Rafa Maciel

Quality journalism from BBC as always:
 

 
So according to the BBC, Kyle Waddell has a brother called Waddell Waddell 

All  Final!! 

European Juniors Day 2
 
Women's Epee:
Harriet Hillier is the 40th seed 
Kseniya Kushtan is the 68th seed
Emma Mitzova is the 72nd seed 
Olivia Eadie is the 78th seed.
 
Hillier is in pool 10 alongside 10th seed  Gwendoline Laharotte, 21st seed  Oliwia Janeczek. The rest are all lower ranked at 51st, 70th and 99th seed 
Kushtan has been drawn in pool 8 alongside 8th seed  Eva Steffens, 23rd seed  Ceren Cebe, 38th seed  Laura Misiak with the rest of the pool being the 53rd, 83rd and 98th seeds.
Mitzova is in pool 12 along with 12th seed  Giulia Paulis the 19th seed  Lilana Cherchesova, and the 42nd, 49th, 79th and 102nd seeds
Eadie is in pool 13 with 13th seed  Louise Ulltjarn, 18th seed  Alina Dmytruk along with the 43rd, 48th, 74th and 103rd seeds. 
 
The top 78 ranked fencers after the pool round will continue to the elimination rounds. (26 fencers eliminated during pool round)
 
Men's Foil - (Our strongest discipline -  are the reigning European Junior Champions in the Team Event)
Callum Penman is the 6th seed
David Sosnov is the 8th seed
David Kelly is the 33rd seed
Mohammed Belbouab is the 49th seed
 
Penman is the top seed in pool 6. His highest ranked opponent will be 23rd seed  Denis Trestyanszki. The rest of the pool are the 34th, 79th, 62nd, 51st and 90th seed.
Sosnov is the top seed in pool 8. He'll face 21st seed  Henrik Barby. The rest of the pool are the 36th, 50th, 64th, 77th and 92nd seeds.  
Kelly is in pool 5 alongside 5th seed  Andor Zsogon and 24th seed  Max Kavecy. The rest of the pool are lower ranked - the 52nd, 61st, 81st, and 89th seeds.
Belbouab is in pool 7 alongside 7th seed  Rostislav Khamdamov, 22nd seed  Ran Traitel Crystal and 35th seed  Maxime Dubreuil. The rest of the pool are lower ranked - 63rd, 78th and 91st seed.  
 
 
The top 72 ranked fencers after the pool round will continue to the elimination rounds. (24 fencers eliminated during pool round)
 
 
Men's Sabre:
Eiger Swinscow is the 50th seed
Joe Evans is the 51st seed
John White is the 55th seed
Guy Lumsden is the 61st seed. 
 
Swinscow is in pool 2 along with 2nd seed  Leonardo Reale, 23rd seed  Poyraz Kumuk, 26th seed  Paul Rouviere, and the 46th, 71st and 74th seeds.  
Evans is in pool 3 with 3rd seed  Pavel Graudyn, 22nd seed  Stanimir Pelov, 27th seed  Daniel Berkeszi along with 47th, 70th, and 75th seeds. 
White in drawn in pool 6 against 6th seed  Edoardo Reale, 19th seed  Kiram Iarullin alongside 30th, 43rd, 67th and 78th seeds. 
Lumsden is in pool 12 with 12th seed  Casian Cidu, 13th seed  Zalan Szalai, 37th, 38th and 60th seed
 
The top 62 ranked fencers after the pool round will continue to the elimination rounds. (21 fencers eliminated during pool round)

guaranteed 2 medals on day 1!
 
It's double bronze after Tristan Lumineau made it through to the semifinals of the men's epee. He fell 15-10 to 12th seed  Fedor Khaperskiy who went on to take the title. 
 
Amelie Tsang came so close to getting to the gold medal match having pulled it back to 14-14. 7th seed  Ludovica Franzoni just edged it 15-14. 

guaranteed 2 medals on day 1!
 
It's double bronze after Tristan Lumineau made it through to the semifinals of the men's epee. He fell 15-10 to 12th seed  Fedor Khaperskiy who went on to take the title. 
 
Amelie Tsang came so close to getting to the gold medal match having pulled it back to 14-14. 7th seed  Ludovica Franzoni just edged it 15-14. 

