Yan Dhanda wants to blaze a trail for the next generation of Asian footballers that takes him all the way to the Premier League. The Swansea City midfielder, who headed to south Wales after leaving Liverpool at 19, is growing into a key figure for Steve Cooper’s side who are chasing Championship promotion. Now 22, Dhanda is one of just 10 British Asians playing professional football in the United Kingdom.

Jingle, jingle, the Welsh festive derbies are here. They kick-off today at Rodney Parade where the Dragons host Cardiff Blues. The home side are looking for their fourth straight Guinness Pro14 victory and Aaron Wainwright is looking to earn a first, famous derby win as he told Graham Thomas. Aaron Wainwright insists the Dragons can get the Dean Ryan revolution back on track over the festive Welsh derbies. The Wales flanker is desperate to get stuck into the Cardiff Blues in the Boxing Day clash at Rodney Parade after being forced to miss his region’s last two matches.

Gerwyn Price is targeting being crowned World Champion on January 3 – and taking the spot as world No 1. The Markham marksman is in a three-man battle with Dutchman Michael van PGerwen and reigning Alexandra Palace champ Peter wright for that spot at the top of the PDC Order of Merit.

Jamie Roberts insists he’s a lover not a fighter, but he would love nothing more than to get one over his old Cardiff Blues mates when the Dragons host a Boxing Day dust-up with their rivals. The giant centre, 34, made 87 appearances for the Blues between 2007 and 2013 winning the European Challenge Cup and the EDF Energy Cup in that time. Since leaving Wales’ capital region, Roberts has played for Racing 92, Harlequins, Bath and the Stormers in South Africa, but is now back in Welsh rugby with the Dragons – and is ready to get back into seasonal derby action at Rodney Parade.

Football fans of all types have been locked out of grounds in Wales since March and for most that means a reliance on TV coverage or online streams of their favourite team. For the partially sighted and blind people, however, the exclusion of audio description commentators from stadia has meant a unique form of connection to the game has disappeared – for now, at least. Ollie Stockdale is one such commentator at Cardiff City and explains his role. I am a voluntary audio description commentator for Alan March Sport in conjunction with Cardiff City FC. As an aspiring sports journalist/commentator, I was immediately drawn to this opportunity.

For Steve Cooper and his Swansea City side, the Boxing Day trip to Loftus Road will be about maintaining momentum. There should be no repeat of 12 months ago, when an away display that bordered on surrender allowed QPR to run out 5-1 winners in an ultimately irrelevant FA Cup tie. Following last Saturday’s 2-0 win over Barnsley, Cooper’s men will head to London as favourites with their hosts 19th in the Championship table – and without a win in seven matches.

Neil Harris has told his Cardiff City team they must become more consistent in 2021 if they are to have any chance of promotion. The Cardiff manager has seen his side lose two of their past three games, having previously gone on a four-game winning streak. Prior to that, Harris’s men had won just once in eight games – a sequence which the Bluebirds boss himself admitted was putting his job in jeopardy.

Dean Ryan is looking forward to a full-blooded Boxing Day derby between his Dragons side and Cardiff Blues at Rodney Parade. The Dragons director of rugby has seen his team been hit hard by Covid-19 and rugby-related injuries, with the region confirming another positive test on Wednesday. But six other players who missed the Wasps game through instruction to isolate have returned and Ryan is eager for the festive battle against their biggest rivals.

Josh Griffiths and Melissa Courtney-Bryant led the way at the 2020 Welsh Athletics awards by picking up the senior athlete of the year titles. In what has been an unusual year for the sport, the annual awards had a suitably unfamiliar feel. Instead of the usual glitzy ceremony, the awards were announced on-line by Welsh Athletics.

Wales Rugby League is searching for a new women’s head coach after Craig Taylor resigned due to a change in his personal commitments. The 45-year-old, the side’s first-ever coach, led them to a historic 24-20 win over England Community Lions at St Helens in 2019.

