Browsing: British

Bodhana Sivanandan (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) Ten-year-old British chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan achieved a remarkable victory by defeating former World Champion Grandmaster Mariya Muzychuk at the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece on Sunday, becoming one of the youngest chess players to take down a former World Champion.Born in London in 2015 to parents from Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, the young player from north London secured this historic win while representing the 12th-seeded team She Plays to Win Lionesses.

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Despite her team’s 3-1 loss to Turkish Airlines in Round 1, Sivanandan’s victory stood out.The win was particularly significant as Muzychuk, the world number 13 with a FIDE rating of 2485, ranked 280 points above Sivanandan’s 2205.”She seems to be beating a GM every week now!” said English Grandmaster Danny Gormally.”It’s not every day a 10-year-old defeats a GM (and former World Champion) in such style,” remarked England’s number-one Grandmaster David Howell.Grandmaster Susan Polgar, Women’s World Champion from 1996 to 1999, described Sivanandan’s game as “impressive”.Earlier this year, Sivanandan became the youngest female chess player to defeat a grandmaster when she beat 60-year-old Grandmaster Peter Wells at the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool.Her victory at 10 years, five months and three days surpassed the 2019 record held by American Carissa Yip. During the same event, she also became the youngest player to secure a WGM norm.The Harrow schoolgirl, who started playing chess during lockdown, made history in 2024 as the youngest person to represent England internationally in any sport at the Chess Olympiad in Hungary.”English chess has been in the doldrums for so many years. We’ve had good players coming through, don’t get me wrong, but we haven’t had great players coming through for many years,” said Gormally.”And now we’ve suddenly got a generation with GM Shreyas Royal and Bodhana, and FM Supratit Banerjee and FM Ethan Pang and others who are actually exciting. We don’t know how strong they’re going to be.”Sivanandan is part of a new generation of English chess talent making their mark in international competitions.

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Jack Draper will no longer work with the man who coached him to the Indian Wells title as James Trotman wants to prioritise time with his family.

The British number one has already hired Jamie Delgado as his head coach for next season but had been hoping there would also be a role for the man with whom he has enjoyed much success over the past four years.

Trotman says it has become increasingly difficult to “juggle” Draper’s career with his own family life.

“I’ve made the decision that four years has been a great run,” Trotman told BBC Sport.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was getting increasingly difficult for me juggling the demands Jack deserves as the player that he is – and also being a father and a husband.

“I need to start to get those energy levels back up and have a little bit more normality – watch my son play football on a Sunday, go on some family holidays, have a bit more of a normal life.”

Trotman says he first spoke to Draper about his future after Wimbledon, having felt mentally and physically tired over the previous year.

The pair have been working together this week, with 23-year-old Draper returning to the practice court after resting the left arm injury that ended his season early.

If the bruising in his arm heals as expected, Trotman will head to San Diego for some warm weather training with Draper and Delgado at the end of November.

But after that, he will return to his job as an LTA men’s national coach.

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Of Raducanu’s 22 defeats, only seven came against lower-ranked opponents, with three in the past month alone.

But beating the very best, who often possess greater power, has proved beyond her so far.

She lost 10 of her 11 matches against top-10 players in 2025, the exception being a victory over Emma Navarro in Miami in March.

She was very competitive against world number one Aryna Sabalenka on Wimbledon’s Centre Court – and took her to a third set tie-break in Cincinnati – but there was little room for encouragement elsewhere.

After a 6-1 6-2 loss to ninth seed Elena Rybakina at the US Open, Raducanu reflected on where she needs to improve to change the narrative.

“My serve – it’s been better, but I think it can get better [still],” she told BBC Sport.

“The ball after the serve as well, so I’m ready for a fast return. I think that’s where I still have some big work to do.

“I think starting the point is extremely important when you are playing at that kind of level.”

Raducanu developed an unfortunate habit in Asia of failing to convert match points.

Last year’s Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova saved three against her in Seoul, and then world number five Jessica Pegula did exactly the same in Beijing a week later.

More concerning, though, was the way Raducanu faded in the deciding set of those matches. Against Pegula, Raducanu went for broke and subsided quickly.

This was not something you could have accused her of over the summer, and was perhaps a sign of a body and mind wearied by nine months on the road.

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Keely Hodgkinson ended her 800m season with victory at the all-female Athlos meet in New York on Friday evening.

The Olympic champion, who won bronze at the World Championships last month, cruised to an impressive win in one minute 56.53 seconds in what was only her sixth race in a season blighted by a hamstring injury.

Fellow Briton and world silver medallist Georgia Hunter Bell was second again in 1:58.33, while St Vincent’s Shafiqua Maloney (1:58.57) was third.

“I’ve barely raced this season so it was probably less of a struggle for me to go out there and want to give it something,” said Hodgkinson, 23.

“The atmosphere out there is crazy so it was really, really fun.”

The women-only meet packed Icahn Stadium in its second year, bringing a party atmosphere to traditional track, with live music and Tiffany & Co. crowns replacing traditional winners’ medals.

