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Olympics: Two-times tennis grand slam champion Lleyton Hewitt (picture, right) has opted out of his role as coach of the Australian men’s team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for “personal reasons”, local media reported yesterday. Hewitt’s withdrawal is another blow for Australia’s prospects at Rio after top-ranked players Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic withdrew themselves from consideration. Tennis Australia had applied to the Australian Olympic Committee to replace Hewitt with former professional Mark Draper, Australian Associated Press said.

Snooker: Snooker’s new Irish Open will take place at Titanic Belfast later this year, World Snooker said. The world ranking event is part of the new Home Nations quartet of tournaments, alongside the English Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open. Any player who wins all four events will receive a massive £1 million bonus. The Irish Open will run from November 14 to 20 and will feature 128 players in a flat draw with all contenders starting in the first round. It will be the first professional snooker event in Northern Ireland since 2008. Total prize money for each of the Home Nations events will be £366,000, with the winner to receive £70,000.

Athletics: Former NFL running back Jahvid Best has been cleared to compete in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for St Lucia in athletics. Best, who has a Saint Lucian father and holds dual citizenship with the United States, met the Olympic qualifying standard by running the 100 metres in 10.16 on April 2. However, he had to wait until he was officially cleared to run for St Lucia. Best, 27, played two seasons for Detroit Lions from 2010-2011 before his NFL career was cut short and he turned his attention to athletics. “This is an incredible huge accomplishment for me really, but at the same time this is just the beginning,” he said.

Cycling: Australia’s Olympic road cycling medal hopes have suffered a blow with world silver medallist Simon Gerrans forced out of the Rio de Janeiro Games after breaking a collarbone at the Tour de France. The 36-year-old Orica-BikeExchange rider underwent surgery in Barcelona over the weekend after being ruled out of the Tour following a crash. He was set to be replaced by another rider in the Australian team at Rio, a Cycling Australia spokeswoman confirmed yesterday. Two-time Olympian Gerrans had been selected in the road race at Rio de Janeiro.

Cricket: England faltered to a 75-run defeat against Pakistan as Yasir Shah had the final say in an epic first Investec Test at Lord’s, yesterday. Yasir took his match haul to a Pakistan ground-record 10 for 141 to help bowl England out for 207 late on the fourth evening, in pursuit of 283 – their highest chase at this venue. Misbah-ul-Haq’s tourists are therefore 1-0 up, with three to play, having profited most from their captain’s first-innings century and then Yasir’s expertise – defying unfamiliar climes, in his first Test outside Asia.