Sport

Ellie Simmonds has swapped Loughborough University for the National Performance Centre in Manchester this year as she turns her attentions towards Rio 2016.

Holland and Littleborough Lakeside Cricket Club were awarded a grant of £2000 through the England & Wales Cricket Trust (EWCT) Small Grant Scheme, supported by Waitrose, something ex-England captain Mike Gatting says is vital for the game’s future in this country.

Louis van Gaal lifted Manchester United to fourth in his first campaign in charge and ex-Red Devil Dion Dublin says they will land a first trophy since the 2013 Premier League next year.

World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset expressed his excitement on Manchester’s role in next year’s championship, which will be hosted in June at Sale Sharks’ AJ Bell stadium alongside Manchester City’s Academy stadium.

With no World Cup or European championship on the menu this summer, Manchester’s soccer stars will be jetting off on their holidays before pre-season training commences in mid-July.

Sale Sharks trio Josh Beaumont, Will Addison and Mike Haley cannot wait to start training alongside legendary Irish scrum-half Peter Stringer and former All Blacks lock Bryn Evans when players return from a lengthy post-season break at the end of June.

George North insists new teammate Michael Paterson, who after two seasons with the Sharks heads south to join up with 2014 champions and last year’s table-toppers Northampton Saints, will have no problem slotting in.

Pupils at St. John’s R.C. Primary School in Chorlton, with the help of Sale Sharks’ community department employee and ex-England rugby player Hendre Fourie, were some of the first to experience Premiership Rugby’s On the Front Foot programme before it is fully rolled out in September.

Now in its third year, Manchester City’s season launch will be hosted by Sky Sports presenting duo Natalie Sawyer and Mike Wedderburn and headlined by Manchester band ‘Black Rivers’, who are led by lifelong blues fans and former members of ‘Doves’, Jez and Andy Williams.

As a city, we’re renowned football fanatics, but new research has shown that our sporting allegiances could even influence our interior design.

Former England No. 1 goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis believes the time is right for the 30-year-old Karen Bardsley to announce herself on the biggest stage of all as England begin their latest Women’s World Cup quest against familiar foes France on Tuesday.