SOCCER
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny's urging his players to shake off last night's defeat to Serbia and quickly refocus on the rest of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Despite taking the lead through Alan Browne, the Boys in Green were beaten 3-2 in Belgrade.
The result makes it 9 games without a win under Stephen Kenny.
Former Dundalk manager Vinny Perth has backed Kenny to deliver for Ireland.
Perth was Kenny's assistant at Oriel Park and he says the Dublin native needs time.
Next up for Ireland is Luxembourg on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium - they lost 1-0 to World Cup hosts Qatar in a friendly last night.
But Kenny says Luxembourg must be respected.
Elsewhere in Group A last night, Portugal beat Azerbaijan 1-0 thanks to a first half own goal.
Northern Ireland's Group C campaign begins tonight in Parma as they face Italy.
In Group F, Scotland host Austria.
Wembley is the venue for England's Group I opener with San Marino.
All of those games kick off at 7.45.
In World Cup qualifiers tonight, Northern Ireland play Italy in Parma, with England welcoming San Marino to Wembley and Scotland at home to Austria.
Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis is set to make his 125th international appearance.
All matches kick off at 7.45.
GOLF
After losing their opening matches, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are both in need of wins on day two of the WGC Matchplay in Texas.
McIlroy is first out just before 7pm Irish time, taking on American Lanto Griffin.
While Lowry tees off at 8pm, against Spain's Jon Rahm.
Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Seamus Power are in the field for the Corales Championship in the Dominican Republic.
OLYMPICS
An anti-Olympics protest has been held in the host city of Tokyo on the day the torch relay started.
Nearly 80 percent of the Japanese public want to see the games either postponed or cancelled over fears of the spread of coronavirus and soaring costs.
Protesters changed "stop the Olympics" as they marched towards the Tokyo 2020 headquarters.
The Games were postponed last summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
HORSE RACING
The ground at Cork for today's eight race National Hunt card is now is good to yielding.
An overcast day is in prospect with the possibility of some showers and racing gets under way at 2.00pm.
SNOOKER
Barry Hawkins is just starting his match against world number one Judd Trump in the quarter finals of the Tour Championship.
The winner will face Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last four.
