Snooker: Schoolboy Jackson Page scored another superb win at the Coral Welsh Open, beating John Astley 4-3 to reach the last 32, yesterday. Page is playing in a professional tournament for the first time, having been handed a wild card following his victory in the World Under-18 Championship. Page followed up his 4-3 first round win over Jason Weston by beating world number 78 Astley. He went 3-1 up with a top break of 61, and although Astley fought back to 3-3, Page took the decider with runs of 30 and 42. He is now guaranteed a pay day of £3,500.

Other result: Davis bt O’Sullivan 4-3.

Horse Racing: Irish-trained horses look set to repeat last year’s dominance of the Grand National as they were given the top five weights for the famous marathon steeplechase at Aintree, Liverpool on April 8. Five of last year’s top six finishers were trained in Ireland and the weights for April’s race announced on Tuesday contains 20 horses trained in the country out of the top 40 entries – the maximum runners allowed – on the list. Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud won with Rule The World last year and the businessman appears intent on staging a repeat with 12 of his 16 entries on the 109-horse list guaranteed a run if trainer Gordon Elliot opts to race them.

Boxing: Floyd Mayweather (picture) has responded to Conor McGregor’s claim he is keeping him in retirement by telling the UFC champion to get in touch with his representatives. Five-weight boxing world champion Mayweather said he was “happily retired” in posts shared on his social media pages. But after McGregor tweeted a picture of himself sat on a throne in Las Vegas with the caption: “Floyd has retired on my arrival”, Mayweather appeared to do a U-turn. “Listen, Conor McGregor, if you really want to get this fight done, take care of your business with the UFC and then have your people get in touch with my people,” Mayweather wrote on Twitter.

Cycling: Australian two-time world champion track cyclist Shane Perkins has switched allegiance to Russia in a bid to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Melbourne-born 30-year-old won a sprint bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London but missed out on selection for last year’s Games in Rio. “The Russian Cycling Federation has given me another opportunity to chase my dreams of Olympic representation in Tokyo 2020 which has special significance to me as my father (Darryl Perkins) raced the Olympics in Tokyo 1964,” he said.

Tennis: Tennis commentator Doug Adler has sued broadcaster ESPN, weeks after being taken off the air following a remark about Venus Williams at the Australian Open that some interpreted to be racist. Adler, who has since apologised for how he spoke about Williams, has maintained that he was describing the African-American 13th seed’s aggressive style of charging as the “guerilla effect” and not comparing her to a “gorilla.” Adler’s lawyer, David Ring, says the comment was a “big nothing” until it hit Twitter. “And then somehow on Twitter someone said he called Venus a gorilla,” Ring told Reuters. “ESPN fires him the next day for something he never even said.”

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