hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm paul scott at the bbc sports centre. here's what's coming up. bullseye — luke humphries wins the darts world title after seeing off 16—year—old sensation luke littler in the final. girona keep pace with real madrid at the top of la liga after a dramatic late win against atletico. and trailblazing boxer jane couch prepares to become the first british woman inducted into the international hall of fame. hello, welcome to the program. we begin at alexandra palace in london, where it's been a tournament to remember

at the world darts championship. luke humphries has been crowned the new world champion, after ending 16—year—old luke littler�*s sensational run. the world number1 coming through 7—4 in the final as matt graveling reports. the fairy tale is over for the 16—year—old from the north of england luke the nuke littler who falls at the final hurdle. luke humphreys had done so well in the six games before, really disposing all of his opponents with ease, including former world champions, including his idle and hero, three—time world champion from holland. he saw off rob cross who won in 2018. it was cool hand luke humphreys who leaves the competition with half £1 million in prize money. speaking to the press, 16—year—old luke littler said he hopes anyone who's been inspired by hisjourney

to the final, just go out there and get some darts, by dartboard and take up the sport. so, let's hearfrom the new world champion, then. for me, this would make me even more dedicated, work harder. i'm going to be very, very busy over the next 12 months, so i know that, but i've got to make sure that i don't work too hard and not allow myself to enjoy the moment because i've just achieve something that's a dream for a dart player. so i'm really, really pleased and over the moon. girona's sensational la liga campaign continues after a dramatic 4—3 win over their near—neighbours atletico madrid, meaning they stay level on points at the top. they also move ten points clear of atletico. the hosts had a narrow 3—2 lead at half—time, thanks to goals from valery, savio and daley blind. alvaro morata scored twice in the first half and had another disallowed for the visitors. but he was able to complete his hat—trick in the second half,

to level the scores at 3—3. it looked like he'd salvaged a point. but, in injury time, ivan martin found his way through a crowded penalty area to spark wild celebrations in what is becoming a memorable campaign. but it's real madrid who stay top on goal difference — antonio rudiger scored the only goal of the game, late in the second half as they beat mallorca 1—0. they have a superior goal difference of seven over girona. there were also wins for celta vigo and grenada. kylian mbappe scored 52 goals last year and has begun 2024 by netting in the french super cup final, as paris saint germain beat toulouse 2—0 to win the trophy. he scored a wonderful solo effort to clinch the win, with his 18th goal of the season. and there were a couple of matches in the coppa italia on wednesday. atalanta and roma both into the quarter—finals with wins over sassuolo

and cremonese respectively. atalanta will face ac milan next. roma will take on bitter rivals lazio. now, it's less than ten days until the start of the africa cup of nations in the ivory coast, while the asian cup starts next friday in qatar. a number of players from some of europe's top sides have already reported for international duty. john bennett from the bbc�*s world service explains the effect it will have on premier league clubs. there's impact in terms of numbers. nottingham forest losing six players out of their squad. massive impact. then you have clubs who are impacted because their star player is leaving. mohamed salah, who is in brilliant form at the moment, he of course will be leaving the liverpool squad to join up with egypt. you've got son, at tottenham, one of the key players, talisman in that team, who will be going to the asian cup. but you have players in great form, hwang at wolves, kudus at west ham. they're going off to the tournament, but it's interesting

39 players going to the cup of nations and asian cup in total. 31 to the africa cup of nations. that is actually down on 2021 — it was 38 players going two years ago. less players going, but still a big impact. strangely, the english champions, manchester city, the treble winners, unaffected completely. they used to be badly affected. riyad mahrez until recently was with them, now he's gone to the saudi pro league. he is a big part of the algeria team. won it in 2019. the big effect they used to have was yaya toure, when he used to go off and that used to affect title races. famously, ollie, when he went off to the 2012 cup of nations, they did actually go on to win the league that year, but apparently roberto mancini gathered them in the dressing room when yaya toure was at the cup of nations, and to try to motivate them said, "you're all rubbish without yaya." it was micah richards who came up with that story. but it did motivate them and they went on to win the league. it's also 10 days until

the start of the australian open. the reigning champion�*s winning run in the country is over. novak djokovic's 43—match unbeaten streak was ended by alex de minaur as serbia lost to australia in the united cup quarterfinals. de minaur, the world number 12, took full advantage of an out of sorts djokovic, who's been struggling with a wrist injury, taking the first set 6—4. de minaur showed few nerves in the second, but eventually closed out the match 6—4, 6—4. it's djokovic's first loss in australia since the 2018 australian open. i think i will be ok, to be honest. but it did have quite an impact, particularly on the forehand and serve, but again, i don't want to spend too much time talking about it and taking away credit for the victory of alex de minaur. and taking away credit of the victory from alex de minaur. he was very solid, as he always is.

