hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm paul scott at the bbc sports centre — here's what's coming up. a big moment for luke littler — the 16—year—old becomes the youngest ever person to reach the pdc darts world championship final. a depleted west ham secure a 4th straight clean sheet as they're frustrated by brighton in a goalless draw at the london stadium. on a different track — the retired racehorses learning fresh skills before finding new homes.

history has been made at the pdc darts world championship at alexandra palace. 16 year—old luke littler has become the youngest person ever to reach the final and he did it in style. that's despite losing the first set to 2018 world champion rob cross. littler, who doesn't turn 17 for another 19 days, soon levelled and then took control, including an audacious 132 check—out which contained two bulls eyes. in the end cross had no answer as littler came through 6—2. it's just unbelievable, unbelievable to even think i'm in the final, like i said. to wina game, in the final, like i said. to win a game, come back after christmas, and i'm still standing. don't really — i shouldn't be getting nervous, in case i get to the end. so,

yeah, if i'm a set away, i may be thinking. just got to stay composed and get over the line tomorrow. well littler will take on his namesake luke humphries in wednesday's final. humphries was imperious as he saw off scott williams without dropping a set. the 6—0 win means humphries will go in to the final as the new world number 1. brighton manager roberto de zerbi has praised his side's very smart game after keeping a first premier league clean sheet of the season in a 0—0 draw at west ham, who hold on to sixth place. it's the 11th clean sheet in a row for the hammers, while it's brighton's first shut—out for 2h games. the point moves the seagulls into seventh place, above manchester united, while the hammers are three points further ahead. david moyes�*s side were without key players, the injured lucas paquetta, as well as afcon—bound mohammed kudus, who wasn't available despite the tournament still

being 11 days away. u nfortu nately, unfortunately, you know, for some reason, we weren't allowed to play ours when mo salah could say for liverpool. we need to best players playing to win it or play better. we missed a bit of that tonight. overall, i'm really, really pleased. we play brighton twice, we have got four points. i'm thrilled. i would have liked to have done better, but overall, very pleased. brighton made a clean _ overall, very pleased. brighton made a clean sheet. _ overall, very pleased. brighton made a clean sheet. i - overall, very pleased. brighton made a clean sheet. i think - overall, very pleased. brighton made a clean sheet. i think we | made a clean sheet. i think we played — made a clean sheet. i think we played a — made a clean sheet. i think we played a great game, but football is a trick. a trick — result _ football is a trick. a trick — result. because today we deserved to win. real sociedad have extended their unbeaten run to 11 games after a 96th minute equaliser to draw 1—1 with alaves in spain's la liga. they stay 6th as a result.

elsewhere, valencia beat villarreal 3—1 to move up to ninth, mainly thanks to two penalties from pepelu, to make it back—to—back wins. while getafe had three players sent off in their 2—0 defeat to rayo vallacano. juanmi latasa and manchester united loanee mason greenwood both saw red — greenwood for dissent — before damian suarez was dismissed from the bench. getafe stay eighth. spain'sjenni hermoso has been testifying before a judge in madrid, about the behaviour of luis rubiales, the former president of spain's football federation, who had to resign after kissing hermoso on the lips following the world cup final last summer. rubiales faces a possible trial for sexual assault. our spain correspondent guy hedgecoe is in madrid. well today's hearing focused on an alleged sexual assault that was witnessed by millions of people around the world. now, jenni hermoso, the player at the centre of all of this, told

the centre of all of this, told the judge the centre of all of this, told thejudge in the national court here in central madrid today that the kiss that luis rubiales gave her after the world cup final back until the august in sydney was not consensual. she didn't agree to it. now, of course, mr rubiales contests that. he says the kiss was consensual, they both agreed to it, it was a spontaneous moment according to him. but thejudge investigating this now has the task of deciding if there's enough evidence against mr rubiales for him to go on trial for sexual assault. rubiales for him to go on trial forsexualassault. now rubiales for him to go on trial for sexual assault. now this case has already had a huge impact here in spain. certainly in the football world, where it led to the resignation of mr rubiales and also the replacement of many people at the top of the football federation, so there was a huge shake—up there. but also seen as having a broader impact across spanish society. it

triggered a social movement against perceived sexism in it many other areas of spanish life. wayne rooney says he doesn't believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee changes at birmingham city, following his sacking by the english championship club earlier today. he's been dismissed afterjust 15 games in charge, following a dismal run of form. birmingham were in the top six when rooney took over. but the club are now in 20th place. two former grand slam champions are set to continue their return to tennis, as rafael nadal prepares for his second round match at the brisbane international against fellow wildcard jason kubler. meanwhile britain's emma raducanu is getting ready to face elina svitolina in the last 16 in auckland, after more than 250 days out injured. our tennis correspondent russell fuller watched both players return with impressive wins. two impressive comebacks by players who have been out for nearly a year. here in brisbane, in the pat rafter

arena, rafael nadal was spectacularly good as he beat dominic thiem. he reeled out of many of his greatest hits. it was an exemptionally good performance, one swallow does not make a summer, nadal said. he knows he needs to back it up game after game, match after match. as he returns to the tour after a hip operation in june. as for emma raducanu in auckland, she was very encouraging. she won a very tight match, against the qualifier, only to have her serve broken twice. she managed to win the deciding set 7.5. she's on court for two and a half hours. she served pretty well for much of the match. it was an encouraging return for a woman who used to be the british number one, but returns at 301 in the world rankings. a couple who have been rehoming retired and injured