European Juniors update
 
I didn't have this on my bingo card, but Tristan Lumineau was the top qualifier from the pool stage winning all of his bouts for the lost of just 12 points.  Cador Beautyman won 4 out of his 6 bouts and advances in a tie for 42nd place. Cheney Zhu performed very well considering he was the lowest ranked fencer in the event. He won 3 out of 6 bouts and advances in a tie for 61st place. Unfortunately, Fin Bennet is eliminated, having only won 2 of his opening 6 bouts resulting in him being ranked in 97th place. 

2026 Week 6 (09-15 Feb) Results:
 
 
Aquatics - Artistic Swimming:
World Aquatics Artistic Swimming 2026 World Cup I (13-15 Feb):
Ranjuo Tamblin took home treble gold from Medellin  winning both the Men's Solo Technical before teaming up with Isabelle Thorpe to take the wins in both the Mixed Duet Technical and Mixed Duet Free. 
 
 
Athletics:
UK Athletics Indoor Championships (14-15 Feb):
I won't post the results here as plenty of our Olympic contenders skipped the event. If I get time I might take a look at the results and post them in the athletics thread. 
 
Badminton:
2026 European Men's & Women's Team Championships (11-15 Feb):
 men came through their group in second place behind  after sweeping past  5-0 before sneaking past  3-2. For some reason which doesn't make huge amount of sense, the semi finals just repeated the group match between the top two rather than being a cross group match. So  had to face  again. Having lost the group match 5-0,  lost the semi 3-1. 
 
 
Cycling - Road:
Figueira Champions Classic (14-Feb) - It was a 10th place finish for Thomas Gloag. Sean Flynn was in 47th; Max Poole was in 56th and Harrison Wood down in 83rd. 
 
Classic De Almeria (15 Feb) - Lewis Askey was the top finishing Brit in 31st, ahead of Joshua Giddings in 47th, Fred Wright in 96th and Louis Sutton in 107th. 
 
 
Equestrian - Dressage:
FEI Dressage World Cup: Neumunster (12-15 Feb) - Annabell Pidgley scored 70.696 to finish 7th in the Grand Prix. She withdrew before the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music. 
 
 
Fencing:
FIE Epee Junior World Cup (Individual & Team) (13-14 Feb) - There wereno Brits competing in the women's event in Hangzhou  and only 2 men will compete in Vrsac  Sameer Sunder-Rajan was a creditable 32nd with David Mina down in 165th. 
 
 
Field Hockey:
FIH Pro League (09-10 Feb) - Both the  men and women had another two matches in the Pro League this week. The men's team got two wins with a 4-3 penalty shoot out win over  followed by a 4-2 regulation win over  in Valencia. The women's team  recorded a 2-0 win over  after losing 1-3 to  in Yunfu.
 
After 8 matches,  men sit in 5th place in the table, 7 points behind leaders . Likewise, the women also sit in 5th but are 14 points behind leaders .
 
 
Golf:
Ladies European Tour: PIF Saudi Ladies International (11-14 Feb) - Charley Hull shot a final round 65 (-7) to seal the title in Riyadh, finishing on -19. Mimi Rhodes was in a tie for 6th on -16. Esme Hamilton's -10 was good enough for tie of 25th whilst Gabriella Cowley was +5 to finish down in 64th.
 
Hannah Darling, Cara Gainer (-1), Hannah Screen (-1), Charlotte Laffar (Par), Lydia Hall (Par), Darcey Harry (+2), Chloe Williams (+2), Alice Hewson (+2), Hannah Darling (+6), Bronte Law (+8), Annabell Fuller (+10) and Hannah Burke (+10) all missed the cut. 
 
 
PGA: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (12-15 Feb) -  Colin Morikawa took the title with -22. Tommy Fleetwood's -20 put him in a tie for 4th.  Matt Fitzpatrick was in a tie for 14th on -17. Harry Hall's -14 put him in a tie for 24th. Both Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre scored -11 and were in a tie for 37th.  Marco Penge was well down the field in a tie for 64th, whilst Aaron Rai was +1 in tie for 73rd. 
 
