MEN’S FOOTBALL: Former West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic scored twice as Red Star Belgrade thumped Larne 5-0 on Wednesday evening to send the Irishmen crashing out of the Champions League second qualifying round with a 9-0 aggregate defeat. 

Belgrade will be joined in the next round by Denmark’s Aarhus Gymnastikforening, who turned around a 4-1 first leg deficit against Lech Poznan to win on penalties in Poland.

CRICKET: The top two clash in the Men’s Hundred tomorrow evening when Manchester Super Giants face the Trent Rockets at Old Trafford. 

The Giants top the table on run rate, standing level on points with Trent, Leeds and Welsh Fire after three games. 

In the women’s competition, unbeaten Manchester sit second behind the Southern Brave, who have played a game more, with Trent Rockets two points further back in third.

HORSE RACING: Billy Loughnane steered 10/11 favourite Bow Echo to a third Grade 1 success when he came from behind to beat Gstaad by half a length in Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. 

The George Boughey-trained three-year-old has now won all six of his career races and became the first horse since Frankel in 2011 to complete the 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace and Sussex Stakes treble, edging Gstaad in all three races.

MEN’S RUGBY UNION: The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has confirmed that it will only support three professional teams from the 2028 season. 

Cardiff, who have been directly managed by the WRU since being placed into administration in April 2025, and the Newport-based Dragons have both been guaranteed licences under the new plans. 

South-west Wales will lose a team with either Llanelli’s Scarlets or Swansea’s Ospreys facing the axe.