The Sport Matrix: Tuesday 7 April 2015

Hummels hints at move after defeat

Manchester United target Mats Hummels again raised speculation about his future with Borussia Dortmund following the 1-0 Bundesliga defeat to Bayern Munich at the weekend. Dortmund seem certain to miss a Champions League place next season and Hummels, 26, admitted: “That doesn’t mean that I am leaving, it just means I’m reflecting. It will all become clearer in the coming weeks.”

Wasps coach calls for cap rethink

Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, wants a “rethink” of the Premiership’s £5m salary cap, after Wasps lost 32-18 to Toulon in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on Sunday. “There probably needs to be a bit of a rethink of how that leaves English teams playing in Europe against French teams with pretty much unlimited budgets,” Young said. Some French clubs have playing budgets in excess of £22m.

Milan U-10s target of racist abuse

Milan have slammed alleged racism towards their Under-10s side as “simply unacceptable”.

Black players were allegedly subject to heckling and racist abuse during a 4-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Universal Cup in Tuscany on Sunday.

Milan said the club did “not want to magnify the issue” and “truly hopes that these reports aren’t true or that it was simply a sporadic incident.”

Evans in ‘do or die’ bid for Crucible

Reanne Evans insists her World Championship bid is “do or die” for women in snooker. The 29-year-old from Dudley is aiming to be the first woman to qualify for the World Championship in Sheffield when she faces former champion Ken Doherty in qualifying.

Evans has won 10 women’s world titles and plays Irishman Doherty at Pond’s Forge in Sheffield on Thursday.

And, while her profile is dwarfed by the men’s game, Evans knows she must take her chance. “As much as it’s brilliant, you get the added pressure. I’m do or die for the ladies.” she said.

“If I don’t get to play [in the main draw], I hope [my attempt to qualify will inspire] the young girls because they need to see a future in the game.

“We don’t need every match on TV but it’s just to show ladies are playing snooker and it might invite more players in. When I first started playing I didn’t even know there was a ladies’ tour.”

Doherty won the Crucible title in 1997 but Evans says she is dreaming of making the main draw, which will require her – and the other 127 entrants to the preliminary draw – to win three best-of-19-frame matches.

Ellison and Byrne share the spoils

James Ellison and Shane Byrne shared victories in the British Superbikes opening round at Donington Park yesterday.

Ellison, riding the JG Speedfit Kawasaki, led the first race to beat Byrne by 0.131sec. But a flat battery held back Ellison in the second, in which Byrne’s PBM Kawasaki held off Dan Linfoot’s Honda by half a second.