The Sport Matrix: Wednesday 8 April 2015

Caldwell steps up as new Wigan boss

Wigan Athletic appointed former captain Gary Caldwell as their new manager yesterday. Malky Mackay was sacked following Wigan’s 2-0 defeat to Derby on Monday. The Championship club are deep in the relegation zone, eight points from safety. Caldwell, 32, announced his retirement from playing in February after injury and became a coach at the club’s academy.

First-round exit for struggling Watson

Donna Vekic, of Croatia, upset Britain’s Heather Watson 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the opening round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. The 18-year-old Vekic raced out to a 6-3, 4-2 lead before Watson, the 16th seed, took seven of the next eight games to capture the second set and take a 3-1 lead in the third. Vekic responded by levelling the score at 5-5 before breaking Watson at love to win the match.

Bolt to run in Bahamas relays

Usain Bolt will compete in next month’s IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas. The 2-3 May competition, which will be held in Nassau, is the newest addition to the IAAF’s global events and will feature more than 600 athletes in five relay disciplines and the distance medley relay for both men and women. “I am happy to be part of the Jamaican team. I am fit, healthy and ready to run,” Bolt said in a statement.

Trailblazing Jonas calls it a day at 30

Natasha Jonas, the first female boxer to represent Great Britain in an Olympic Games, has announced her retirement.

The Liverpudlian, 30, made history when she took on eventual gold medallist Katie Taylor, of Ireland, in the first round of the women’s lightweight competition at London 2012.

Jonas, a former world and European bronze medallist, said: “It just felt like the right time to retire. When I started boxing 10 years ago I was an overweight, unemployed scally from Toxteth, and if you’d have told me then that I would win a World Championship medal and compete in front of 10,000 people at the Olympic Games I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Olympic champion Nicola Adams said: “I have trained, competed and travelled all over the world with Natasha for the last five years, so will be really sad to see her leave. She has done so much to progress women’s boxing in this country.”

World Cup’s 12 referees named

Wayne Barnes and J P Doyle are the two English officials included among the 12 referees appointed for the 2015 World Cup. The French Rugby Federation supplies the biggest contingent – Jérôme Garcès, Romain Poite and Pascal Gauzère – while New Zealand’s Glen Jackson is the first former professional player to referee at a World Cup. The most experienced of the 12 is Welshman Nigel Owens, with more than 60 Tests.