hello there. and welcome along to sports day. i'm gavin ramjaun. wales got the job done

against finland, but there's one more hurdle before they can seal their spot at this summer's euros. we speak to jannik sinner on how being a grand slam champion changes his approach and lightning lewis impresses at the nfl trials. will his gamble to leave welsh rugby pay off? hello there and welcome along to the programme. we're under way as a busy period of international football commences, including vital european championship play off semi—finals. wales are nowjust one more win away from sealing their spots in germany. they beat finland comprehensively. in cardiff, an early david brooks goal settled the nerves.

they were two up thanks to neco williams. finland's teemu pukki pulled one back for the visitors, but wales, with the home crowd behind them, were out of sight in the second half. brendanjohnson and then a late danieljames goal, giving them a 4—1 win. they'll now play poland for a place at the euros on tuesday night. we wanted to start the game fast, come out of the traps, and we certainly did that with an early goal which which settled us a little bit. understandably, good teams then take control of the game and they come into it a little bit and we didn't quite get the press right first off, so we addressed it at half time. i made a couple of changes and i thought that made us better a second half. and then getting the early goal to start the second half definitely helped by giving us that cushion as well. and on another night, it might have been five or six. and we have already looked at poland. we know that was a different threat tonight. it'll be a tough test for us. but you know, what more motivation do you need than one win away from the fourth major tournament? so the boys have been incredible all week. they knew the importance of that going into the game tonight and they'll be ready on tuesday

and up for it. so let's take a look then at the rest of the play. at the rest of the playoff semifinal results confirmation wales will play poland after they thrashed estonia five one. a ukraine meets iceland in their play off final and greece put five past kazakhstan to secure their final against georgia. well, staying with international football and bukayo saka has pulled out of the england squad two days before their wembley friendly against brazil. the 22—year—old arsenal forward trained away from the main squad earlier this week after reporting for duty carrying an injury. he has returned to his club to continue his rehabilitation. no replacement will be called up. england are also playing another friendly against belgium next tuesday, also at wembley. leicester city say they are surprised and disappointed by the timing of premier league charges after allegedly breaking spending rules during their last three seasons in the top flight. leicester were relegated to the championship, the second tier of english football at the end of last season and have been referred to an independent commission for breaching profit and sustainability rules and failing to

submit audited accounts. if found guilty, they could face a points deduction. the australian open championjannik sinner is the second seed at the miami open. on the other side of the draw from carlos alcaraz, who beat him in the indian wells semifinals last week. sinner starts his tournament against fellow italian andrea vickery after getting a buy into the second round. he's told the bbc his status as a grand slam champion means there's a target on his back. it's a little bit more attention this yes, but in another way, i haven't changed as a person because, you know, it's, for sure. great. i feel lucky to be in the position, but that's it. now you if you lose the match the next day, you have to work. and if you win the match, you work anyway. so, you know, it doesn't make a huge a huge difference to me.

for sure, there is a little bit more attention also when you go like when you play in front of people, they they know you now. so it's it's it's it's a nice moment, like a positive moment. but you have to be very careful with opponents because they know you. they want to beat you. so, you know, they are... like, i like to be in this position because for sure you work hard to have this chance at least once to lift this one of the biggest trophy in our sport. but now you have more pressure. they know you, how you play. they know my weaknesses. you have to work on that. but this makes me a better player. and that's what i like. and for sure, there is more pressure on the court and also off the court. but, you know, it always depends how much weight you give on this. i give not so much weight because i, i want to be a better tennis player. how can i improve things? and then that's why i need my team behind me. and and they are there. they're pushing me really hard. i'm very lucky to have them. and and that's what i that's

what we try to do. yannick sinner. big moment for england captain mali parker to come in this weekend's women's six nations opener against italy on sunday. she'll win her 100th cap for the side. the 34—year—old flanker made her debut for the red roses in 2008 and becomes only the seventh woman to reach the milestone. angola won the six nations grand slam last year and are aiming to win their sixth six nations title in a row. super excited. i think for me it's more aboutjust kicking off the six nations. it's always a tournament you want to be involved in. to receive my 100 cap, though, in the first game is pretty special. over in parma, my friends and family are all coming over. i think i had to have asked my managerfor 16,17 tickets the other day and the max allocation you could have on the app was six. so yeah, i don't know whether i'm going to get all 16 tickets, but we hope so. now earlier this year, louis rees—zammit stunned welsh rugby by choosing to pursue a career in american football, is reportedly had three offers from teams

in the nfl to join their roster after impressing at an international player pathway pro day. our correspondent nesta mcgregor can tell us more. well, make no mistake, reece zammit was one of the stars of the sport and the golden boy of welsh rugby. we can see from his stats the 23 year old winger playing 31 times for his country, scoring 1a tries, including this beauty against england in the six nations last year. now, since crossing the atlantic, he's been on a ten week intensive course to see if he's got what it takes. and despite so many similarities between the two sports, the switch has been described as if someone was trying to learn a new language. he's had to break running and catching techniques. it's taken a lifetime to develop in order to learn new ones. but his gamble seems to be paying off because during a work—out in front of scouts, he's been invited to train with at least three nfl teams. and that means more chances to impress and prove he can do thejob in pads and helmet against seasoned pros. but listen, make no