 
Judo:
2026 Ljubljana European Open (14-15 Feb):  There are 19 Brits listed to compete in the  capital. 
Men's -60Kg: Charlie Ayre lost in the first round.
Men's -66Kg: Neil MacDonald got through to the round of 16 before losing to top seed  Julien Frascadore.
Men's -73Kg: Harry Le Mare and Thomas Jackson both lost in the first round whilst Finlay Allan exited in the round of 32.
Men's -81Kg: Eryk Neumann and Rory Tyrrell were both first round casualties. 
Men's -90Kg: Jared Sey reached the round of 16 whilst Corey O'Neal-Narcis exited the competition in the round of 32
Men's +100Kg: Daniel Ede lost his first bout
Women's -48Kg: Summer Shaw had another first round exit.
Women's -52Kg: Caitlin Barber lost in the first round.
Women's -57Kg: Tomi Imrie and Madeleine Birri both lost their first fight.  Ammi Takahashi would ultimately finish in 5th place after going into repechage as runner up of her pool.
Women's -70Kg: Rachel Hawkes lost in the first round.
Women's -78Kg: Performance of the week belongs to Shelley Ludford who took top step on the podium. 
Women's +78Kg: Sarah Adlington returned to ranking level international competition for the first time since the 2023 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam. Her return was shortlived as she lost in the first round. 
 
 
Shooting:
European Junior Championships 10m (09-15-Feb): 12 athletes have been announced in the  team to compete in Burgas :
Pistol: Lucinda Evans was the top finishing Brit in the Women's 10m Air Pistol in 46th, just ahead of Lucy Banner in 48th and Matilda Baker in 51st. Isobel MacTaggart was 58th.
 
The stand out performance was Sash Mikhailov's 12th place finish in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. The rest of the Brits didn't have a great tournament. Isaac Baxter was in 80th (and last place). Hamish McDonald didn't fare much better in 79th with Ayush Chauhan in 72nd.
Rifle: Sophie Page was 78th in the 10m Air Rifle with Jess Tomalin in 89th and Libby Hart in 92nd. In the men's 10m Air Rifle Oliver McCabe was DNF.
 
 
Squash:
Texas Open (12-16 Feb): 3rd seed Marwan ElShorbagy  got to the semi-finals before falling to top seed  Diego Elias 1-11 11-6 1-11 1-11.
 
5th seed Mohamed ElShorbagy had a bye in the first round but would ultimately lose his opening match.
 
Nick Wall and Nathan Lake both made it through their first-round match before losing in the second round. 
 
Sam Todd was an early casualty, losing in the first round to  Gregoire Marche. 
 
3rd seed Georgina Kennedy who, made it to the semi-finals before losing to 2nd seed  Olivia Weaver 5-11 3-11 4-11.
 
6th seed Georgia Adderley got to the quarterfinals before losing out to the top seed and eventual champion  Nour ElSherbini 5-11 1-11 3-11. 
 
Lucy Beecroft, Torrie Malik, Lucy Turmel and Grace Gear all made it through their first-round matches but couldn't get beyond the 2nd round.  
 
 
Table Tennis:
WTT Star Contender - Chennai (10-15 Feb) - Anna Hursey had a bye in the first round and advanced to the round of 16 with a 3-1 victory over  Sarah De Nutte. In the last 16 Hursey was up against top seed  Satsuki Odo and put up decent fight before losing 11-8 9-11 4-11 1-11. 
 
 
Tennis:
WTA1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open (09-15 Feb):  Emma Raducanu made a positive start in her match against  Camila Osorio taking the first set 6-2 but it went downhill from there. After losing the 2nd set 6-4, she eventually retired while trailing 2-0. Sonay Kartal got through qualifying and put up spirited performance against  Magda Linette before losing 4-6 6-3 3-6 in the first round.
 
ATP500 Dallas Open 2026 (09-15 Feb) - Jack Pinnington Jones is had a dream run in Dallas, reaching the quarter finals where he ran out of steam against  Marin Cilic losing 1-6 4-6. 
 
ATP500 ABN Amro Open 2026 (09-15 Feb) - Jack Draper was due to compete this week but withdrew before the event started. Cameron Norrie was the 6th seed and dispatched  Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 6-1 in the 1st round but fell to  qualifier Chris O'Connell in the round of 16 in a 6-7 4-6 defeat.

It's fine - we'll all promise to buy an extra Toblerone when we next go through duty free

It's fine - we'll all promise to buy an extra Toblerone when we next go through duty free

It's fine - we'll all promise to buy an extra Toblerone when we next go through duty free

Don't engage with him - you just encourage his constant drivel about funding. Last week he was predicting the withdrawal of all funding for winter sports.  Strangely enough he went quiet when  won multiple golds. 

Don't engage with him - you just encourage his constant drivel about funding. Last week he was predicting the withdrawal of all funding for winter sports.  Strangely enough he went quiet when  won multiple golds. 

