He’s now 35 years old and it’s a decade since he was champion of the world, but don’t bother asking Dai Greene to slow down. The Welsh hurdler is not just looking at squeezing into Olympic contention this summer, but has his plans for next year, too, – both on and off the track as he tells Owen Morgan. A cool early summer evening at the University of Birmingham may have been a world away from a global 400m hurdles final in South Korea, but Dai Greene was just happy to be back competing. The last time the 400m hurdles champion at the 2011 Daegu World Championships stepped onto a track in anger was in August of last year – the only time he competed outdoors during the whole of 2020.

Welsh Athletics has named a strong squad for the prestigious annual Loughborough international on May 23. World 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene is the standout name in a squad littered with Great Britain senior and junior internationals as well as a number of emerging debutants.

Rosie Eccles has claimed a third medal in as many tournaments this year after reaching the final of the Socikas Tournament. The 24-year-old beat Russia’s Saadat Dalgatova in her opening fight in Lithuania.

Lydia Hall is still well in contention at the Investec South African Women’s Open despite a nightmare start to her second round. The Bridgend golfer is tied for fifth after carding a five-over-par 77 after dropping three shots on her opening hole at the Westlake Golf Club in Cape Town.

Natalie Powell has been chosen by GB Judo to compete in her seventh World Championships. The 30-year-old from Beulah is among an eight-strong team for the champs in Budapest from 6-13 June.

The benefits – both physical and mental – of open water swimming have been known to enthusiasts for years. But now a niche activity is becoming more mainstream there are new issues to overcome. Where can we all swim and how safe will it be? Alex Bywater hears how Swim Wales and Welsh Triathlon have joined forces to meet that challenge. Until recently, open water swimmers – including triathletes – had to give places like Llandegfedd Reservoir a wide berth. The water may have looked welcoming, the scenery maybe more so, but officialdom was not.

The Covid-19 pandemic has struck many rugby clubs across Wales, but few players in the professional game have been as deeply affected as Wales and Ospreys star Bradley Davies. Speaking about his illness for the first time, Davies has admitted monitoring his own oxygen levels due to breathing problems, left him fearful about his long-term health, as he tells Alex Bywater. Bradley Davies has revealed he feels lucky to be alive after a serious scare with Covid-19 left him checking his own oxygen levels. The Wales international, a Test-hardened 66-cap veteran, has admitted he felt “scared” by the impact of the virus on his health just a few weeks ago.

The Lions has revised their tour of South Africa this summer and will now only be based in two venues for their entire trip. The tourists – who will include 10 Welsh players, including British and Irish Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones – have been forced to re-draw their plans due to the ongoing chaos in South Africa caused by Covid-19. The revised format reduces travel between cities and training venues and will mean the Lions will only stay in two locations – one near Johannesburg and the other close to Cape Town.

Gavin Foxall has been a bit of a lone figure at Newport County’s 56 games to date this season. But all that is about to change on Tuesday night at Rodney Parade. The County chairman knows that the first leg of the League Two play-off semi-finals is going to be very different to all the rest, and not just because there is a trip to Wembley at stake.

Lydia Hall was eyeing her second LET victory after finishing tied for the lead on the opening day of the Investec South African Women’s Open at Westlake Golf Club. The Bridgend ace fired a two-under-par 70 to jointly lead with home heroine Lee-Anne Pace by one stroke from another South African duo  Tandi McCallum and Nicole Garcia.

Dwayne Peel has been labelled a winner and backed to become a major success after being appointed head coach of the Scarlets. The Wales and British & Irish Lions scrum-half will be the number one coach at the Scarlets after they dramatically parted ways with Glenn Delaney less than an hour after their derby win over the Ospreys last weekend. Only three weeks ago they announced Peel was to work underneath Delaney who was to be promoted to the role of director of rugby.

It’s a long way from Llandovery to the Lions, but Wyn Jones and Tadhg Beirne will bridge the divide this summer. Five years ago, Wales prop Jones and Ireland forward Beirne could be found playing in the same West Wales club side in the Welsh Premiership. It can be a long journey from club rugby to playing for the Lions for most players, but to travel from playing in front of crowds of a couple of hundred hardy locals at Church Bank, to facing the world champions, the Springboks in South Africa, is an impressive stretch.

By Gareth James Connah’s Quay Nomads fans and supporters of The New Saints will be able to see their title shoot-out unfold on screen this weekend – in simultaneous separate matches. As the race for the JD Cymru Premier title goes down to the final day of the season on Saturday, S4C’s Sgorio programme is […]

Jenny Nesbitt and Kris Jones have been rewarded for their excellent early season form with places on the Great Britain team for next month’s European 10,000m Cup. The Welsh internationals will be joined on the 12-strong team by Cardiff-based Jake Smith, Swansea Harrier Verity Ockenden and double Olympic Champion Sir Mo Farah.

The fans are coming back to football, but for some it’s too late to say a proper goodbye. Fraser Watson reflects on a year of echoing stadia and says the real stars of the game cannot come back quickly enough. The game was essentially over, Rotherham’s fate all but sealed, but the most poignant moment was yet to come. A mere four months after undergoing chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Sol Bamba entered the fray as a late substitute for Josh Murphy.

Welsh gymnast Dylan Howells has been named in the Great Britain team for the 2021 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships. It’s a step up for the 20-year-old from Risca, after he previously made the GB team for the Acrobatic European Championships in 2019. The world championships will take place from July 2 to 4 in Geneva, Switzerland and Britain will be represented in the men’s pair, mixed pair, women’s group and men’s group events.

Neco Williams’ little brother wants to follow the Liverpool star into the Wales team. Keelan Williams, a 17-year-old who left Anfield to join Burnley, reckons he has already surpassed his older sibling on one front by beating him at the crossbar challenge in a park during lockdown. Now, he wants to get another one over on Neco by being quicker to a full Wales cap after the young defender captained Wales U18s against England last month.

Four Welsh players will help end 550 days of international exile after being named in the Great Britain hockey squads for home games against Germany that start today. Rupert Shipperley and Jacob Draper have been named in the men’s squad to face the Germans in a Pro league fixture this afternoon at Lee Valley and then again tomorrow. Wales pair Leah Wilkinson and Sarah Jones are also included in the women’s squad for the match this evening against Germany and again tomorrow night.

The Nicky Grist Stages, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday 10 July, has applied to the Welsh government to run as an official motorsport test event and join the nine other sporting and cultural trial events that will take place in Wales over the coming weeks.

Tom Llewellin will move up into a powerful four-wheel drive car this year and contest the MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series – and most, if not all, the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship – in a Mitsubishi Mirage. The 20-year old Pembrokeshire driver has been the young sensation of the Welsh forests in recent years, becoming Welsh Junior National champion, Restruct Two-Wheel Drive champion and RAVENOL Welsh Challenge champion in 2019, driving an Escort Mk2.