Elfyn Evans says he is ready to give it his all as he bids to become Wales’ first World Rally Champion next week. The 31-year-old from Dolgellau goes into the final round at Monza (3-6 December) leading his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sebastien Ogier by 14 points.

Welsh marathon runner Natasha Cockram is in a race against time to raise funds to boost her Tokyo Olympic challenge. Cockram, who won the British women’s title at the London Marathon last month, planned to travel to the United States for a marathon organised to help athletes achieve the Olympic qualifying time.

Gerwyn Price cruised into the second round of the Players Championship Finals with a convincing victory over John Henderson. The 35-year-old bold backed from his defeat at the Grand Slam of Darts with a 6-2 win at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.

Open water swimming has seen a rise in participation numbers during 2020 as more people have turned to the sea, rivers and lakes for their physical activity. Some, like Laura Owen Sanderson combine their swimming fix with helping protect the waters around them as she tells Graham Thomas. Laura Owen Sanderson calls herself a “waterlogger”, a wild swimmer, an adventurist, environmentalist, artist, company director and a mum. She also happens to be the woman Bangor University have asked to help collect water samples from the UK’s national parks in order to test for the presence of micro-plastics.

Gerwyn Price is determined to bounce back to winning ways by going one better than last year and claiming the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals crown. The 35-year-old saw his bid for a Grand Slam of Darts hat-trick ended by a last 16 defeat against Nathan Aspinall.

Skeleton star Laura Deas continued the good form she showed in her BMW IBSF World Cup opener by finishing fifth in Latvia on Friday. Wales’ first female Winter Olympic medalist improved one place on her sixth place last week at the same venue in Sigulda.

Former Cardiff Devils head coach Andrew Lord has swooped to sign three players for his Greenville Swamp Rabbits club. Defenceman Sam Jardine and forwards Joey Haddad and Mike McNamee will be part of the Swamp Rabbits training camp that starts on Friday.

Lydia Hall led the Welsh challenge before play was suspended at the LET Spanish Open. The Bridgend player was tied for fourth place on -2 before rain cut short her day with five holes of her round left. Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen fired an opening round 67 (-5) to lead by one shot at the Real Club De Golf Guadalmina.

Five years after his professional rugby career was cruelly cut short at the age of 18, Harrison Walsh is back in full time sport as a discus thrower. The former Ospreys product is one of nine Welsh athletes named on British Athletics’ Olympic and Paralympic World Class Programme (WCP).

Welsh marksman Ben Llewellin will have a quartet of Olympic Skeet titles to shoot for early next year. The 26-year-old has been named in the British Shooting team for three World Cup meeting and the ISSF Championship Grand Prix in Rabat.

Joel Makin will fly to Egypt next month, home of five of the world’s top six male squash players, to compete in the Black Ball Open. It will be the final tournament of what has been a peculiar but breakthrough year for Makin, Wales’ No.1, as he told Graham Thomas. Joel Makin insists his answer to how he has broken into the world’s top 10 squash players is “rather boring”. “Basically, it’s just been hard work,” he says. “It sounds rather boring, but it’s as simple as that.

Wales’ double Olympic taekwondo champ Jade Jones was narrowly beaten into the silver medal spot in her first fight for eight months in Croatia. The Flint fighter lost narrowly on golden point 27-25 to Turkey’s Hatice Kubra at the Open European Club Championship in Zagreb.

Four Welsh motor clubs are in discussion with authorities to run a Covid-19 compliant test rally next month, on secure private land in Denbighshire. North Wales Car Club, Clwyd Vale Motor Club, Bala & District Motor Club and Harlech & District Motor Club have come together to organise a small, socially distanced, event that they are confident will conform to current Welsh government coronavirus regulations.

Welsh hockey and football have been saddened by the death of Helen Morgan (Grandon). She was 54. Morgan, nicknamed ‘Budgie’, was a talented goalkeeper and was the only Welsh player in the GB team that won bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Gerwyn Price saw his hopes of a Grand Slam of Darts title hat-trick ended after a 10-8 defeat in the last 16 to Nathan Aspinall. The Markham darter refused to bow out without a fight as he fought back from 7-3 down in the best of 19 legs clash.

Gerwyn Price is ready to play like a champion in his bid for a hat-trick of Grand Slam titles – after being inspired by a wall of them. The Markham darter reckons the tournament starts now as he faces Nathan Aspinall in his last 16 clash.

Laura Deas bagged her best result for 18 months as he launched her BMW IBSF World Cup skeleton season in fine style in Latvia. Wales’ Olympic bronze medalist finished sixth – just missing out on a bronze medal by 0.27secs after the two runs in Sigulda.

Ben Pritchard is enjoying a meteoric rise in the world of rowing and looks destined for the Paralympic Games next summer. But the club where he started have been finding it tough to get back on the water in recent times as Graham Thomas discovered. The club that launched Ben Pritchard towards the world championship podium is managing to stay afloat thanks to grant money from the Be Active Wales Fund. City of Swansea Rowing Club – who took Pritchard onto the water after a cycling accident ended his triathlon career in 2016 – are having to adapt to a whole new world.

Celtic Dragons have completed their line-up for the 2021 Vitality Netball Superleague season by signing dual-end Australian Annika Lee-Jones. The 24-year-old joins from Sunshine Coast Lightning in Queensland and has also played for West Coast Fever during her four seasons in Australia’s Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) league.

Gerwyn Price admitted he had to dig dip as he survived a match dart to keep his bid for a hat-trick of Grand Slam titles on track. The Markham darter won the last three legs to beat Ryan Joyce as he was joined in the knock-out stages by fellow Welshman Jonny Clayton.