Don't engage with him - you just encourage his constant drivel about funding. Last week he was predicting the withdrawal of all funding for winter sports.  Strangely enough he went quiet when  won multiple golds. 

So going into the last round of matches, both  and  are qualified for the semis. 
 
   and  are fighting it out for the final 2 places with one of  or  guaranteed a place. 
 
I think the only way  qualifies for the semis is if they beat . If they lose, then they would be out as they have weaker head-to-head against the others.
 
Likewise, for , I think the only path for them to the semis would be to defeat . 
 
If  can defeat , they would move to 6-3 and would qualify. If they lose, then they would need  to defeat . I think they would then go through on the basis that they had defeated whoever is the loser of the / match. 
 
For  to qualify, they need to defeat  and would need  to defeat . If  win their match, then ,  and  would all be on 5-4. Each would have a win/loss record of 1-1 in the head-to-head.  would qualify through the draw shot challenge. If  win, then it would be ,  and  on 5-4. In that case  would qualify as they defeated both of them in the round robin. 
 
Happy to be corrected though. 

So going into the last round of matches, both  and  are qualified for the semis. 
 
   and  are fighting it out for the final 2 places with one of  or  guaranteed a place. 
 
I think the only way  qualifies for the semis is if they beat . If they lose, then they would be out as they have weaker head-to-head against the others.
 
Likewise, for , I think the only path for them to the semis would be to defeat . 
 
If  can defeat , they would move to 6-3 and would qualify. If they lose, then they would need  to defeat . I think they would then go through on the basis that they had defeated whoever is the loser of the / match. 
 
For  to qualify, they need to defeat  and would need  to defeat . If  win their match, then ,  and  would all be on 5-4. Each would have a win/loss record of 1-1 in the head-to-head.  would qualify through the draw shot challenge. If  win, then it would be ,  and  on 5-4. In that case  would qualify as they defeated both of them in the round robin. 
 
Happy to be corrected though. 

So going into the last round of matches, both  and  are qualified for the semis. 
 
   and  are fighting it out for the final 2 places with one of  or  guaranteed a place. 
 
I think the only way  qualifies for the semis is if they beat . If they lose, then they would be out as they have weaker head-to-head against the others.
 
Likewise, for , I think the only path for them to the semis would be to defeat . 
 
If  can defeat , they would move to 6-3 and would qualify. If they lose, then they would need  to defeat . I think they would then go through on the basis that they had defeated whoever is the loser of the / match. 
 
For  to qualify, they need to defeat  and would need  to defeat . If  win their match, then ,  and  would all be on 5-4. Each would have a win/loss record of 1-1 in the head-to-head.  would qualify through the draw shot challenge. If  win, then it would be ,  and  on 5-4. In that case  would qualify as they defeated both of them in the round robin. 
 
Happy to be corrected though. 

So going into the last round of matches, both  and  are qualified for the semis. 
 
   and  are fighting it out for the final 2 places with one of  or  guaranteed a place. 
 
I think the only way  qualifies for the semis is if they beat . If they lose, then they would be out as they have weaker head-to-head against the others.
 
Likewise, for , I think the only path for them to the semis would be to defeat . 
 
If  can defeat , they would move to 6-3 and would qualify. If they lose, then they would need  to defeat . I think they would then go through on the basis that they had defeated whoever is the loser of the / match. 
 
For  to qualify, they need to defeat  and would need  to defeat . If  win their match, then ,  and  would all be on 5-4. Each would have a win/loss record of 1-1 in the head-to-head.  would qualify through the draw shot challenge. If  win, then it would be ,  and  on 5-4. In that case  would qualify as they defeated both of them in the round robin. 
 
Happy to be corrected though. 

Now remember folks -  are doing so badly all winter sport funding is going to be cut after this year!

Is it just me, or has one of our group gone VERY quiet since we started winning medals? 

Now remember folks -  are doing so badly all winter sport funding is going to be cut after this year!

Now remember folks -  are doing so badly all winter sport funding is going to be cut after this year!

Now remember folks -  are doing so badly all winter sport funding is going to be cut after this year!

Now remember folks -  are doing so badly all winter sport funding is going to be cut after this year!

Now remember folks -  are doing so badly all winter sport funding is going to be cut after this year!

I have a feeling - or perhaps it's more of a hope - that this will be the last season with this  /  team line up. Morrison as fourth just isn't working and hasn't been working for a while. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fay Henderson getting a chance on the ice at some point during the round robin.