ELITE CYCLING ...
Jo Rowsell takes to the track again as part of the process of building toward the defence of her individual and team pursuit titles at the track World Championships to be held in France in February 2015. She will do so at the second round of the innovative and increasingly popular Revolution series in Manchester on Saturday. The event is designed to give fans the chance to see Britain’s best cyclists in action, across various disciplines including the longest lap race – which combines male and female riders. Elinor Barker and Amy Roberts compete alongside Roswell and tickets are available at cyclingrevolution.com.
GRUDGE MATCH ...
Tony Bellew looks for some payback against Nathan Cleverly three years since the latter successfully defended his WBO light-heavyweight title. They fight again, this time at cruiserweight on Saturday (Sky Sports Box Office, 6pm). Their previous meeting also in Liverpool, in October 2011 was explosive and the fighters have been ratcheting up the tension in the buildup to the rematch, with Bellew noting that his opponent “will not want to enter a boxing ring after I have finished with him”. To which Cleverly countered :“There will be no final bell in this fight, it’s going to be brutal. Expect fireworks”. Indeed.
BOXING OLYMPIANS ...
Not so much a grudge match as the resumption of professional rivalry for the 2012 Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor who continues her battle with Russia’s two-time Women’s World Champion Sofya Ochigava at the World Boxing Championships in Korea on Saturday. Taylor beat Ochigava in the finals at London and the 2012 world championships but only after a close fight, which is likely to be the case again here. Savannah Marshall, who experienced joy and despair in 2012 when she became Britain’s first women’s world boxing champion with victory over Elena Vystropova but then, hampered by injury, was knocked out in the first round at the London games, is also a strong contender to defend her middleweight title.
CUP CONCLUSION ...
Roger Federer has been in fine form this season and he will need to maintain that to have a shout at the only title to have eluded him. The one that got away is the Davis Cup and he and Switzerland have their chance against France in Lille (from Friday, Eurosport, 12.45pm). It will be a tough gig. Playing on clay in front of an expected home crowd of 27,000, France have five players from the world’s top 30 to choose from and defeated Davis Cup champions Czech Republic 4-1 in the semi-finals.
BIG MONEY FINAL ROUND ...
One last good walk spoiled for the cream of Europe’s golfers this week as the top 60 earners reach the final of the Race for Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship (from Thursday, Sky Sports 4, 8am). Finishing on a high will be important but so are the big beans on offer in the UAE. Rory McIlroy is on course to break the season prize money record he set when he won this event in 2012. He finished that year with £4,389,800. This season, with two majors under his belt, he has amassed £4,295,610. The total prize money on offer in Dubai is £5,104,250, including £850,688 for the winner.
