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Hull KR beat Wakefield to extend Super League lead

Hull KR beat Wakefield to extend Super League lead

BBC Newsa day ago

Betfred Super LeagueHull KR (12) 34Tries: Davies 3, Burgess, Lewis, Hiku Goals: Mourgue 5Wakefield (10) 10Tries: Johnstone, Hall Goal: Jowitt
Hull KR extended their lead at the top of Super League to six points with a stylish 34-10 victory against Wakefield Trinity at Craven Park.A hat-trick from Tom Davies and one each from Joe Burgess, Mikey Lewis and Peta Hiku earned Rovers a 15th league win from 16 matches to continue their astonishing run.French full-back Arthur Mourgue added five goals for the Robins who stopped their opponents scoring in the second half.First-half tries from Wakefield's Tom Johnstone and Corey Hall had briefly given the visitors a narrow lead, but they were outclassed after the break.More to follow.
Hull KR: Morgue; Davies, Hiku, Broadbent, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Hadley, Whitbread, Martin, MinchellaInterchanges: Luckley, Tanginoa, Brown, LeylandSin-bin: Lewis (54 mins)Wakefield: Jowitt; Walmsley, Hall, Pratt, Johnstone; Trueman, Lino; Pitts, Smith, Faatili, Nikotemo, Scott, GriffinInterchanges: Hood, Vagana, Rourke, CroftReferee: Jack Smith.

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timean hour ago

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From the top floor of a London hotel, Billie Jean King scans the city skyline through her fuchsia spectacles with the air of a businesswoman perfecting a sales pitch. While most octogenarians are doing crosswords or busying themselves with a spot of gardening, King, who turns 82 in November and has spent her life serving up answers to advance women's sport, is on a never-ending mission to exercise her influence. She has just finished delivering a speech about leadership – sharing a stage with one of the world's most powerful women, Melinda French Gates, at a women's sport summit – days out from her favourite time of the year: Wimbledon. Ever since powering to her maiden Wimbledon title in the doubles as a 17-year-old in 1961 – the first of 20 titles she won at SW19 across singles and doubles – King has returned every summer to the All England Club. 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I shouldn't have to look at a mark, I shouldn't have to look at anything. I should know [who's who]. My sport drives me nuts,' she sighs, burying her head in her hands. After momentarily being stunned into silence, I meekly point out that whites are what make Wimbledon quintessentially British. It is a sporting institution that has – and always will be – draped in tradition. 'But they shouldn't have the same uniforms on. They both have white on,' retorts King. 'You can change tradition.' It is a mantra that King has embodied as a lifelong campaigner for social justice and equality. She was instrumental in pushing for equal prize money for men and women at the US Open in 1973 – the same year her ' Battle of the Sexes ' victory over Bobby Riggs would irreversibly shift public perceptions of women's athleticism. Despite having the foresight to spread her influence across different sports spheres, it is tennis where King's status as a visionary shines through. One of her latest ideas is for players to be assigned numbers and have names on their kit. 'I'd have merch with their names on the back so they'd make money, the tournament makes money, everybody makes money,' she says. 'We're losing out on millions and millions because of that. Numbers are really important! Kids love numbers and they can retire numbers – like a Federer. It's so obvious. Take what other sports are doing and what people like from other sports.' Ever since she started owning tennis tournaments with her former husband, Larry King, her continued advocacy of women's sport has exploded into a booming portfolio that includes teams from baseball, basketball and soccer. In 2020, she was part of a star-studded list of celebrity names who bought a stake in Angel City FC in the United States' National Women's Soccer League. Last September, it sold for $250 million (£182 million), making history as the most valuable football club ever in women's sport. 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'You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. I have a feeling it's going to help long term. In the short term, it probably doesn't feel like it. It's the girls who watched it [the WTA Finals]. They had some mothers and girls there of colour and they started getting excited about it. You never know how one person is going to impact another person's life. Muhammad Ali and I used to talk about this a lot. If you don't engage, things will stay the same.' That engagement has culminated in a landmark maternity policy, which is being bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and includes fertility grants for players to freeze their eggs and covers the top 150 players in the world. Again, King believes opportunity trumps optics. 'I would have frozen my eggs for sure,' says King, whose well-publicised abortion in 1971 led her to becoming a fierce advocate for women's reproductive rights. 'But it costs money. If I was a young woman and had the money I would have got my eggs frozen by the time I was 30, knowing what we know now. But we didn't know any of this.' Tennis' flagship women's team competition – the Billie Jean King Cup – stages its finals in Shenzhen, China, this September, starting a three-year association with the country that is yet to provide answers over the disappearance of Peng Shuai. The Chinese tennis player accused a high-ranking government official of sexual assault in 2021 before vanishing from public life, instigating international concern and leading the WTA to boycott the country. She later said there had been a 'huge misunderstanding', although this was in a highly controlled interview, and the WTA said a return to China would not be considered until the request for a private meeting with her had been met. At the time, King hailed the organisation she founded as being on 'the right side of history' but the opportunity to take the sport to a country with the second-largest tennis-playing population globally was too good to pass up – WTA backpedalled and announced its return to China in April 2023. King harbours her own regrets over the situation. 'The fact we're taking tennis back to China is important,' she says. 'I'm very big on engagement and building bridges. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sorry we left China. I thought we should have stayed.' Engagement remains high on King's agenda when discussing one of sport's most divisive topics: transgender women in sport. Ever the advocate for inclusion, she believes the debate requires less toxicity and more empathy. 'The whole thing's a nightmare,' she says. 'I don't think people have any idea of how hard it is for trans people. Just listen to their stories. Listen – not tell them. Everyone is unique. Make them feel included because you really don't know. With every person I meet, I try to start with a blank. Ask questions. If I weren't doing this interview with you, I'd be bugging you with a lot of questions.' And with that, King is whisked away to her next engagement. A day trip to Wimbledon on a London Routemaster bus beckons, and with it another trip down memory lane.

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