The 23-times tennis major winner Serena Williams, who is married to Athlos founder Alexis Ohanian, was on hand to present the winners with their crowns.

Last year’s winners took home $60,000 (£44,603) – one of the largest prize purses in athletics.

The event also attracted some of the sport’s biggest names, as Kenya’s three-time Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Faith Kipyegon won the mile, crossing the finish line in four hours 17.78 minutes.

American Brittany Brown, the 200m bronze medallist from last year’s Paris Olympics, won the 100m and 200m double.

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Draper was modelling next summer’s collection for one of his sponsors last week and has been working out regularly at the National Tennis Centre in London this week.

The work is primarily physical at the moment, and when pre-season training begins in earnest later this month, the initial on-court drills are likely to be low in intensity.

The British number one first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a month.

But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the US Open, but withdrew before the second, and the opportunity to make his debut at the season ending ATP Finals was gone.

â€He’s top 10 and he played half of the year. Just to say how good he is…†Mouratoglou added.

“His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries already in the past.

“I always thought he was going to be a top player, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to solve.

“For him, it’s to find a way to be injury free as much as possible because that’s what made him lose a little bit of time otherwise he would be higher [in the rankings], I think.”

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The Undertaker (art credit Travis Beaven © PWTorch)

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…

The following report originally published 30 years ago this week in the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter paper copy…

KELLERâ€S WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW REPORT
SEPTEMBER 25, 1995
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER (ISSUE #355)

-The program opened with hype for the British Bulldog vs. Undertaker main event…

-Highlights aired from In Your House the previous night. Footage aired of Jim Cornette with a black Clarence Thomas look-a-like lawyer protesting Gorilla Monsoon allowing Owen’s pin to result in a title change…

-Raw’s open then aired…

-Vince McMahon welcomed Marty “Nine Lives” Jannetty back to the WWF.

(1) Marty Jannetty pinned Skip (w/Sunny) in a strong opening match. Jannetty won with his finisher, the top rope fistdrop. He came to the ring to the Rocker’s old music. A barely readable fan sign said something about Raw facing Nitro…

-The full Cornette/lawyer protest aired along with the announcement that Owen & Yokozuna were still tag champs, but they would have to defend the titles that night against The Smoking Gunns…

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of “PWTorch ’90s Pastcast” with Patrick Moynahan and Alex McDonald, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade keller†on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

(2) The Smoking Gunns defeated Yokozuna & Owen Hart to capture the WWF Tag Team Titles. This was another strong match. After Bart was taking a beating, Yoko missed an elbowdrop. Bart then got a hot tag. A four way brawl erupted leading to the finish where Yoko accidentally splashed Owen. Michaels & Diesel joined the Gunns in a mid-ring celebration, supposedly to make fans feel like if Michaels & Diesel didn’t feel ripped off, then they shouldn’t…

-They plugged Kid vs. Ramon and Bret vs. LaFitte for next week’s Raw…

-Dok Hendrix then interviewed Monsoon who announced IYH4 would feature Undertaker vs. Mabel, Michaels vs. Douglas, Golddust’s debut, and Diesel defending against Bulldog where the winner defends against Bret Hart at Survivor Series…

(3) Undertaker beat British Bulldog via DQ when Mabel interfered. Not a bad match. Afterward, The Gunns, Michaels, and Diesel made the save. Undertaker sold the Mabel/Bulldog attack. Michaels danced as the show went off the air…

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Hunter Bell’s dilemma over which event to target in Tokyo had dominated her thinking in the lead-up to the championships – but ultimately her final decision proved the correct one.

Returning to the event she initially competed in as a child after making impressive progress over the shorter of the middle-distance events this season, the 31-year-old completed a full-circle moment as she achieved back-to-back global podiums.

Hunter Bell has taken the long way round since she contested her first track race 21 years ago, quitting the sport in 2017 before getting back in touch with Painter after rediscovering her love of running during lockdown.

But the former English Schools champion continues to make up for lost time, taking another step on the podium in what is her first year as a full-time athlete after quitting her cybersecurity job following last summer’s Olympics.

Meadows told BBC Sport: “Trevor and I are so proud of both of them. Keely has been our young protege since she was 17 and this is her fifth podium in five successive global champs.

“Georgia is the complete opposite, which is why they are both great role models. She was a child protege but moved away from the sport, and Trevor had always said she was the one that got away.

“We’re so glad she got back in contact at the end of 2022. We always have a private joke about when I asked Trevor who he was on facetime to – he said Georgia Bell and I said ‘well that ship has sailed’.

“It got brought up at her wedding but she does forgive me because ever since I have seen she has what it takes and I have been her biggest supporter ever since.”

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But Hunter Bell hopes that is just the start, with this her first year as a full-time athlete after she…

Regardless of what might have unfolded, Max Burgin was always going to make sure he experienced Tokyo this month.The record-breaking…

British athletes across multiple sports are being targeted by the Enhanced Games after the US sprint star Fred Kerley became…