race horses say the animals can have meaningful lives after they've finished competing. pam and kevin atkinson run a charity near york in england that takes horses that others find too challenging and retrain them for a variety of purposes, including offering comfort to patients in hospices. olivia richwald reports. ijust i just love horses. i ijust love horses. i love thoroughbreds in particular. they're just so intelligent, thoroughbreds in particular. they'rejust so intelligent, so astute, so aware, so sensitive. they're just so willing to learn and once they trust you, you can build a strong relationship with them. this is new beginnings, _ relationship with them. this is new beginnings, a _ relationship with them. this is new beginnings, a home - relationship with them. this is new beginnings, a home for l relationship with them. this is i new beginnings, a home for race horses at the end of their careers. they come here to learn new skills before they find new homes.— learn new skills before they find new homes. they finish their racing _ find new homes. they finish their racing career, - find new homes. they finish their racing career, they've | their racing career, they've been an athlete at the top of their game, when they're no longer a race horse, they need to learn to slow down a bit and use the body differently and learn new skills. we use the body differently and learn new skills.— learn new skills. we do specialise _ learn new skills. we do specialise in _ learn new skills. we do specialise in quirky, - learn new skills. we do - specialise in quirky, difficult horses _

specialise in quirky, difficult horses. if a horse is straightforward, there's plenty of places that can take it. if it's quirky— of places that can take it. if it's quirky and difficult, you need — it's quirky and difficult, you need to— it's quirky and difficult, you need to expertise to turn that horse — need to expertise to turn that horse around and give it the time — horse around and give it the time and _ horse around and give it the time and space it needs to adapt _ time and space it needs to adapt to— time and space it needs to adapt to a new life. in time and space it needs to adapt to a new life.- adapt to a new life. in 14 ears, adapt to a new life. in 14 years. new _ adapt to a new life. in 14 years, new beginnings l adapt to a new life. in 14 . years, new beginnings have helped hundreds of former racehorses find new homes. they go back to basics and slowly build from there. different horses are suited to different roles. it horses are suited to different roles. , ., , roles. it proves the versatility - roles. it proves the versatility of - roles. it proves the - versatility of racehorses roles. it proves the _ versatility of racehorses when they have the opportunity to come down from one job to do a next. he's a perfect example. remy has made it to the final of a prestigious national competition to find the horse who had the most significant community impact. the charity also has high hopes for this very special grey. it's burrow seven, named after rob burrow, who retired from racing after injury. do you love riding this

one? ., ., , , injury. do you love riding this one? ., , �*, one? yeah, absolutely. he's real calm — one? yeah, absolutely. he's real calm and _ one? yeah, absolutely. he's real calm and a _ one? yeah, absolutely. he's real calm and a gentleman. | cricket south africa says it has the utmost respect for test cricket after they were criticised for naming a weakened squad foran upcoming tour of new zealand. the two—test series takes place while south africa's t20 competition is ongoing. their squad contains seven uncapped players. a cricket south africa statement says it: "notes the concerns about the composition of the squad". and they can reassure fans that csa has the utmost respect for the test format as the pinncale of the game we love. it went on to say that the constraints imposed by the global cricket calendar were to blame. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye.

hello there. the weather should be calming down a bit now. it'll take a while for the flood waters to recede, but the winds have dropped. earlier on tuesday, we had a gust of 81mph at exeter airport, then the strong winds moved into the southeast with a gust of 69mph at heathrow airport. well, that's storm henk, and it's now tracking its way into europe. it'll bring some snow in scandinavia — it's very cold here. this low pressure is not a storm, but it will bring some showers. the more persistent rain has cleared away, mind you, but we have seen a lot of flooding just recently. the heaviest rain actually fell over the hills of wales — that's fed into the river systems in the west midlands and, a short while ago, there were over 200 flood warnings on rivers in england.

these are the temperatures we're looking at for the start of wednesday — not too cold out there, typically 5—6 celsius. we've still got some more persistent rain in the far northeast of scotland, could be a bit wintry up in shetland, some strong winds for a while here. some strong winds, too, blowing through the english channel, in the southwest of england. not as windy as it was on tuesday. and elsewhere, it'll be a mixture of sunshine and showers, maybe some more frequent showers coming back into scotland, pegging the temperatures back a bit here. those numbers a little bit lower than we had on tuesday, but not by a great deal. now, this low pressure will still sit to the west of scotland as we head into thursday. this feature here is causing us a few headaches, the track seems to be changing a little — it's now moving a little furthersouth, more into northern parts of france. there is the threat of some rain coming through the channel islands and into the far southeast of england. otherwise, a fairly quiet day, more in the way of sunshine, fewer showers, still some cloudy, damp, and breezy weather into the far northeast of scotland. temperature—wise, we're looking at around 8—9 celsius typically, so it is beginning to get a little bit cooler, and that trend will continue as we head

towards the weekend. we are going to find, instead of low pressure around, though, pressure will rise — now its low pressure that's brought all the wet weather recently and all the flooding, but high pressure will build in in time for the weekend. that'll bring in some colder air, may get a northeasterly breeze for a while, but certainly a change in weather type is on the way eventually. some much—needed dry weather to come as we head towards the weekend and into next week. it does mean, however, it will be colder, generally dry with some sunshine, but we're likely to have some frost at night. goodbye.

live from washington. this is bbc news. lebanon blames israel for an attack on its capital that killed the deputy leader of hamas. israel has not confirmed any involvement. terror on board a japan airlines flight, after it collided with a coastguard plane. amazingly, everyone made it out safely. five people onboard the other aircraft died. and harvard's president steps down amid allegations of plagiarism, and a controversy over anti—semitism on campus. hello, i'm carl nasman. hamas says a blast in lebanon has left the group's deputy head, saleh al—arouri, and two commanders from its armed wing dead. the group says they were among seven killed in an explosion

at its offices in a suburb of lebanon's capitol, beirut.