NETBALL: Defending champions Loughborough Lightning came from behind to beat Manchester Thunder 69-57 in Sunday evening’s Super League preliminary final and will go on to face regular season champions London Pulse in next weekend’s Grand Final. The two teams have met three times this season with the Pulse coming out on top twice, although only by 50-49 when they met a fortnight ago.

CYCLING: 26-year-old Filippo Conca, who currently rides for the non-professional ASD Swatt team, will be wearing Italy’s national road race colours after sprinting to a shock victory in Gorizia on Sunday. World tour riders Alessandro Covi and Thomas Pesenti finished second and third. Elisa Longo Borghini defended her women’s title, finishing 56 seconds ahead of Monica Trinca-Colonel and under 23 champion Eleonara Ciabocco.

HOCKEY: England men’s poor form continued with two losses to Belgium as their Pro-League season ended in Antwerp. After going down 3-1 in the first game they lost out on penalties following a 4-4 draw and finished thirteen points behind champions Netherlands in seventh place. England’s women lost 4-2 to Germany after beating them 1-0 to finish one place off the bottom, with the Dutch also claiming the women’s title.

MEN’S FOOTBALL: The USA needed penalties to beat Costa Rica in Minneapolis this morning and set up a Concacaf Gold Cup semi-final with Guatemala, who beat Canada on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Defending champions Mexico will face Honduras in the other last four match. The Mexicans cruised to a 2-0 quarter final win over Saudi Arabia while Honduras also needed penalties to squeeze past Panama following their 1-1 draw.