NEWSFLASH SPORTS NEWS 11 February 12:30 pm

Good day, let’s look at the latest sports news and scores:

# We kick off with rugby: The four South African teams in the United Rugby Championship will tackle each other in local derbies tomorrow before taking a week-long break. The Lions play the Stormers in Johannesburg at three o’clock and the Bulls and the Sharks will take to the field at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria two hours later. They all then travel to Europe for one round of matches before returning to welcome overseas teams for two rounds in South Africa next month.

Meanwhile, England will host the Barbarians at Twickenham on the 19th of June ahead of their tour to Australia in July. The fixture will be the first meeting between the teams in three years. England coach Eddie Jones says the Barbarians fixture is a special one in rugby, and it is always a good challenge for the players, entertaining for supporters and showcases the spirit of the game. He says this game will be good preparation before they head to Australia.

# Athletics: The ANC in the Western Cape legislature says it is furious that administrative tardiness on the part of the City of Cape Town has caused the postponement of the Table Bay Zone Inter-Schools event that was scheduled for yesterday. A spokesperson, Khalid Sayed, says the schools affected by the postponement were advised by the High Schools Athletics Committee that the metro has not granted a permit for the event. Sayed says through its sloppy management the council has spoilt the day for several schools.

# Olympics: Russia’s figure skating star Kamila Valieva has tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance. The 15-year-old had a sample collected by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency on Christmas Day. It was only analysed by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday, a day after she won gold in the team figure skating event at the Beijing Winter Games. She was provisionally suspended but challenged the decision and Rusada agreed to lift it on Wednesday. The International Olympic Committee has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the lifting of the suspension.

# And finally: Motorsport: Commentator Martin Brundle says resurfaced radio communications between F1 race director Michael Masi and Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, are uncomfortable to hear. In the radio messages, Wheatley is heard advising Masi on how to deal with lapped cars that are on track between the leaders as he attempts to organise a restart before the laps run out. Masi’s decision led to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overtaking Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and winning the drivers’ championship. Brundle says events which led to Verstappen’s victory were hugely unacceptable.

That’s your Sports News on ………………….stay tuned for more.