England reach the quarter-finals of the World Rugby 7s Series event in New Zealand while hockey star Lily Owsley wants Great Britain going for gold at Rio 2016. Here's our review of the last 24 hours.
England will face Argentina in the cup quarter-finals after topping their pool on day one of the Wellington leg of the World Rugby 7s Series.
Simon Amor’s troops needed a Dan Bibby try at the hooter in their opening game against France to claim a 17-14 win before Alex Davis, Tom Mitchell and Ruaridh McConnochie all crossed in a comfortable 19-5 victory over USA.
Despite Bibby again getting on the scoresheet in their final pool encounter, England went down 17-14 to Samoa but still finished top of the pile and will face Argentina, who finished as runners-up in Cape Town last time out, in the last-eight on Sunday.
In the bowl quarter-finals, Scotland will face Portugal and Wales will face Samoa after both teams won one and lost two of their pool fixtures.
Lily Owsley insists Great Britain’s women’s hockey team will be gunning for gold when the Rio 2016 Olympic Games roll around this summer.
GB proved they are one of the best in the world by going unbeaten en route to winning the World League semi-finals in Antwerp, sealing Olympic qualification, while England triumphed at the EuroHockey Championships.
Owsley’s successful season was then topped off when she was named as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Rising Star of the Year for 2015.
And after a memorable campaign on a personal level, the forward sees no reason why 2016 can’t be even more spectacular for the team.
“If any year has, 2015 has shown we are a team to be reckoned with,” said Owsley.
“We've proved that through the Olympic qualifiers by being unbeaten, then the Europeans unbeaten. I think in the last year we have beaten every top team in the world.
“The Olympics is a chance for us to show we are the best team in the world and we can win gold.”
Andy Murray will aim to make it lucky number five when he takes to the court on Sunday after successfully booking his place in the Australian Open final with a five-set victory over Milos Raonic.
The British number one reserved himself another showdown with familiar foe Novak Djokovic after seeing off 13th-seed Raonic 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2 in a four-hour contest in Melbourne.
Murray has lost to the world No.1 in his last three Australian Open final appearances with his straight sets defeat to Roger Federer in 2010 the only time he has not faced the Serb in the showpiece.
And if he is finally to overcome Djokovic at Melbourne Park, he knows he must produce almost flawless tennis.
“A lot of things are obviously important when you are playing against the best players in the world. You can’t afford to do anything poorly,” said Murray.
“I’m going to have to execute my gameplan very well in the final, not have any lapses in concentration, and just play as best a match as I can.
“Novak has played extremely well in his last couple of matches in particular. He loves playing on this court.
“We’ve played a bunch of times here and hopefully this time it can be a different result.”
Read more from Murray here
With her thirst for national titles well and truly whetted, Lauren Smith admits she can’t wait to get going at next month’s English National Badminton Championships in Derby.
The double Commonwealth Games medallist will arrive at the University of Derby for the Championships from February 5-7 as a reigning champion in the women’s doubles.
Three years ago she enjoyed her first triumph alongside Gabby Adcock with the pair repeating the trick 12 months later.
And while last year saw her paired with a different partner in Heather Olver it was the same outcome as Smith and Olver finished on top.
The two will be back again on court together next month while Smith will also compete in the mixed doubles alongside Gary Fox.
And while qualifying for Rio 2016 is the main priority this year, Smith insists strutting her stuff in front of home fans at the Nationals alongside Olympians and top British stars such as Chris and Gabby Adcock is something she cherishes.
“It’s always a really great feeling to win the nationals,” she said. “It’s quite a prestigious event to be number one in the country and we train really hard here.
“I’ll hopefully be able to get that feeling again this year.
“You want to go out there and you want to prove what you’re capable of.
“You want to go out to make your mark and retain the title, it is really important for what I want to achieve throughout my career.” Sportsbeat 2016