Sheffield Sharks leave it late to beat Bristol Flyers

On a night when Captain Mike Tuck reached the milestone of 3,000 BBL points, Sheffield Sharks continued their good form at home with another win.  This time over Bristol Flyers who lead by 40-38 at half-time and then extended that to 9 at one point in the fourth with just 6:32 to go, before Sharks came back with a late flourish of determined basket attack to win 78-70.

 TJ Robinson at the tip

 Patrick Horstmann makes an early two

 Coach Atiba Lyons back from illness

 Jerrold Brooks jumps for a long two

 Mike Tuck jumps to slam

 John Barber finds a way through the Bristol defence

 Kyle Odister with a three-point effort

 John Barber keeps the ball

 TJ Robinson runs away for an easy basket

 George Brownell shoots for a three

 Jerrold Brooks shoots a free-point with teh game 59-65 down in the 4th

 Jerrold Brooks runs away for some late points

 

 Brandon Hogg going in for another two

Brandon Hogg wrapping up the points at 78-70

  MVP with 26 points is Jerrold Brooks

Sheffield Sharks pull away to victory over Leeds Force

Sheffield Sharks - confirmed as Yorkshire's #1 Basketball team for another year!  A scrappy encounter with Leeds Force (3 technical and plenty of ordinary fouls) saw Sheffield Sharks and Leeds Force even at 44-44 at half time with Sharks missing the high-line defence of Colin Sing who was out injured.  Sharks pulled away at the end to run out 81-70 winners which sees them edge closer to that play-off place.

 T J Robinson makes an early dunk

 Coach Atiba Lyons pulled out late with sickness so acting head coach Ariel Parrucci stepped up to the plate

 Jerrold Brooks jumping for two

 Kyle Odister shoots a long two

 Jerrold Brooks jumping again

 Brandon Hogg runs the line

 Sam Toluwase muscles in for two

 Mike Tuck shoots some free throws

 MVP T J Robinson

Watching snooker at The Crucible - Richard Bean's "The Nap"

Sheffield's Crucible Theatre - home of the World Snooker Championship since 1977 - is an actual theatre throughout the rest of the year.  So it was no leap of imagination to stage a play about snooker at the cathedral of snooker - perhaps the only surprise is that it has taken so long.  The joy is that it has definitely been worth the wait.

Jack O'Connell shines as the local lad who comes good, despite the best intentions of his dad, Mark Addy.  Louise Gold almost steals the show as the sex-change gangster and Ralf Little out does BBC snooker pundit Rob Walker in his hyped-up presenter role to complement his hapless agent.  It works on local jokes and fruity language which has many laugh-out-loud moments for the audience.

Snooker at The Crucible, not in the sporting sense...

Richard Wilson has directed a hoot which deserves a good run and perhaps even a transformation to a TV play to reach a wider audience.

Sheffield Sharks back at home and back to winning ways against London Lions

After many weeks on the road, Sheffield Sharks were back at the EIS last night to complete a sometimes scrappy 73-63 win over the London Lions. The win sees the Sharks close the gap on third-placed Worcester Wolves to four points with two games in hand.

TJ Robinson wins the tip

 TJ Robinson makes an early basket

 Kyle Odister made several telling runs

Captain Mike Tuck was again solid in defence and contributed several points as well

 John Barber stood up big to London and gladly took his points

 Patrick Horstmann going for the basket

 Coaches Atiba Lyons and Ariel Parrucci call the shots

 Colin Sing starts the defence high in the Lions territory

 Jerrold Brooks runs away for two - getting 19 points in total

Not just a sight in football and rugby....

 MVP Brandon Hogg - 21 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds - presented by Karen Child

Injuries force Greg Rutherford to miss World Indoor Championships

Great Britain's Olympic and World champion Greg Rutherford will miss the World Indoor Championships in Portland, USA (17th-20th March) as he recovers from a chest infection and hamstring injury that also kept him out of the recent indoors meetings.

Greg Rutherford, UK Championships, Birmingham, July 2015

He will now look to concentrate on defending his Olympic long jump title in Rio in August, but we'd like to see him back in action in the Diamond Leagues and UK Championships before that.

Sprinter Sean Safo-Antwi switches from Great Britain to Ghana

Sprinter Sean Safo-Antwi has been cleared by the IAAF to switch allegiance from Great Britain to Ghana, an application that was not opposed by British Athletics.

The 25-year-old won the 60m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix and finished third at the UK Indoor Championships at the EIS, Sheffield in February.

Final of the Men's 60m at the UK Indoors, EIS, Sheffield - the field lead home by James Dasaolu with Sean Safo-Antwi second from right in third.

GB athletics stars named for World Indoors

The GB team to compete at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, USA on 17th-20th March has been confirmed as:

Men's team:
60m: James Dasaolu, Andrew Robertson
1500m: Charlie Grice, Chris O'Hare
3000m: Lee Emanuel, Tom Farrell
60m hurdles: Lawrence Clarke
High Jump: Chris Baker, Robbie Grabarz
Long Jump: Dan Bramble, Greg Rutherford

Robbie Grabarz, Men's High Jump, UK Indoors, EIS, Sheffield, Feb 2016

Women's team:
60m: Dina Asher-Smith, Asha Philip
800m: Lynsey Sharp, Adelle Tracey
3000m: Josephine Moultrie, Steph Twell
60m hurdles: Tiffany Porter, Serita Solomon
High Jump: Isobel Pooley
Long Jump: Shara Proctor, Lorraine Ugen
Pentathlon: Morgan Lake

 

Steph Twell, Women's 3000m, UK Indoors, EIS, Sheffield, Feb 2016

Richard Kilty missing World Indoors to prepare for Rio Olympics instead

Reigning World indoor champion Richard Kilty will not defend his 60m title in Portland, Oregon later this month and will instead choose to focus on the Rio Olympics.

Richard Kilty, Men's 60m heats, UK Indoor Athletic Championships, EIS Sheffield, Feb 2016

Falling foul of a false start in the final of the 60m, Kilty was disqualified from a shot at James Dasaolu who eventually won and earned a trip to Portland.  Initially UK Athletics were keen on him defending his title alongside Dasaolu, but Kilty has decided instead to start his outdoor training early.

"Whilst this has been a really tough decision, looking at the big picture it's the smart call," he tweeted.

"This year is all about the Olympics, so going into Portland short of races and taking a gamble that I could run myself into form makes no sense when I could start to focus on my outdoor season early."

"Individually I'm aiming for sub-10 and making the Olympic final in 2016,....as part of the GB 4x100m relay squad, we have a real shot at getting on the podium and are 100% focused on achieving success as a team."