Good news from the World Boxing Championships in Doha as Joshua Buatsi, Joe Cordina and Josh Kelly all advance. Here's our review of the last 24 hours:
Joshua Buatsi faces a tough challenge after coming his opening fight at the World Boxing Championships in Doha. The light heavyweight was given a tough examination by Korea's Hyeongkyu Kim but his superior skills proved decisive, something he'll need to maintain with Cuba's Julio César la Cruz, the two-time world champion, his next opponent. Lightweight Joe Cordina was a clear winner over Australia's Josh Keirl while welterweight Josh Kelly saw off occasionally wild Australian Nathan Webber in his preliminary. Two British boxers are in second round action today in Doha. Harvey Horn - who came through a tricky first round fight against India's Devendro Laishram - takes on European light flyweight champion, Russia's Vasilii Egorov. And light welterweight Pat McCormack faces Vitaly Dunaytsev, the Russian who beat him in the final of the European Championships in Bulgaria in August.
She may well now be a marked woman on the taekwondo circuit, but world number one Jade Jones insists she is using her ranking to her advantage ahead of the final stages of qualifying for the Rio Olympics. The 22-year-old from Flint – who famously became the first ever Briton to win a taekwondo gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London – hit top spot in the world rankings following a sensational start to 2015. She had to get over a disappointing blip at the World Championships in Russia in May – where she went out at the quarter-final stage in controversial circumstances when the electronic scoring system crashed during her bout. But after picking up a silver and a gold from two World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series events so far this year, Jones is so far ahead in terms of Rio qualification she is looking to use the remainder of her competitions to hone the skills that may help her claim gold once again in 2016. "This year has gone really for me and I'm ranked number one in the world now," she said. "I'm ahead by about 50 points so I'm really comfortable in terms of what I need to qualify for Rio, so it's all going really well. "Because I am so far ahead in the rankings I've been trying to use that to my advantage, so I'm going into the competitions to trial and practise new things as if I get to Rio I may need to pull a new weapon out of the bag when I can. "So I'm just trying to add things to what is in my game already, and keep on improving as much as I can and getting better."
Gemma Steel admits she is torn as to where to set her focus for Rio 2016 – on the track or the marathon.
The 29-year-old is the reigning European cross-country champion and has accumulated no fewer than seven medals at that level across both individual and team events.
Last weekend she finished third at the Great Scottish half marathon while before then she was second in the Great North Run.
Steel has never previously competed for Great Britain at an Olympic Games and sees marathon running as her long-term aim.
Although she admitted she could be tempted by the 10,000m on the track.
"I am sort of borderline going for marathon or 10,000m on the track, so that's the big question at the minute,” she said.
"We have now just got to have a chat with my coach and see where I am going with that.
"I think the marathon is, in the future, where I could win a medal, but 10,000m on the track I am more comfortable with the distance.
"My coach is training me for the marathon, so I am prepared for it.
Sportsbeat 2015