Sports round-up

Rugby union: England’s Delon Armitage has been suspended from the national reserve Saxons squad after being arrested for alleged assault. London Irish full-back Armitage was detained by Devon and Cornwall Police after an incident in a nightclub early on January 29, according to an RFU statement. He was later released on bail. Armitage had been released from the England Saxons camp following the international match against the reserve Ireland Wolfhounds on Saturday, which England won 23-17.

Snooker: Barry Hawkins lifted the 2012 Snooker Shoot Out trophy after beating Graeme Dott in Sunday night’s final in Blackpool. The 32-year-old from Kent received a cheque for £32,000 for coming out on top in the 10-minute battle, with his opening break of 46 enough to give him a lead he would not surrender. Hawkins had booked his place in the final with a win over Dave Harold, while Dott saw off Tom Ford.

Boxing: The influential Catholic church in the Philippines said it had asked Manny Pacquiao (picture) to follow in the footsteps of NFL hero Tim Tebow and become a “bible ambassador”. Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who presides over the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) bible ministry, said church leaders had approached Pacquiao with the idea, but received no feedback from the 32-year-old fighter.

Speed skating: China’s Yu Jing broke the 500 metre world record at the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships last weekend. The 26-year-old, who competed for China at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, clocked 36.94 seconds at the Olympic Oval facility to become the first woman to break the 37-second barrier. The previous world record of 37.0sec was set in 2009 at Salt Lake City by Germany’s Jenny Wolf.

Olympics: London 2012 Olympics organisers have released more than 120,000 hotel room nights back onto the open market. They confirmed that some 20 per cent of the room nights they had reserved in London would be returned to hotels to offer up to other customers. The spaces had been reserved to provide accommodation for media, global sport federations, the IOC, Games workers and sponsors. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to flock to London for the July 27 to August 12 Games.