HOCKEY

Olympics hopeful Niall Stott returns to Scotland colours for two Tests against an England side minus their Great Britain players at Forthbank over the weekend in an effort to boost his match fitness and Team GB claims, writes Craig Madden.

Stott's prospects of a second Olympic Games appearance looked bleak when he was omitted by head coach Jason Lee for the pre-Olympic Test Event and then in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, but Lee cannot have been happy with his charges' recent outings, particularly finishing fourth in Malaysia where they lost 3-1 to India in the bronze medal match after starting out as top seeds.

That Stott's inclusion in the Scotland ranks is with the encouragement of the Team GB management may be an encouraging sign for the lone Scot, with the final Olympic squad of 16 to be announced around the middle of this month.

Derek Forsyth, the Scotland coach, is determined to spread the net as wide as possible and makes five changes from the side that performed well against Spain last weekend. Adam MacKenzie, the Inverleith defender, is recalled, as is Ross Stott, Niall's brother, who plays for English side Beeston. Goalkeepers Mark Fulton and Phil Carr replace Jamie Cachia and Allan Dick, although Forsyth made it clear that this was nothing to with performance against Spain; Cachia and Dick were outstanding in Terrassa.

Last weekend's new caps Ian Moodie and Callum Duke did well enough against Spain, ranked fifth in the world, to retain their places, but rested are the Glynhill Kelburne pair Chris Nelson and Michael Bremner while Kenny Bain, a striker with the Dutch side Hurley, is injured.

squad. Scotland (two Tests v England A, Forthbank) M Fulton, W Marshall, I Scholefield, G Hall, A Forsyth (Glynhill Kelburne), P Carr (Loughborough Uni), D Coultas (Durham Uni), C Grassick, A MacKenzie (Inverleith), G McIntyre, R Stott (Beeston), C Duke (Edinburgh Uni), F Dunn (Surbiton), G Byers (Grove Menzieshill), I Moodie (Western Wildcats), R Anderson (Brooklands), N Stott (East Grinstead), W Adams (AMN Hillhead)

GREAT BRITAIN 1

GERMANY 2

Last night's defeat for Great Britain women consigned coach Danny Kerry's Olympic squad to a bronze medal play-off in the Investec London Cup, probably against Ireland, on Sunday, writes Craig Madden. GB were without stalwarts Crista Cullen, Kate Walsh, Alex Danson and Sarah Thomas through injury, but they had five penalty corner chances to put the Germans under pressure in the first half, but Hannah Kruger and Janine Beermann earned the visitors a 2-0 interval lead in the space of two minutes. Team GB, needing to win by two goals to reach the semi-finals, pulled one back with 10 minutes to go, Leicester`s Hannah MacLeod squeezing the ball home from an acute angle after a scramble.

CRICKET

Scotland's Preston Mommsen, still in the dark over his chances of playing for Leicestershire in the county T20 tournament, will be back in the Carlton line-up for tomorrow's CS Eastern Premier Division match against Aberdeenshire at Grange Loan, writes David Kelso. First, though, he will be in the Eastern Knights side to play Western Warriors at Titwood in the Regional T20 series. Warriors, beaten the Highlanders at Forthill lat week, will be without Richie Berrington, who has broken a finger.

TEAMS. Warriors (from) C MacLeod, M Iqbal, O Hussain, K Farid, M Haq, J Edwards, T McBride, A Baum, M Afzal, I Shah, A Umeed, S McElnea

Knights P Mommsen, G Maiden, E Chalmers, S Chalmers, G Drummond, H Edwards, S Smith, A Brock, O Ahmad, K Morton, J Hutton

Handball

Great Britain's men, including Scots Chris Mohr and Dan McMillan, open their Euro 2014 campaign tonight when they face Switzerland in their qualifying group in Italy, writes Roddy Mackenzie. Team GB, who have spent that last three weeks at a training camp in the Serbian mountains, face Greece tomorrow and Italy on Sunday.

ICE HOCKEY

Bobby McEwan, originally from Glasgow, was confirmed yesterday as the new owner of the Elite League club Hull Stingrays, writes Nigel Duncan. Involved in ice hockey in Hull since 1988, he played for, and coached, Humberside Seahawks, Kingston Hawks and Hull Thunder before joining Stingrays as assistant coach in 2009.

Lacrosse

Scotland will host the Women's Under-19 World Championships at the University of Edinburgh from July 23 to August 1, 2015. Edinburgh also hosted the women's World Cup back in 1993.

SNOOKER

Jamie Burnett made his experience count at the Wuxi Classic qualifiers in Sheffield yesterday as he came from 4-2 down to beat the Belgian teenager Luca Brecel in a final-frame decider, writes Lorin McDougall. The Hamilton pro, almost 20 years older than his opponent, must beat Hong Kong's Marco Fu in today's final qualifiers to make it to China later this month.