SPORTS DIGEST
LEWIS HAMILTON’S Mercedes car will again be painted black for the Briton’s historic assault on an eighth world championship. Last year, Hamilton urged the Mercedes hierarchy to change its traditional silver livery in a defiant message against racism. And the German manufacturer is set to continue with the same colour when Hamilton begins the defence of his crown in Bahrain on March 28. Hamilton, who turned 36 last week, is in the highly unusual situation of being out of contract after his £40million-a-season Mercedes deal expired on December 31 but talks are ongoing over a new contract.
AMATEUR jockeys will no longer be able to ride in races in Britain after Saturday in a move designed to tighten Covid-19 restrictions. Programmed races which would have been restricted to amateur riders, including Hunter Chases, will still take place but the runners will be ridden by professional and conditional jockeys instead. A British Horseracing Authority statement said: ‘These decisions have been taken by the racing industry’s Covid-19 group which includes representatives from racecourses and horsemen and which keeps Covid protocols under constant review to determine how racing can continue to strengthen its approach.’
TEAM GB chief Mark England says he is ‘hugely confident’ the Olympics will take place as planned this summer as he named four more athletes for his squad. The continued spread of coronavirus in Japan has put the rescheduled Tokyo Games at risk. But after announcing Team GB’s shooting team, chef de mission England, who sits on an International Olympic Committee working group, said: ‘We are hugely confident of the Games going ahead in the summer. We certainly wouldn’t be announcing athletes if that wasn’t the case. The prime minister of Japan has said that the Games will go ahead.’
RonniE o’SUllivAn sewed up a thrilling victory against Ding Junhui after shrugging off a wardrobe malfunction. The Rocket is chasing a record eighth Betfred Masters success in the invitation event for the elite top 16 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. After play was delayed to stitch a sponsor’s logo back on to his waistcoat, o’Sullivan produced a magnificent comeback to reach the quarter-finals with a 6-5 victory. Six-time world champion o’Sullivan’s hopes hung by a thread at 3-0 and 5-3 down. But decisive big breaks saw the world no3 as the only one of snooker’s ‘Big Four’ remaining — with neil Robertson and Mark Selby out and Judd Trump failing a Covid-19 test.