ATHLETICS
Rising middle-distance prospect Josh Kerr and throws hope George Evans have been included in an initial 16-strong British team for next month’s IAAF world junior championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, writes Mark Woods.
Kerr, who switched from Edinburgh to New Mexico University last year, Kerr ran a personal best of 3:41.08 in reaching the 1500m final at last weekend’s NCAA Championships in Oregon. Inverness-based Evans, a world youth medallist last summer, won the shot and the discus at the British trials in Bedford.
Sprint prospect Cameron Tindle, who took 200m silver at the trials, will get another chance to stake his claim after the Scottish teen was named in the 4x100 relay squad for this week’s Mannheim Juniorengala in Germany.
“We had two exciting days in Bedford with some impressive performances,” said British team leader Jo Summers. “The team is looking good for Poland and there is still time for a few more athletes to step up and secure selection. Mannheim will be perfect preparation for the championships giving athletes valuable experience in an overseas competitive environment.”
SNOOKER
Former world champions John Higgins and Graeme Dott are both in first-round action as the opening ranking event of the new season gets under way at the Riga Masters in Latvia today, writes Lorin McDougall.
World No 6 Higgins is looking for revenge against London veteran Mark King after losing their previous meeting in a final-frame shoot-out at last December's Gibraltar Open. Dott's opponent has yet to be confirmed, although Hong Kong's world semi-finalist Marco Fu will be fully expected to beat a local amateur in this morning's preliminary round.
If Higgins and Dott both win, they will go head to head in round two tomorrow. Two other Scots begin their campaign today: Anthony McGill takes on Widnes player Andrew Higginson and Fraser Patrick faces China's Yan Bingtao.
TENNIS
Scotland’s Maia Lumsden etc in the first round of the Wimbledon qualifying tournament at Roehampton CURRENTLY PLAYING 6PM
The 18-year-old from Glasgow, a student at the University of Stirling and part of the Tennis Scotland national performance programme, earned one of two available wild cards into the qualifying draw following an impressive series of performances at last week’s pre-qualifying play-off tournament where she won through three matches against fellow Britons.
Lumsden has significant experience of competing on the grass at the All England Club having competed in the main draw of Junior Wimbledon in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Her most memorable performance came in 2014 when she defeated the second seed Catherine (CiCi) Bellis in the opening round on her route to the last 16. CiCi subsequently went on that year to become the younger ever player to win a main draw match at the US Open when she defeated Dominika Cibulková (ranked 13th at the time).
Smitkova, who has a WTA ranking of 225 (career high – 57 in 2014), has previously reached the 4th round of Wimbledon back in 2014. Three wins in qualifying are required to win one of the 12 qualifying spots available.
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