Snooker legend and BBC commentator John Virgo has died aged 79. Virgo enjoyed an 18-year professional career, but is perhaps best known for presenting popular snooker TV show Big Break alongside comedian Jim Davidson from 1991 to 2002.
Defending champion Neil Robertson has been knocked out in the first round of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong following a 5-1 defeat by Jak Jones.
World number three Robertson entered the tournament in good form after reaching the semi-finals of the German Masters last week, but failed to carry his momentum into the tie with Jones.
Robertson started well with a break of 46, but a missed red handed the initiative to Jones, who went on to open up a 2-0 lead.
A break of 88 saw Robertson briefly fight back to win the third frame, but Jones took control afterwards, triumphing in the next three to ease into the second round.
The match in Hong Kong took place only three-and-a-half days after Robertson’s 6-1 defeat by Shaun Murphy in Berlin, with the Australian cutting a frustrated figure throughout.
Former World Championship finalist Jones will play Zhou Yuelong in the second round on Thursday.
Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan joined Jones in the second round after recovering from a slow start to beat Joe O’Connor 5-3.
After fighting back from 2-0 down, O’Sullivan levelled the match before losing the fifth frame to slip behind again.
But two breaks of 72 saw O’Sullivan take a 4-3 lead, before wrapping up the match with a fine cut of the pink.
Israel is severely restricting what Palestinians can bring into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, as its forces maintain a tight control over who is allowed in or out. Rafah’s reopening was supposed to alleviate 18 months of Israel’s punishing siege, but aid continues to be limited and thousands are still waiting to cross.
One game – and an important one at that – has already been played in this full round of midweek Scottish Premiership fixtures, but Wednesday is where the majority of the action is found.
The big question is whether Rangers – who are home to Kilmarnock – and Celtic, who are away to Aberdeen, can capitalise on Heart of Midlothian’s slip up at St Mirren.
Motherwell will hope to close the gap on the Old Firm in the event they drop points with their trip to Dundee – subject to a positive pitch inspection.
Elsewhere, Marvin Bartley takes charge of Livingston for the first time and Hibernian continue life without Kieron Bowie against Dundee United.
A battle of the interim managers.
So much has changed for both clubs since the Scottish Cup final that it’s almost hard to believe that was just eight months ago.
Both sides have new men in charge – in Celtic’s case they have appointed and rejected an additional boss in that time too of course – and lots of new players.
So there will be a very different look on and off the pitch compared to the showpiece game at Hampden Park last May.
Aberdeen are still yet to find someone to replace Jimmy Thelin so Peter Leven will lead them again and while he is highly regarded, the results since he stepped in following Thelin’s exit have been miserable.
Kilmarnock’s first win in 17 league games at the weekend was the latest low point and Leven only has the 6-2 win over bottom side Livingston to show for his five games in charge.
Nevertheless, Celtic usually find it tough at Pittodrie and Martin O’Neill knows that better than most.
Tomas Cvancara and Julian Araujo of the January arrivals are likely to start and it will be interesting to see if O’Neill has been sufficiently impressed in training by Junior Adamu, Benjamin Arthur and Joel Mvuka to throw any of them straight in.
Defender Auston Trusty is back after suspension too, so suddenly O’Neill has options despite the absences of key men Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and Alistair Johnston.
Taking a bit of a gamble here, because the interesting thing is whether Ryan Naderi actually features at all against Kilmarnock.
He has been signed from Hansa Rostock despite Rangers having number nines in Youssef Chermiti and Bojan Miovski at the club – but neither have scored regularly.
That was highlighted in the costly 0-0 draw with Hibernian last weekend – so does Danny Rohl throw his countryman straight in against Kilmarnock?
Chermiti was reticent to shoot when in space against Hibs and infuriated Rangers fans by hanging around the outside of the box in the final minutes of the game with his side desperate for a winner.
Or, does Rohl look at Rangers’ paltry xG of 0.55 in that game and instead decide he needs to address the creativity in the side?
There is an argument to suggest Rangers need on-loan winger Andreas Skov Olsen to come to the party just as much as their new centre forward Naderi.
The Wolfsburg winger has looked pretty modest so far and Rohl is going to need at least one of him or Naderi to fire if they are to fight to the end in the title race.
