Basketball: Holders Olympiakos Piraeus have been ordered to play their next Euroleague home game behind closed doors following crowd trouble in last week’s 72-54 win over Turkish rivals Galatasa-ray. In addition, Olympiakos and three of their players were fined after incidents in the closing stages prompted violence in the Peace and Friendship Arena as fans lit flares and pelted players with missiles.
Snooker: Ding Junhui’s bid for a historic fourth straight ranking title was ended by Ricky Walden in the last 16 of the UK Championship, yes-terday. Ding had won the Shan-ghai Masters, the Indian Open and the International Champion-ship, and victory in York would have brought him the longest win of ranking victories since Stephen Hendry’s five in 1990. But Walden pulled out a hard-fought 6-4 victory after a tense finish to the 10th frame. On Tuesday, Stephen Maguire be-came the first man into the quarter-finals after a 6-3 win over John Higgins.
Other results: Allen bt Trump 6-4; Bingham bt Morris 6-1; O’Sullivan bt Milkins 6-0.
Sailing: Ben Ainslie has revealed that the fund-raising towards his attempt to launch a British challenge for the America’s Cup is currently on target. Having helped Oracle Team USA pull off a stunning comeback to win the 2013 competition in San Franciso in September, four-time Olympic champion Ainslie is hoping to bring the trophy home to the United Kingdom, where the America’s Cup began in 1851, next time around. The 36-year-old Englishman, who launched his own team in January 2012, said: “We’re doing well with the British team with the funding. Obviously, it is a lot of money to raise but we have had a tremendous support from the public.”
Tennis: Australian no.1 Bernard Tomic has appointed Croatian Velimir Zovko as his new co-coach while his father John serves the re-mainder of a ban for assaulting his former training partner. Tomic, currently 51st in the world, said he would continue to be coached by his father away from tournaments as he targets a rise into the top 20 this year. “This guy will be more there on court, spending more hours with me,” Tomic, 21, said.