Mick McCarthy has told his players they must play for pride when they face Reading tonight – and if it’s absent there is something wrong. The Cardiff City manager has admitted the club’s chances of making the play-offs are all but gone after just one victory in their last seven matches. That sequence has left them 12 points adrift of sixth place, but McCarthy has urged his players to remember there are plenty of other considerations, including their obligations to fans as well as trying to secure further individual playing contracts.

Georgia Davies and Daniel Jervis must wait to see if their Olympic dream will be realised after neither was able to book their place at the British selection trials in London. Two-time Olympian Davies finished inside the Olympic consideration time in the final of the women’s 100m backstroke on Thursday night, but had to settle for third place in a tough final. Wales’ Commonwealth silver medalist Jervis won the men’s 800m freestyle, but was agonizingly outside of the time needed.

Welsh para-rower Ben Pritchard has earned more success by being named Disability Sport Wales’ athlete of the year. The City of Swansea Rowing Club member was given the award in recognition of his huge progress over the past 12 months that has put him on course for a Great Britain place at the Paralympics in Tokyo in August. Pritchard picked up the prize in the same week he secured a silver medal at the European Championships despite having to recover from Covid and back injuries earlier this year.

Two of the biggest names in British boxing are backing Liam Williams to join the list of Welsh world champions on Saturday. Joe Calzaghe – who held a world title longer than any other Welsh fighter – says Williams has got what it takes to follow in his footsteps and rule the boxing world. Meanwhile, legendary fight promoter and manager Frank Warren also believes the Welshman can claim the WBO middleweight crown against undefeated champion Demetrius Andrade at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Liam Cullen could make a shock return to assist with Swansea City’s final push for promotion. The Wales U21 striker was thought to have been ruled out for the season when he injured ankle ligaments back in January. But Cullen – who was just beginning to build a case for regular inclusion in the Swans’ starting line-up before he was sidelined – has made rapid progress that puts his return to fitness ahead of schedule.

Harriet Jones has become the first Welsh swimmer to pencil her name down for Olympic selection by winning at the British Swimming selection trials in London. The City of Cardiff swimmer won the women’s 100m butterfly final in a new personal best time of 57.92 – inside the set Tokyo requirement time. It doesn’t yet guarantee Jones a seat on the plane – which comes down the choice of selectors – bit it puts her in pole position to be on the Great Britain team for Japan.

The 100-day countdown to the delayed Olympic Games has begun with a host of Welsh athletes dreaming of achieving in 2021 what they were denied in 2020. Tokyo will be an Olympics unlike any that have gone before, but Brian Davies – Sport Wales’ director of elite performance – insists it will still make memories for athletes and TV fans alike, as Graham Thomas reports. Welsh Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls have been primed to expect a very different experience in Tokyo in 2021 – but still a special one. As the likes of Jade Jones, Aled Davies, Dewi Griffiths, Melissa Courtney, Elinor Barker, Owain Doull, Natalie Powell, Lauren Price, Hannah Mills and other Great Britain prospects reflect on a hugely disrupted 2020, they will be optimistic that the summer of 2021 brings brighter days.

Dai Young has expressed his aim of ensuring Cardiff Blues compete at the “business end” of the season after agreeing to stay on as permanent director of rugby. The former Wasps coach has signed on for the long-term after notching four wins in seven games in his period as the interim director of rugby. Having played for the club earlier in his career, and then spent nine years as head coach, he returned earlier in the year when John Mulvihill moved on. He has put pen to paper on what the Blues are calling “a long-term contract”.

Newport County manager Michael Flynn has admitted the club are up against it in their task to win automatic promotion from League Two. A hard-earned but inadequate goalless draw at home to Carlise on Tuesday leaves County in sixth place in the table – eight points off the top three, but still with one game in hand. Defender Matty Dolan will have to be assessed ahead of the game against second-place Cambridge United on Saturday after he was forced off against Carlisle with a head injury.

