The magnificent seven elite Welsh gymnasts are back in training after months trying to keep in shape at home. First through the doors was Emily Thomas, for whom the sights, sounds and smells of a gymnasium felt like a breath of fresh air as she tells Graham Thomas. Emily Thomas has certainly not gone soft in her months away from the gym, but her hands have. That’s why Wales’ 19-year-old Olympic hopeful is thrilled to be back as the first gymnast to step into regular training following lockdown.

Rhys Carre is happy to be back in familiar surroundings at Cardiff Blues and can’t wait to get back into action for his home town team. But the eight-times capped Welsh international prop isn’t taking anything for granted, despite coming back with a World Cup campaign, a Six Nations camp and six weeks spent at the best club in Europe under his belt. When he left he wasn’t an automatic first choice, but now he hopes to prove to John Mulvihill that he has what it takes to lock down the No 1 jersey at the club. He may only be 22, but he has returned from Saracens a far more mature player.

Steve Cooper insists anything can happen in the Championship – but he knows the stars must align on Wednesday night or else the season will end for Swansea City. Barring a dramatic collapse from Nottingham Forest, who would have to lose their final two games by significant margins, the final play-off place is set to come down to a Welsh shoot-out between Cardiff and Swansea. Cardiff are in pole position to claim sixth spot after winning 3-1 at Middlesbrough on Saturday, but Swansea refused to throw in the towel by beating Bristol City 1-0 at home.

Neil Harris hailed the character of his players after Cardiff City moved to within a point of securing their play-off place. The Bluebirds manager was full of praise after his team strengthened their position in sixth place in the Championship with a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough. It means there is a great Welsh shoot-out on Wednesday night, but Cardiff are stocked with most of ammunition.

Welsh club sport is back. But the message to everyone is take it steadily, hone your skills, and don’t yet expect any eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations you might be seeing in our professional football stadia. The playing fields may be open again – the courts, tracks, greens, beaches, roads and outdoor arenas are populated once more by people exercising and enjoying their organised sport – but it’s far from business as usual.

Neil Warnock reckons a victory over Cardiff City today would successfully complete his most difficult assignment in four decades in management. The man with the Midas touch when it comes to avoiding relegation – except from the Premier League – is determined to give Middlesbrough the result they need this afternoon, even if it undermines his old club’s play-off prospects. It’s the kind of storyline football can be relied upon to often deliver – the old gunslinger driven out of town, finally getting his chance for vengeance against the posse who saw to his departure.

New Scarlets coach Glenn Delaney believes Mark Jones’ stint coaching in New Zealand with the Crusaders could be the making of him. Former Wales wing Jones moved to Christchurch in January to become defence coach with the all-conquering Super Rugby outfit. Crusaders are a set-up Delaney knows plenty about. The province of Canterbury is where he developed as a player before moving into a tracksuit role in England, then back in New Zealand, and then as successor to Brad Mooar this summer at Parc Y Scarlets.

Geraint Thomas believes the increasing realism of virtual cycling is helping fill the void left by the current sporting lockdown. Wales’ 2018 Tour de France winner got his competitive instincts sharpened again by taking part in the recent Team INEOS eRace. The race – highlights of which are being shown by S4C on Friday night – aims to replicate the iconic Alpe d’Heuz summit finish on the famous stage of the tour.

The Welsh Athletics Championships is the latest major sporting event to fall victim of the coronavirus pandemic. The event, held at Cardiff’s International Sports Campus in Leckwith, would normally attract hundreds of athletes from all over Wales and further afield. Although athletics activity has restarted in Wales, the sport’s governing body has decided athletes have not had sufficient time to prepare properly. The Welsh Junior Championships has also been cancelled.

Despite playing only 34 games for the League Two side, Fraser Franks was well on his way to becoming a Newport County legend before the discovery of a heart defect cruelly curtailed his playing career last year at the age of just 28. But that was just the start of the story, as he told Chris Saunders. Mental health issues have, thankfully, become part of sport’s bigger conversation in recent times, but Fraser Franks wants to widen the dialogue still further. Since retiring, he has reflected on the pressure to conform to stereotypes he feels all young players are under and here – in his own words – he offers some timely advice in an uncertain economic world for all professional sports people.