mistake, he's got a long way to go because no british player has ever made the transition from rugby union or rugby league to then play in a competitive game in the nfl. christian wade, you might remember he had a go in 2018 when he left wasps to chase his dream. he came close but only made the practice squad and never played in an in—season game. also worth noting listen, louis rees—zammit may be grabbing the headlines, but there are a few other british names trying to break into the nfl. so watch this space to see if one of them could be the first to make history. finally, the former world and european karate champion jordan thomas has retired thomas one european committee gold in 2014 and became world champion two years later. the 32—year—old had switched to taekwondo after failing to qualify for the tokyo games, but has now decided to call it a day. james burrage reports. jordan thomas back at his old school in hertfordshire. but this time he's the teacher, not the student. if it's there, how far does

a punch after company can come on the straight line? and its direct and it's quicker. he set up a karate academy hoping to teach these teenagers a thing or two about elite sport. if they can learn, practice, resilience, focus, discipline, progress, their confidence, problem solving. if these kids can master all them skills, notjust sport, but in their life, they can champion that. and actually, that's what it's about. 2024 is, of course, an olympic year. but after a decade competing at the top in karate and taekwondo, jordan has told us he's retiring. i felt that it was time to transition. it was time to go to the next step. i have a daughter, i've got one come in. so that is my purpose now and that is my vision. coming to that decision was very tough. it was it still plays on my mind right now. i still feel like i'm fit. i still feel like i'm capable.

but we do things on purpose and this is the right time. i'm confident in myself and actually i'm ready for it, so it's definitely the right decision. jordan's father, william, was a world champion in karate in 1992. 22 years later, jordan repeated the feat and became the first karate world champion from great britain in 12 years. alongside the delight, the despair, he was two seconds away from qualifying for the 2020 olympics, but received a kick to the head during the dying moments of a fight in paris. not making the olympics was very, very difficult for my mentality. i want it to be that person who blamed everybody. but i decided and made a conscious decision actually take a lot of ownership from what i have done. but for me, i am a world and european karate champion and that will never change. so it doesn't matter what happened in the past world.

in the past world and european champion will always stay with me to be able to replicate what my dad did on a small, little scale of what he's achieved. we won't go into that because that will blow his head. that's what made it made it for me. that's that's definitely on a high for me. his professional career now behind him, jordan's next motivation will be inspiring others, just like his father did to him. inspiring journey, indeed, and that is just about all the sport from us for now. you can, of course, get all the latest sports news from the usual places, the bbc sports app orfrom our website bbc.com. thanks for watching and we'll see you again soon. hello there. it's going to be turning colder right across the uk as we head through the rest of the week. sunny spells and showers through the day on thursday. lots of rainbows spotted by our weather watchers

towards the north. that theme at least is set to continue, so more blustery showers, a brisk northwesterly wind and just some chillier feeling air with a possibility of some nighttime frosts in the more rural sheltered spots. why? well, because this cold front will be sinking southwards and eastwards as we head through the day on friday, introducing that colder feeling air. already a chilly start to the day from north wales, across northern england, scotland and northern ireland — some showers blowing in here. a cold front pushes more clouds towards the far southeast of england and some outbreaks of rain. and the hang—back of that rain is still across parts of kent, sussex into perhaps eastern areas of hampshire. as we head through the afternoon on friday, it will eventually clear. temperatures now round about the seasonal average, a few showers, particularly out towards the west, most frequent across northern and western scotland, a brisk westerly wind blowing, and some of those showers are likely to be wintry over the high ground. gales across the northern isles and the far northwest of scotland. now, low pressure continues to push eastwards just to the north of scotland as we head through friday and into saturday.

saturday, a particularly cold start to the day. temperatures for many will drop back to low single figures, and in the shelter of that brisk westerly—to—north—westerly wind, we're likely to see a touch of frost, though gardeners beware. also some icy stretches out there as well. saturday, a day of sunshine and showers again, the showers most frequent in the north and the west. some of the showers could be wintry over the tops of the hills just about anywhere across the uk. there will be some sunny spells in between, but a lot of added wind chill. these temperatures are below the seasonal average. it will actually feel colder than that because of the strength of the wind, too. but there will be some sunshine here and there as well, and it does look like it's going to turn a bit sunny up through the day on sunday. brief ridge of high pressure should keep us largely dry, but clouding over towards the west by the end of the day. low pressure always close by as we head through into the start of next week, so it's going to be feeling colder. we'll see the drop in temperature and it will be quite showery. some longer spells of rain at times too as we head

through next week, so unsettled and feeling cooler. bye— bye. welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm marika oi. the headlines. america's top diplomat says there's consensus between the us and arab allies on the need for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in gaza. the un warns it can't get enough aid into haiti, saying "many people" are experiencing hunger and malnutrition. details emerge on the biggest scandal to hitjapan�*s baseball sensation shohei ohtani after his interpreter was fired by his team over

allegations of theft. and in greece, an endangered pygmy hippo has been born at athens�* zoo. thank you for being with us. european union leaders have called for an immediate humanitarian pause in gaza that would lead to a ceasefire. it comes as the us secretary of state anthony blinken is in egypt to discuss a post—war plan to govern and secure gaza. after meeting senior ministers from six arab states and the palestinian authority in cairo, mr blinken says there's consensus between them on the need for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. in a news conference with the egyptian foreign minister,

he set out their shared priorities.