Olympic24: Richardson-Walsh equals record; Adcocks have tricky draw

Kate Richardson-Walsh equalled Karen Brown's all-time record for most international appearances in a draw with Australia while Chris and Gabby Adcock face a tough draw at the All England Championships. Here's our review of the last 24 hours.

Kate Richardson-Walsh admitted she was honoured to draw level with Karen Brown as the all-time leading appearance maker following Great Britain women's 3-3 draw with Australia.

Captain Richardson-Walsh won her 355th cap as the two sides contested the third match of their six-game series Down Under.

And it proved to be an entertaining affair in Perth as goals from Great Britain's Crista Cullen, Ellie Watton and Helen Richardson-Walsh earned the visitors a share of the spoils.

Great Britain went ahead on three occasions but each time they were pegged back after Australia netted through Gabrielle Nance, Karri McMahon and Ashleigh Nelson.

"I felt 35 years old out there today! It's a massive honour to equal Karen Brown's record," said Richardson-Walsh, who has accumulated her caps for Great Britain and England combined.

"It feels like we've been talking about it for a while so I can't wait to break the record. It'll be really nice to get there, a really huge honour."

Mixed doubles specialist Chris Adcock insists confidence is key after being handed a testing route alongside wife Gabby at the 2016 YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships.

The Adcocks, who won the year-end BWF Superseries title in Dubai, are seeded seventh in the mixed doubles for the competition at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham from March 8-13.

Not since 2005 and Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms' triumph have England had a winner at the Championships, with the Adcocks looking to put that record straight.

They have been drawn against world No.18 pair Ronald Alexander and Melati Oktaviani of Indonesia in the first round but are scheduled to meet three-time winners Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, also of Indonesia, in the quarter-finals.

It would be a repeat of last year's thrilling contest when the Indonesians narrowly prevailed in three games.

"We were gutted to lose in the quarters last year," said Chris. "But these events have proved that if you can get to the last eight then anything can happen."

Curler Callum Kinnear was proud of his team’s performance at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games despite a last-gasp quarter-final exit at the hands of Russia in the mixed team event.

Leading 6-5 heading into the final end, Russia sealed the win with the final stone of the match to end British hopes of a shot at a medal in the Lillehammer Curling Hall.

Team GB’s curlers will all feature in the mixed doubles event which starts on Thursday and Kinnear insists that the team are determined to enjoy the experience of the Games despite the defeat.

“It wasn’t our best of games and we came up against a good Russian outfit,” said Kinnear.

“We’ve played well all week but just struggled out there today. It’s never good to lose at this stage of the competition but we’re proud to have got this far.” Read more from Lillhammer here

Mark Cavendish is set to make his return to the Track Cycling World Championships after being named in Great Britain’s 21-strong team for next month’s competition in London.

The 30-year-old last competed at the event in 2009, a year after winning his second Madison world title and will partner Sir Bradley Wiggins in the Madison once again

And with Rio 2016 fast approaching, British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton was viewing the competition as a vital stepping stone.

“We’ve selected the strongest squad available to us for these worlds - we’re in good shape and the team we’ve selected is close to the Olympic model,” he told British Cycling.

“There’s been a marked increase in momentum within the squad recently and we’ve been seeing some promising numbers in training, so I’m expecting to see some strong performances across the board.”

Read more about the Great Britain squad here

Antony Fowler believes his opponent Misael Rodriguez Olivas will be coming up against a man with a point to prove when the two clash in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) this Thursday.

Commonwealth champion Fowler will be making his first appearance of the WSB season at York Hall when the British Lionhearts take on the Mexico Guerreros.

The middleweight fighter was also in the squad last year but a cut to the forehead sustained in his first WSB match curtailed his progress.

But now fit and firing on all cylinders once again, 2013 world bronze medallist Fowler is hoping to show what he can do as he also chases a place at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

“I am feeling great and have been doing some quality work in the gym,” said Fowler.

“I am free of injury of the first time in a while and am looking forward to getting back in the ring at York Hall this Thursday.”

Read more from Fowler here

Olympic bronze medallist Beth Tweddle has revealed she is set to be discharged from hospital in Austria following neck surgery.

Retired British gymnast Tweddle suffered a neck injury ten days ago while in training for Channel 4 winter sports programme The Jump.

She had to undergo surgery to fuse the fractured vertebrae together, with updates from her parents last week revealing she had since taken her first steps unaided.

And the 30-year-old, who won five medals at World Championship level in her career, as well as uneven bars bronze at London 2012, revealed on Twitter that she is stepping up her recovery, as revealed on Twitter.

Sportsbeat 2016