Athletics: Britain’s Hannah England, the World Championship 1,500 metres silver medallist, will begin her bid for Olympic glory in London by taking part in indoor events in Glasgow and Birmingham. The 24-year-old is set to run in the 1,500m at the Aviva International match in Glasgow on January 28 and the Aviva Grand Prix at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on Feb. 18.

Basketball: Former NBA point guard Patty Mills has been released by Chinese professional club Xinjiang after he refused to play due to an alleged fake injury. The release of the Australian, who played last season for the NBA Portland Trailblazers, comes after Xinjiang fired head coach Bob Donewald on December 20 and allowed former Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin to leave.

Rallying: Defending champion Marc Coma won the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally, rebounding from a poor day on Tuesday when he had lost the overall lead. The 35-year-old KTM rider came in 2min 02sec ahead of main rival Cyril Despres, of France, who retained the overall lead.

Cricket: Michael Clarke hit the highest score by an Australian at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Ricky Ponting struck his first Test century in two years as the hosts pounded India yesterday. Cap-tain Clarke scored an unbeaten double-century and Ponting broke through for his first hundred in 34 Test innings to put Australia a commanding 291 runs in front with six wickets left and three days to go. At the close, Australia were 482 for four with Clarke unconquered on 251.

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