel room, locked in the extremes of a savage weight cut. Boiling down in weight gets even harder at the age of 35 but the words still flow freely. Eubank Jr can produce intelligent insights as easily as he churns out typical bombast and so he has no difficulty in explaining why his fight on Saturday night with Conor Benn will darken the British sporting landscape this week.They were first meant to fight in October 2022, when a manufactured scrap was built on the enmity between their fathers, Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, in the 1990s. Separated by two weight divisions, the sons were brought together in a dubious catchweight contest while banging on about family feuds and legacies

Simone Biles unsure of competing at 2028 LA Olympics: ‘My body is aging’

Simone Biles says she is unsure whether she will compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.The 28-year-old says she has other priorities, and is mindful of the demands her sport puts on her body at an age when most elite gymnasts have long since retired. Biles will be 31 when the LA Olympics start: the oldest all-around female gymnastics champion is Maria Gorokhovskaya, who won gold at the age of 30 at the 1952 Games.“I’m really trying to enjoy life, to spend time with my husband [NFL player Jonathan Owens)], go support him at his games, live my life as a woman,” she said in an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe published on Tuesday. “I’ve accomplished so much in my sport

Ben Youngs, England’s most-capped male player, to retire from rugby in June

The end of the road is finally approaching for England’s most-capped male player. Ben Youngs, who made a record 127 appearances for his country, has confirmed he will be retiring from professional rugby in June after more than 500 senior games for Leicester, England, the Barbarians and the British & Irish Lions in a career spanning 18 years.Youngs has been a one-club man since his Tigers debut as a 17-year-old in 2007 but, at 35, will hang up his boots at the end of the current Premiership season. A five-times Premiership winner and three times a runner-up, he has played 332 matches for Leicester to date. In an England jersey he appeared in four World Cups and toured Australia in 2013 with the Lions, alongside his brother Tom

R&A ‘would love’ the Open to return to Donald Trump’s Turnberry course

The R&A would like to see Donald Trump’s Turnberry course in Scotland return as host of the Open but will first need to assess the feasibility of the venue, the governing body’s chief executive, Mark Darbon, said.Turnberry, a seaside course in South Ayrshire, has staged the Open four times – most recently in 2009 when American Stewart Cink edged past his compatriot Tom Watson to claim the title in a thrilling victory. Trump bought the property in 2014 and has spent £200m upgrading the resort’s courses.In 2021, after the 6 January attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, the R&A said it would not stage championships at Turnberry “until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.”But on Tuesday, Darbon said the body’s main concerns over returning to the venue are logistical rather than political

Barry Hoban obituary

Barry Hoban, who has died aged 85, was one of the first generation of British cyclists to make a mark in European professional cycling, a prolific sprint winner whose UK record of eight stage wins in the Tour de France stood for 34 years until the greatest sprinter of them all, Mark Cavendish, reached his peak. His record of 11 Tour finishes from 12 starts stood until 2024 when it was eclipsed by Geraint Thomas.Hoban’s life was intimately entwined with that of the British star Tom Simpson, who died on the Tour in 1967; like Simpson he was based in Ghent, in Belgium, he married Simpson’s widow Helen, and the complex resonances of Simpson’s tragic demise remained with the couple decades later.Hoban was more than just a sprinter when it came to racing. He was a clear-headed tactician – lucide, as the French cycling slang has it – and had a photographic memory for race locations

Jack Draper backs Sinner as return from ban nears: ‘He doesn’t deserve any hate’

Jack Draper believes it has been important to stand up for his friend Jannik Sinner and that the Italian is undeserving of any hate as he prepares to return next month from his three‑month doping ban.“When people ask about him, or anyone, I’ll tell the truth,” Draper said, in a joint interview with the Guardian and the BBC. “I think ­Jannik is a really, really genuine, nice person. And on top of that, he’s obviously an unbelievable player. In this situa­tion, I’m sure that he would have ­absolutely zero idea of anything