Former Manchester City skipper Andy Morrison is dreaming of meeting Celtic now that he can finally start preparing for Champions League football. The High Court this week gave his Connah’s Quay Nomads side the go-ahead to make their debut in next season’s competition after backing the Football Association of Wales’ decision to declare Nomads Cymru Premier champions after ending the 2019/20 campaign early due to COVID-19. That verdict was challenged by TNS, the champions of the previous eight years, who were four points behind the league leaders when lockdown came. But their bid was rejected by the High Court on Monday.

Cardiff trio Gareth Thompson, Callum Bradbury and Terri Gee are all leaving the Arms Park to join former Premiership champions Merthyr – as confusion over any re-start throws clubs’ planning into chaos. The three players have made their exit following uncertainty over how Cardiff will fit into any overall structure once rugby resumes. “It’s always a shame to see players moving on, but with so much uncertainty surrounding when the Premiership will be able to get back to playing, and what the Blues, who hold our licence, want to use the team for, you can’t blame anyone,” said Cardiff RFC chairman, Chris Norman.

Steve Cooper has admitted his Swansea City teams are now relying on “sneaking” into the Championship play-offs through the stumbles of others. The Swans head coach admitted deep frustration at his team’s failure to win at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night after they twice led before being forced to settle for a 2-2 draw. The point leaves Cooper’s side in eighth place, three points behind Cardiff City, with just two games remaining.

Zak Jones is ending his highly-successful 12-year reign as Wales head coach to join Great Britain’s coaching set-up. Jones has been appointed Men’s Assistant Coach having worked with the team and the Elite Development Squad in recent internationals. During his time with Wales, Jones has taken the men’s squad from 36th to 18th in the FIH world rankings and lead them in retaining their top tier EuroHockey Championship status for the first time in two decades.

Swansea City may have to put their faith in the hands of back-up goalkeeper Erwin Mulder to keep their promotion hopes alive. Mulder – who has not started a game for the club for 16 months – is on stand-by to come in to the side at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night for a match the club cannot afford to lose if they are to hold realistic hopes of making the play-offs. The Swans have a fitness doubt over Freddie Woodman, who was forced off late on in the defeat to Leeds United last Sunday with a hip injury.

Basketball enjoyed global boom time at the start of the pandemic, but it had nothing to do with live matches on court. Instead, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls went into living rooms around the world via the TV documentary series, The Last Dance. For current players – like Wales and Great Britain international Emily Stradling – time has stood still as she tells Graham Thomas. Emily Stradling should have spent June in Georgia, USA – preparing to further enhance her reputation as the best female basketball player Wales has exported across the Atlantic. Instead, the student of Mercer University in the town of Macon is back at home in Porthcawl, wondering when she will next pull on the distinctive orange vest of her team, the Bears.

Neil Harris has revealed his team had worked on a plan to expose Wayne Rooney which paved the way for their final victory over Derby County on Tuesday night. Lee Tomlin hugely improved Cardiff’s chances of making the play-offs – and almost certainly ended Derby’s – with a goal that Rooney will be keen to forget. Tomlin scored a second-half winner after he stole the ball off the slowing former England captain, who will be 35 in October.

Cardiff Met is a regular supplier of talent to the top leagues in Wales and England, but director of rugby Danny Milton is now seeing his graduates spread their wings further afield. Alex Cuthbert and Ken Owens both played for Wales and the British & Irish Lions after leaving Cyncoed and, more recently, Alex Dombrandt and Luke Northmore moved seamlessly into the Harlequins Premiership squad after completing their studies. But the Class of 2020 are heading as far as Portugal and Hong Kong to continue their playing careers, while two more are joining Jac Arthur at English Premiership club Ampthill.

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris has claimed Leeds United’s win at Swansea City was the perfect birthday present. Now he wants the Bluebirds to continue his celebrations against Derby on Tuesday night. Play-off-chasing Cardiff saw their bitter rivals Swansea lose ground on the top six after a last-gasp defeat to leaders Leeds on Sunday – the day gaffer Harris turned 43.

Glamorgan captain Chris Cooke has insisted he doesn’t care what format of cricket he plays over the next few weeks, so long as he can swing a bat. The county’s skipper has joined with the rest of the squad in resuming training this week as they prepare for the much delayed start of the season. Plans have been put in place for the county game to resume on August 1, although there has been disagreement and fierce debate about what type of cricket should take priority.