Steve Tandy has reflected on the “pretty surreal” experience of being named in the British and Irish Lions coaching team to tour South Africa. The 41-year-old Welshman has arrived with the Lions via Australia and Scotland, and he will oversee the defence when Warren Gatland’s side take on the Springboks this summer. “I think it was Wednesday last week that I had a call from Gats,” Tandy said.

Jess Fishlock fired a second-half equaliser as Wales claimed an encouraging 1-1 draw against Denmark in a friendly at the Cardiff City Stadium. Fishlock volleyed home from Natasha Harding’s cross on the hour mark to cancel out Pernille Harder’s 24th-minute opener which saw her match Denmark’s scoring record. It was a performance that will give some encouragement to Wales boss Gemma Grainger in only her second game in charge.

Neither The New Saints nor Connah’s Quay flinched in the latest round of their title run-in shootout in a mid-week show of strength in the JD Cymru Premier. The two pacesetters racked up six-goal wins in dominant displays against helpless looking Barry Town and Caernarfon Town, to keep the sides level on 60-points at the […]

Steve Cooper reckons the chase for automatic promotion is back on and his Swansea City side have not given up hope of catching Watford. Tuesday night’s 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday has cut the gap between second-placed Watford and the Swans to seven points, with both clubs having five games to go. The last of those is the fixture between the clubs at Vicarage Road and before then Watford have away trips to both leaders Norwich City and fourth-placed Brentford.

Cardiff City this week announced they had agreed a new two-year contract with one of their most promising youngsters – 21-year-old Tom Sang. It’s a decision that underlined just how rapidly the Liverpool-born player has progressed this season, says Jack Price. Whilst Tom Sang and Cardiff City are now basking in his current successes, his fortunes have not been so rosy throughout the season. At the start of this campaign, Sang found himself a peripheral figure in the fourth tier with Cheltenham Town, a long way from where he stands today in holding down a place with a club in the Championship.

Three Welsh coaches will be at the heart of Warren Gatland’s back-up team when the British and Irish Lions tour South Africa this summer. Robin McBryde, Steve Tandy and Neil Jenkins will assist Gatland for the three-Test series against the world champions, the Springboks. Gatland’s choices were announced on Tuesday morning, along with confirmation that Scotland’s Gregor Townsend will be the attack coach.

Ben Cabango could miss a total of three matches after his breach of Swansea City’s Covid rules – half of the club’s vital Championship run-in. The Wales international has already been dropped from the Swans’ key game away to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night after police were called to his home following allegations he was hosting a party. Now, the 20-year-old could also be absent from the back-to-back home games against Wycombe at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday and the fixture with QPR the following Tuesday.

Until last week, Jordan Hart used to be Wales’ leading badminton player and Britain’s No.2. Now, though, she belongs to Poland after quitting Welsh sport over what she claimed was a lack of support. Speaking exclusively to Dai Sport, she tells Fraser Watson why she felt the need to leave Wales. Changing location is one thing, changing the country you represent is another. Which is why the decision that Jordan Hart has made – to represent Poland instead of Wales at international badminton tournaments – ranks as the most difficult of her career by far.

Swansea Harrier Joe Brier has been selected to represent Great Britain at the 2021 World Athletics Relays in Poland next month. The championships will mean a return to the country where Brier last month won a European Indoor Championships bronze medal in the 4x400m.

Welsh rowing pair Vicky Thornley and Ben Pritchard have returned from the European Rowing Championships with silver medals. The pair both finished runner-up in their respective finals at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy, as they returned to competitive action. Thornley took silver in the women’s single sculls, while Pritchard also finished second in his final of the para single sculls race for PR1 athletes.

Former Ospreys coach Steve Tandy has emerged as a strong candidate for a coaching role with the British and Irish Lions this summer. Tandy – who has bolstered Scotland’s resurgence as their defence coach – is reportedly being lined up for the same role assisting Lions head coach Warren Gatland in South Africa. Gatland is due to confirm his coaching team on Tuesday, but having suffered a series of setbacks through candidates making themselves unavailable, it appears that 41-year-old Tandy, who spent six years in charge of the Ospreys, is in prime position for a role.