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.

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.

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.

Beth Munro has admitted she is “in a dream world” after joining Welsh para-taekwondo star Matt Bush in earning Great Britain places at this summer’s Paralympics in Tokyo. The Welsh pair secured their spots at the European taekwondo qualifiers in Bulgaria at the weekend. Team GB already had one place guaranteed through world number one Amy Truesdale in the +58kg event, but now the Welsh duo will make up a three-strong team.

The Scarlets may have sacked head coach Glenn Delaney but they are busy making plans for next season by lining up Argentina Test star Tomas Lezana. Delaney was dismissed on Saturday night with the region having second thoughts over kicking him upstairs to become their director of rugby. Instead, they are kicking him out with Dwayne Peel being given a clear run at things next season with no influence from over his shoulder.

Jenny Nesbitt produced a devastating front-running performance to blow away a strong domestic field at the British Milers Club Grand Prix at Trafford on Saturday night. The Welsh Commonwealth Games hopeful led from gun to tape to win the 5,000m A race by a huge margin in a time of 15:40.10.

Gemma Frizelle has been selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2021 Rhythmic European Championships to be staged in Varna, Bulgaria, between 10-13 June. Carmarthen-born Frizelle, who turned 23 last Sunday, was part of Team Wales at the last Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018 and is a contender for Birmingham next year. Frizelle, who is attached to Llanelli Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy, also competed at the Rhythmic World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, three years ago.

Lauren Price was narrowly beaten by old rival Nouchka Fontjin on her ring return at the Grand Prix event in Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic. The 26-year-old defeat at the hands of the Dutch boxer leaves her with bronze from her second competitive event of 2021.

While some may have been eyeing the central heating controls on what seemed like one of the coldest May evenings in living memory, Kyron Duke was delighted to be competing in the driving, icy rain in Cardiff. To be fair, he wasn’t alone. There was a strong turnout for this week’s Run With the Wind event with athletes of all disciplines raring to go after the disruptions of the past year.

Tokyo’s state of emergency has been extended until the end of May in a bid to tackle rising coronavirus infections, according to reports – placing more doubts over the staging of the delayed Olympic Games. The Japanese capital is due to host the Games in just over two months’ time, with the Paralympic Games to follow. A number of Welsh athletes and para athletes such as Jade Jones, Elinor Barker, Aled Davies, Dan Jervis Alys Thomas, Jacob Draper, Leah Wilkinson, Emily Thomas, Holly Arnold, Chris Grube, Hannah Mills and others are hoping to be in Japan this summer

Two years ago Welsh sprint sensation Jeremiah Azu had European Under-20 gold within his grasp when disaster struck. The Cardiff athlete was just yards from victory in the 100m final when he pulled up sharply, clutching his hamstring in agony. The then 18-year-old’s challenge ended in pain and anguish, face down on the Ryavallen Athletics Stadium track in Sweden.

Lauren Price will make her second ring appearance of 2021 at the Grand Prix event in Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic (5 – 8 May) The 26-year-old has not boxed since winning silver at Hungary’s Bocskai tournament in February, where she was making her return after a 16-month absence.

Dai Sport was a double winner at the recent Wales Media Awards 2020. The website was named Blog of The Year while our reporter and columnist Fraser Watson was the winner of the Sports Journalist of the Year Award. Established four years ago in a bid to broaden sports coverage in Wales, the site’s reach was commended by the judges who said: “What a great find this website is for any sports fans out there.

Damian Cole gave his ex-works Get Connected / TCL backed Škoda Fabia R5 an impressive rally debut at the weekend, when he finished second overall on the Corinium Stages at Down Ampney. Covid-19 restrictions mean that rallying still isn’t permitted in Wales, so the Abergavenny ace was one of several drivers who popped over the border to Gloucestershire for the single venue asphalt event – which saw 68 cars take the start.

Cricket is back. Two years since Welsh league cricket was last here, clubs up and down the country have returned to their grounds for competitive action. On Saturday, Newport – South Wales Premier League champions in 2019 – hosted Mumbles and Owen Morgan was there to see it. The sun was shining, senior league cricket was back and all seemed well with the world in Newport on Saturday afternoon. Even the first cuckoo I’ve heard this year joined in to complete the idyllic scene at Spytty Park, which was being replicated at cricket grounds around the country.

Geraint Thomas said his victory in the Tour de Romandie on Sunday reminded him of his Tour de France success as he claimed his first win since that historic triumph in 2018. The Ineos Grenadiers rider overcame the blunder that saw his crash in sight of a stage win on Saturday to take the Yellow Jersey on the time trail in Switzerland.