Laura Robson suffered another injury setback as Liam Pitchford approaches the table tennis World Team Championships full of confidence. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Former British number one Laura Robson has pulled out of what was set to be her first WTA Tour event of the season in Monterrey next week.
Robson played in eight events last season after returning from a 17-month lay-off, but had to end her season early after suffering a relapse with her wrist injury.
Robson is still hoping to play at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells next month, one of the biggest tournaments on the WTA Tour.
Liam Pitchford insists England men will hold no fear when they make their first appearance in the top division of the table tennis World Team Championships since 1997 on Sunday.
Pitchford will form part of a three-strong team representing England in the Championship Division in Kuala Lumpur alongside Paul Drinkhall and Sam Walker.
Their first appearance at that level in 19 years comes after England earned promotion in the last edition of the tournament in Tokyo in 2014.
They have been drawn in Group B and open their campaign against eighth seeds Sweden before taking on France, Denmark, second seeds Germany and hosts Malaysia.
And while without the experienced Andrew Baggaley due to injury, Rio hopeful Pitchford believes England, seeded 18th, can more than hold their own.
“I’m feeling really good, it will be a good challenge,” Pitchford told Table Tennis England.
“In my opinion we’ve got a good draw. Obviously they are all hard matches, but we’ve got nearly all European teams and if we play well there’s no reason we can’t finish in the top three and get through to the next stage.
Five British boxers made it through to the Strandja tournament quarter-finals, although Olympic champion Nicola Adams suffered defeat.
Luke McCormack, Sam Maxwell, Ekow Essuman, Troy Williams and Frazer Clarke are all in their respective quarter-finals.
However, Adams lost out to Olympic silver medallist Ren Cancan of China in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Sportsbeat 2016