WORLD OF SPORT
IAN POULTER has lost his PGA Tour card after missing the cut at the Valero Texas Open. The 41-year-old Englishman needed a top-30 finish but his second-round 71 was not enough to make it through to the weekend after an opening-round 75. He has been playing on a medical exemption after foot surgery denied him the chance to play last year. He will still be able to appear in PGA Tour events but must rely on sponsors’ invitations for the rest of the season. Scot Martin Laird is on five under, just three shots behind leader Bud Cauley after a 67.
OLYMPIC gold medallist Dame Katherine Grainger has been named as the new chair of UK Sport. The 41-year-old Scot, Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, retired from rowing after winning a medal at a fifth Games last summer. She will succeed Rod Carr at the national funding body in July. ‘I am absolutely thrilled,’ said Grainger. ‘I am also very honoured to be joining the team at UK Sport and building on the success and commitment to excellence that I have witnessed and enjoyed as an athlete. I’m also acutely aware of the many challenging issues currently within sport and I hope to play a role in addressing them.’
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN resisted a Shaun Murphy charge to preserve his four-frame lead in their gripping Betfred World Championship battle. From 9-3 adrift at one stage and in danger of losing the second-round clash with a session to spare, Murphy charged back to trail 10-6 overnight, a distinctly healthier position than he must have been beginning to fear. Elsewhere, Scotland’s four-time world champion John Higgins dug in to be just two frames behind Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen, who has a 5-3 lead overnight.
SIX-TIME Paralympic champion David Weir is set to change his mind on his decision to retire. The 37-year-old intended to quit sport after tomorrow’s London Marathon, having already turned his back on the track after a bitter fall-out with British Athletics. But, ahead of his bid for a seventh London Marathon title, he said: ‘It might not be my last race. I’ve enjoyed concentrating on the training and have not had lingering GB matters.’