The nation is on the look-out for a new chef. The Commonwealth Games is less than two years’ away and Team Wales require a Chef de Mission to oversee events in Birmingham. Graham Thomas talks to those who know what it takes when things get hot in the kitchen. WANTED: Head Chef. Must be talented, creative, cool under high pressure, and capable of getting the very best out of his or her raw materials. The job advert is out and now Commonwealth Games Wales are searching for a new Chef de Mission for Birmingham 2022.

Welsh Athletics chief executive James Williams has spoken for the first time about distance star Jake Smith’s decision to switch international allegiance to England – just weeks after becoming eligible to run for Wales. Bermuda-born Smith successfully applied for Welsh eligibility in October having lived in  Cardiff for more than three-years – satisfying residency qualification requirements. But six-weeks after breaking athletics legend Steve Jones’ Welsh half marathon record, Smith had a change of heart and has decided to run in future for England – the country of his parents’ birth.

The Welsh Rugby Union have joined forces with unions in England and Scotland to obtain funding to field GB Sevens teams for the 2021 season ahead of the Olympics. The deal was made possible because of a commercial partnership with The National Lottery promotional fund. It is not being funded by money allocated for National Lottery Good Causes or by Camelot. Both men’s and women’s GB Sevens teams will take part in the HSBC World Sevens Series in the build-up to next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, and then will continue for the climax of the 2021 season.

Joe Allen has given Wales fans some Christmas cheer by coming through his comeback match for Stoke City. The Wales midfielder – who hopes to force his way back into Ryan Giggs’ squad in time for the delayed European Championship finals in 2021 – stepped up his return to fitness by completing 75 minutes for Stoke’s Under-23s in his first competitive appearance for over nine months. Allen ruptured an Achilles tendon against Hull on March 7 and would have missed Euro 2020 but for the tournament being delayed 12 months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

You couldn’t help but note the irony. As darkness descended over Wales last Saturday – both literally and metaphorically after the First Minister’s announcement regarding a national tier four lockdown – intense work on the Liberty Stadium surface was already underway. Merely minutes after Swansea had completed a 2-0 win over Barnsley, the sight of players in white or red shirts was replaced by ground staff, diggers, and tractors as the process of digging up the much maligned pitch began.

Gerwyn Price was taken to a deciding set before winning a thrilling all-Wales battle with Jamie Lewis at the World Darts Championship. The Markham darter triumphed 3-2 over Carmarthen’s Lewis in their second round clash.

Yan Dhanda believes a new pitch at Swansea City can lay firm foundations for a push towards promotion to the Premier League. Swansea City’s former Liverpool midfielder helped create some of their best moments in the 2-0 weekend victory over Barnsley on a surface so poor even Monty Don would abandon it. The Swans have done the same – digging it up with an army of ground staff and tractors under floodlights on Saturday night and readying themselves for a replacement in time for January.

The Welsh Rugby Union and the country’s four professional sides have met for detailed crisis talks to discuss their potential liabilities for concussion-related damages. Former Dragons and Wales Under-20 centre Adam Hughes is one of six new players who have given their backing to supporting legal action against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the WRU for alleged failure to protect them from the risks caused by concussion and head injuries. Rylands Law, the legal firm representing the players, delivered its letter of claim to the defendants last week and its receipt has been acknowledged by the WRU. At a time when Welsh rugby has lost £50million inflicted by the devastating consequences of Covid-19, the WRU and the regions are well aware of the potential ramifications should the players’ legal case be successful.

Daniel James has earned rich praise from Manchester United legend Roy Keane after the Wales winger’s role in his club’s 6-2 thrashing of Leeds. James scored the fifth goal of United’s half dozen, against the club he was linked with ahead of the January transfer window. James has endured a difficult year since his move from Swansea City to Old Trafford, but his pace caused Leeds so much anxiety that talk of him being allowed to leave United now they are a looming Premier League title threat seems unrealistic.

Jonny Clayton is the first Welshman into the last 32 of the William Hill World Darts Championship. The Pontyberem thrower fended off a comeback from John Henderson to win their second round match 3-1 at London’s Alexandra Palace.