SPEEDWAY: Max Fricke top-scored with 12 points as Leicester Lions led from the first tape to win 46-44 at Sheffield, 100-80 on aggregate, and booked their place in the Premiership Knock-Out Cup final, where they will face either King’s Lynn or Ipswich. Thursday’s only Premiership league fixture saw Erik Riss bag 11+3 points as second bottom Oxford romped to a 62-28 thrashing of basement club Birmingham.

CYCLING: Pontyclun-born Zoe Backstedt won Thursday’s British women’s time trial championship after finishing 19 seconds ahead of defending champion Anna Henderson, with Pfeiffer Georgi a further 68 seconds back in third. Ethan Hayter claimed his third men’s title in five years, coming home 28 seconds ahead of Sam Watson with Oliver Knight another 18 seconds behind in third. Last year’s winner Josh Tarling did not take part due to injury.

NETBALL: Reigning Super League champions Loughborough Lightning have home court advantage when they take on Manchester Thunder in Sunday’s preliminary final play-off. The winner will go on to face regular season table-toppers London Pulse in the Grand Final. Loughborough finished second in the league, just a point ahead of the Thunder, but won both the home and away fixtures when the teams met earlier this year.

MEN’S FOOTBALL: The opening fixtures of the Club World Cup’s last 16 kick off this weekend with tomorrow’s all-Brazilian affair between Palmeiras and reigning Copa Libertadores champions Botafogo in Philadelphia before Chelsea meet Benfica in Charlotte, North Carolina. On Sunday Paris St Germain face Inter Miami and Brazil’s Flamengo are up against Bayern Munich. No team qualified for the knockout stages with a hundred per cent record.