Jamie Murray has sights on world doubles number one spot following Australian Open success while Adam Gemili fit and raring to go for 2016 season. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Fresh off becoming the first British tennis player to win the Australian Open men's doubles title for 82 years, Jamie Murray has set his sights on becoming the No.1 doubles player in the world.
Murray is currently ranked at No.2 behind Brazil's Marcelo Melo but successfully partnered Melo's compatriot Bruno Soares to glory in Melbourne last week.
Murray was also a key cog as Great Britain won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 last November and acknowledges that triumph considerably helped his development.
"The Davis Cup last year gave me a lot of trust in myself, confidence in my game," said the 29-year-old.
"I got to number two so why not get to number one? It's one final step to try to get to number one.
"It [the Australian Open] was only our third tournament together so I guess it was unexpected that it clicked so fast but it's been brilliant.”
Adam Gemili will continue his preparations for Rio 2016 by competing in the 60m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix later this month.
Gemili, who won two golds at the 2014 European Championships and two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games that same year, will face the likes of Richard Kilty, Trayvon Bromell and Kim Collins at the event on February 20.
The 22-year-old suffered a hamstring injury last June that curtailed his 2015 season but returned to the track at the Welsh Open Indoor Championships last weekend with a personal best of 6.59 seconds in the 60m.
"2015 was bittersweet for me," explained Gemili. "It was amazing to become only the sixth British man in history to break 10 seconds for the 100m but rupturing my hamstring and missing the World Championships in Beijing was a massive disappointment.
"Now I’m fit and ready to return and looking forward to the 2016 season.
"The Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix is the ideal way for me to begin my journey to the Rio Olympic Games.”
Mark Cavendish had to settle for second on the opening stage of the 2016 Dubai Tour.
Cavendish had been hoping to get the defence of his title off to a winning start but he was beaten to the line in the sprint finish by Marcel Kittel.
The 10 second bonus win points awarded to Kittel sees the German take the early lead.
Rio 2016 is now less than 200 days away and gymnast Amy Tinkler admits a recent training camp in the Brazilian city was the perfect motivation ahead of the Olympic Games.
Tinkler was part of an eight-strong GB women’s gymnastics squad that spent a week in Rio, training alongside the Brazilian national team and getting acclimatised to their surroundings for the Olympics, which begin on August 5.
Great Britain’s gymnasts will now be battling over the next few months to secure individual places in the Olympic team and the 16-year-old claims the trip was the ideal way to gear up for that.
“It was amazing – the whole place was so beautiful,” Tinkler told British Gymnastics.
“We got some time out of training to explore the city, so went to see Christ the Redeemer and spent some time at the beach.
“We also got to see the Olympic village which was very special and absolutely brought home how real it is that the Olympics are happening this year – it was very motivational to be there and get a feel for what it will be like in the summer.” Read more here
Great Britain get their Fed Cup campaign underway this week and Jocelyn Rae claims the squad are using GB men's success in the Davis Cup last year as inspiration.
Britain, with world No.2 Andy Murray leading the way, won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 back in November as they beat Belgium in the final.
The squad successfully went from the third tier of the competition to lifting the trophy in just five years.
GB's women will now try to emulate that climb as they start their Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 campaign in a three-team group with South Africa and Georgia on Thursday.
The winners of the group go through to a play-off tie on Saturday, while victory in that clash would see Judy Murray's troops face another play-off in April with promotion to World Group Two at stake.
"It was incredible and they all did so well. Not a lot of people maybe thought they could do it, but they did," said Rae. "Before we left, we saw the trophy. Even just seeing that was inspiring.
"The format of the group we are in is quite tricky to get out of, but we believe if we play well and put our best games on the court, we can do well.”
Fans will have one final chance to see Team GB’s hockey stars in action before Rio 2016 this June, after the match schedule was confirmed for the Champions Trophy at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London.
Great Britain’s women will face a slew of Rio medal contenders as they square off against Olympic and world champions Netherlands, World League holders Argentina, world No.3 side Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
The Champions Trophy runs from 18-26 June and GB open up on Saturday June 18 with a repeat of the London 2012 Olympic semi-final against Argentina.
Don’t miss out on seeing the world’s best women’s hockey teams live in London by buying your tickets here.
An 11-strong British Synchronised Swimming team will continue their preparations for the Olympic qualifier and European Aquatics Championships by coming at the French Open.
The three-day event from February 5-7 will see Britain compete in the solo free, duet technical and free and team technical and free.
Olympians Olivia Federici and Katie Clark will aim to build on their performances at the German Open by competing both of their duet routines.
Sportsbeat 2016
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