Athletics: Shot putter Valerie Adams will have the opportunity to become the first woman to win the event at three successive Olympics after she was named in New Zealand’s initial athletics squad for this year’s Rio de Janeiro Games. Adams, whose injury-hit 2015 season was ended by knee surgery, won gold in Beijing and London and should challenge for the title again in Rio, as she hopes to move clear of Tamara Press, of the former Soviet Union, as the only woman to have won the title twice. The 31-year-old took bronze at the world indoor championships in Portland last month.

Tennis: Rafael Nadal remains on course for a ninth Barcelona Open title as a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber sealed his passage to the final, yesterday. Nadal needed an hour and a half to see off his German opponent, and will now face defending champion Kei Nishikori in the final after the Japanese beat Benoit Paire in straight sets earlier in the day. Nadal said: “Tomorrow (today) I will play against one of the best players and it will be complicated. I have to play a great match to win the final.”

Motorcycling: Italian veteran Valentino Rossi stunned his Spanish rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez by seizing pole position for their home MotoGP race in Jerez yesterday. Rossi’s fastest time of one minute 38.736 seconds pushed Yamaha team-mate and reigning world champion Lorenzo back to second place, 0.122 slower, with Honda’s championship leader Marquez third. The pole was Rossi’s first since last year’s Dutch round in Assen and his 52nd in the top category. It was also the 37-year-old’s first pole in Jerez since 2005.