Fangstastic beast debut
A truly jaw-dropping new attraction will take a bow at Chessington World of Adventures theme park this spring.
Multi-million-pound Croc Drop is the first new ride at the Surrey site since 2013.
And daring visitors will plunge 82ft into the giant gaping mouth of Sobek, an Ancient Egyptian crocodile god who has been possessed by evil spirits.
Riders must take part in a ceremony to free Sobek’s soul and restore the River Nile to health. chessington.com
ADAM YATES came second on his Ineos Grenadiers debut at the UAE Tour despite a nasty crash.
The Brit (below) finished 35 seconds behind winner Tadej
Pogacar as rivals slowed up to allow him treatment for cuts after he landed face down.
Yates, caught up in a tangle between Ineos riders, was checked out in hospital after Caleb Ewan won the final stage.
TENNIS
GILLES SIMON is taking a break from playing on the ATP Tour due to mental health concerns.
The Frenchman, 36, was beaten in the Australian Open first round earlier in February and also lost his first match at the Open Sud de France on Tuesday. Simon (left) said: “Hopefully my morale will pick up soon.”
COLIN KAZIM-RICHARDS was subjected to racial abuse on Instagram after his late equaliser for Derby against Nottingham Forest on Friday.
The 34-year-old, who has just signed a one-year extension to his deal at Pride Park, cancelled out James Garner’s first-half effort with six minutes remaining in the East Midlands derby.
In the hours after the game he was sent racist abuse from accounts on the social media platform, with one account set up with a racially charged variation of his name.
The Rams have reported the abuse to Instagram, Kick It Out and Derbyshire police.
And in a statement, the club said: “Derby County Football Club is disgusted to have learned that one of its players has been racially abused via social media.
Children
“The abuse received by Colin resulted in him having to have a conversation with his young children to explain why, in this day and age, racism and discrimination still exists.
“It should be clear, there is no place in sport or society for racism.
“Derby County has a zerotolerance stance to discrimination and prejudiced behaviour and the racial abuse has been reported to the relevant authorities.
“Social media abuse is, sadly, becoming more common and it is all too easy for individuals to hide behind an account. This cannot continue.
“We are united in celebrating our diversity and we stand proudly with Colin, and all our players, to make it categorically clear that this behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
And in a statement Nottingham Forest said: “We wholeheartedly support Derby County Football Club’s stance in reporting the abuse to Derbyshire Police.
“Any form of racist abuse is abhorrent and has no place in football or society.
“The persons involved in this hate crime do not appear to claim to be supporters of our club but, if they are, we will not hesitate in taking the firmest possible action.”
BIRMINGHAM CITY face a repair bill of more than seven figures before they can fully reopen St Andrew’s again.
The struggling Championship club have received a report from structural engineers into the problems that have seen two stands closed – and it makes grim reading.
The closure has seen the capacity cut from 29,000 to 17,000.
And with fans potentially allowed back into football in May, this is a huge blow.
Birmingham admitted there were issues with their stadium nine days before Christmas after an annual survey flagged up corrosion on the steelwork propping up two of the stands at the ground.
Estimates for the work are expected to top £1million as the club seek to make good ongoing issues in the Kop and Tilton Road stands.
Those two areas are out of bounds until repairs have been done.
However, the full extent of the repair work needed cannot be seen until the engineers have access to those areas underneath the stands that have been affected.
And that means chopping into the concrete and dealing with the rust before sealing up the holes in the seating afterwards.
The club cannot rely on insurance to meet the cost as it comes under wear and tear – despite the stands being little more than 25 years old.
And that means the club’s owners will have to dig deep.
Birmingham chief executive officer Xuandong Ren (right) said: “It’s not as bad as we first expected but there is a lot of repair work that needs to be done before we can welcome supporters back into those stands.
“It had something to do with the structure work when the stadium was first built.
“Some of the steelwork had a level of corrosion. We need to address those problems. It’s not going to collapse.”
The announcement by the Government regarding the roadmap for football supporters to return to stadia means that the fixtures this season will not now be affected, either for Birmingham or their ground-sharing tenants Coventry City.
But the landlords will have to satisfy the council that the stadium is up to speed during the summer – or else operate on a reduced capacity when next season kicks off in August.
The Tilton Road end would be closed completely and the lower section of the Kop stand would be declared a no-go zone too until the council is reassured that the ground is fit to host professional football.