Motor Racing: Sam Michael is to leave his role as sporting director at McLaren at the end of the current campaign. Michael has spent 21 years in Formula One, initially with Lotus and Jordan before joining Williams in 2001 as chief operations engineer. The 43-year-old Australian was later promoted to technical director, a position he held for eight seasons before signing for McLaren.

Rugby Union: Michael Cheika was confirmed as the new coach of Australia yesterday and immediately charged with leading the Wallabies to a third World Cup triumph in England next year. Four days after Ewen McKenzie dramatically quit the job to plunge Australian rugby deeper into crisis, the 47-year-old was handed a three-year contract as the third Wallabies coach in the last 15 months.

Boxing: Croatian Vido Loncar has been banned for life after assaulting a referee following a bout at the European Youth Championships in Zagreb. The 18-year-old fighter was stopped by Polish referee Mageja Dziurgota in his light-heavyweight clash with Lithuanian Algirdas Baniulis on Monday. After the fight verdict was confirmed Loncar launched a vicious attack on Dziurgota, flooring him with one punch before raining in a flurry of further shots.

Tennis: Novak Djokovic has stated his intention to play at the Paris Masters after the birth of his son. The world no.1 announced the arrival of Stefan Djokovic on his official website yesterday. The Serbian added that he would spend “several days with the baby and wife Jelena” before travelling to Paris for next week’s event.