TROPHY FINAL ...
Non-league football hosts its grand day out on Sunday when North Ferriby play Wrexham in the FA Trophy final at Wembley (BT Sport, 1.30pm). A special occasion for both teams but also for two of the players. The Wrexham defender Neil Ashton has unfinished business having missed his side’s Trophy final win over Grimsby in 2013 - the first time a Welsh side had taken the title - with an ankle injury after playing in every round of the campaign.
CHAMPIONS CUP CLASHES …
The European Rugby Champions Cup reaches the nitty-gritty as the quarter-finals herald the first knockout stages and there are several choice encounters on offer. On Saturday, Bath are away to Leinster (BT Sport, 3.15pm) and Clermont, semi-finalists for the past three years host Northampton (Sky Sports 2, 5.45pm). On Sunday, Toulon, Heineken Cup champions for the past two years, play Wasps (Sky Sports 2, 3.15pm) and Saracens visit Racing Métro (BT Sport, 12.45pm).
FIRST MAJOR ...
Having had a cracking start to the season with two wins already, Lydia Ko, who became world No1 in February, will be looking for her first major win at the ANA Inspiration in California (from Thursday, Sky Sports 4). Taking the lead in the rankings was an extraordinary achievement for the New Zealander, who, at 17, became the youngest player to claim the top spot in either the men’s or women’s game.
She will have a tough fight with the woman she overtook as No1, Inbee Park, who is now world No2, last year’s champion, Lexi Thompson, and for British fans, hopefully another young prodigy, Charley Hull, the 19-year-old winner of 2014’s European Tour Order of Merit who has finished in the top 10 at four tournaments this season and whose bold approach should put her in the running for any of the five majors.
FIGHTER COMEBACK …
Britain’s Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Anthony Joshua returns to the ring having recovered from a back injury with a fight against American Jason Gavern on Saturday (Sky Sports 2, 8pm). Joshua has won all 10 of his professional bouts within three rounds but has been frustrated at being out of action after the injury in January forced him to pull out of a fight with Kevin Johnson. The pair will meet at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle over eight rounds, but Gavern has previous experience in the UK having beaten Larry Olubamiwo and the former world champion James Toney to reach the Prizefighter Heavyweights final in 2013.
Joshua will be hoping there will be no lingering injury issues as this fight is the stepping stone to the big one. He is scheduled to face his toughest test yet in the US heavyweight Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson, who has gone the distance with Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko, on 30 May.