It might be strange to say that a manager who has left with his side rooted to the bottom of the table is going to be a hard act to follow, but that is the case with David Martindale.
Livingston were relegated two seasons ago in fairly dispiriting fashion but Martindale stayed on and got Livi – who work with relatively small resources – promoted at the first time of asking.
He emphasised lessons had been learned from the 2023-24 season, but Livi are adrift at the foot of the Scottish Premiership table midway through their return to the top flight.
Martindale has moved aside to become sporting director and one of his coaches, Marvin Bartley, has taken over as manager.
Bartley was in charge of Queen of the South for 16 months and did a decent job before leaving in May 2024 after the Dumfries side finished seventh in Scottish League 1.
He returned to West Lothian as a coach earlier this season and is now in the hotseat.
Even if he just managed to create a relegation battle would be an achievement for Bartley, because at the moment, it just doesn’t exist.
His more pressing task is to get the West Lothian club back up again next season. That work probably starts now for the eloquent Bartley, who is taking his first top-flight role with his predecessor ‘upstairs’.
Available for over a year
Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will have an estimated global audience of over 127 million. The field at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, not only has to cater for the players and dozens of staff, but also the pre-game and half-time festivities that help to make Super Bowl Sunday such a huge cultural phenomenon.
Jordan Achay was part of the grounds crew that handled the 2022 Super Bowl which was held at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. He tells John Bennett why preparing the turf must start months, sometimes years in advance. He also explains the challenges the event’s famous half-time show brings – this year featuring Puerto Rican pop star Bad Bunny. Former Buffalo Bills coach, Phoebe Schecter, explains what coaches and players are looking for from a Super Bowl field.
Every Monday to Friday, More than the Score tells stories beyond the scoreline from all over the world of sport. From the Winter Olympics to the Super Bowl, the Australian Open to the Diamond League, and netball to Formula 1. We’ve got interviews with extraordinary athletes like Ivory Coast legend Yaya Toure, boxing royalty Cecilia Braekhus and cycling sprint king Harrie Lavreysen, as well as the experts working behind the scenes, from the referees who run VAR to the coaches keeping athletes in peak form. Plus, we’ve got the expertise of the BBC’s top journalists, who share their insights from decades of covering sport at all levels. And if you’ve got your own take on the stories we cover, we’d love to hear from you. Email morethanthescore@bbc.co.uk, or WhatsApp us on 0044 800 032 0470. You can find more information, along with our privacy notice, on our website: www.bbcworldservice.com/morethanthescore
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DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Six British pro-Palestinian activists have been acquitted of aggravated burglary relating to a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit, with a jury unable to reach verdicts on charges of criminal damage.
Prosecutors at London’s Woolwich Crown Court said on Wednesday the six defendants, whose trial began in November, were members of the now-banned group Palestine Action, which organised the assault on the Elbit Systems United Kingdom facility in Bristol, southwest England, in August last year.
The six – Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31 – all denied charges of aggravated burglary, violent disorder and criminal damage.
Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty of violent disorder by a jury at the Woolwich Crown Court, while it could not reach verdicts on the same charge against Head, Corner and Kamio after more than 36-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
The six defendants hugged in the dock and waved to supporters in the public gallery, who cheered loudly after the judge had left the court.
A press statement from a group of activists supporting the six under trials noted that the jury, which deliberated over the case for eight days, did not convict a single defendant of any offence, including violent disorder and criminal damage, despite several defendants admitting they used sledgehammers to destroy drones inside the facility.
The prosecution said the group entered the site last August with the “intent to use violence”; however, the “jury agreed with the defence argument that the defendants’ sole intention was to use the items, including sledgehammers, as tools to disarm Israeli weapons to “prevent violence”, the statement added.
The detainees, who are just some of a total of 24 activists linked to the group who have been arrested at different times, have been in custody for more than a year without trial, breaking the UK’s six-month pre-trial detention limit.
Their prosecution, which has drawn international scrutiny, has become a test case for how the British government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer is dealing with pro-Palestine demonstrations, with many UK residents and rights groups accusing authorities of heavy-handedness.
The ban on the Palestine Action has been challenged in court. The group describes itself as “a pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United Kingdom with direct action”.