after a year away from the sport rafael nadal is once again drawing large crowds, even for practice. the spaniard was virtually swamped courtside after holding an open training session at the brisbane international, following his successful comeback in the opening round. he returned after 12 months out, with a win over dominic thiem on tuesday, and was preparing for his second round match against fellow wildcard jason kubler on thursday. a pioneer of boxing, former world champion jane couch is going to take her place alongside some of the greatest fighters in history. the fleetwood assassin is the first british woman to be inducted into the international hall of fame. she'll receive the accolade in new york injune, along with ricky hatton. ian haslam reports. five—time boxing world championjane couch is a legend in her sport, a fact further emphasised by her latest accolade. jane, you're in the boxing hall of fame. how does it feel? i'm just really overwhelmed. a girl from fleetwood, getting anywhere near the hall of fame isjust a remarkable achievement. i'm so excited about it.

some of those names in that hall of fame include mohamed ali, i think barry. george foreman. frazier. just pinching yourself moments. it was back in the mid—1990s that jane took on the british boxing world for the right to fight in the professional ranks. i'm the world champion, i want to fight in countries, play the national anthem behind me for my country, which is funny because they don't even let me box here. it's got to change. in 1998, it did, following a tribunal where women were labelled too unstable to box. the british boxing board of control forced to grant jane a professional licence. i've been fighting for 3 years for this day. it means i can be boxing on the same bill as prince nicene and everything at wembley. and people in england can actually see me fight. as they have, the next generation of women boxers, liverpool champion natasha jonas is one of many fighters to benefit.

there wouldn't be women's boxing in this country were it not for you. yeah, of course. the case that we thought was really sexist, really against women. the boxing board just didn't want women's boxing, but when you look where it is now, i knew i was right all them years ago because i was boxing on all the big shows in america. your old pal ricky hatton�*s also been inducted into the hall of fame and he's going with you on that flight to new york. i think when we get there, we'll have a few drinks, me and ricky, yeah. make the north—west proud. he's like myself, just down to earth, you know? comes from a council estate like i come from a council estate in fleetwood. when we get to new york, you've got to do a speech in front of all of these champions and all the top journalists from america, so i'll be like, oh my god. jane couch. the mbe and now to be in the boxing hall of fame

is like, wow, i knew i was right. i knew that women could fight. still got it, though. 55 and still got it. i might make a comeback yet, you never know. rory mcilroy says he would be open to playing in a liv—backed competition, if golf�*s controversial tour became more like cricket's indian premier league, taking up a smaller window in the calendar. he says it would sound like fun if they could replicate the format — because — in his words, "you're working within the ecosystem." merger talks between the pga tour and saudi arabia's public investment fund, which financially backs liv, are continuing. you, can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport. thank you for watching. hello there.

we're only a few days into the new month, but already, some spots in eastern england have seen more than half their averagejanuary rainfall. and there's potentially more wet weather to come, too, in the forecast before things tend to settle down into the weekend, and it will turn drier. but plenty of flood alerts, flood warnings still in place. keep up to date with those on the bbc weather website, and of course, on your local bbc radio station, too. now, this is the pressure chart for thursday — low pressure still centred out towards the north—west of scotland. still a brisk southeasterly wind with more rain for the northern isles, and some more rain heading towards the south of england, too. more on that in just a moment. temperatures to start off thursday morning above freezing — 4—7 celsius north to south. there'll be more showers across the far north of scotland into the northern isles, also for western scotland, with a few showers heading across northern ireland into north—west england. more sunshine further south, but it's this area of rain that is of most concern. it will be falling on pretty saturated ground,

and that band of rain will be pushing further northwards as we head through the afternoon. this is how we'll end the afternoon, between around 7—10 celsius. that rain set to push further northward. still some debate as to how far north it will eventually get, but it's likely to bring us some strong, gusty winds towards the south coast as it curls off towards east anglia — of course, all unhelpfully timed with the evening rush hour — so do expect more problems, particularly where we've seen the recent flooding. but friday is happily a much quieter day of weather, that low pressure starts to move away. we've still got a legacy of cloud and some rain towards eastern coastal areas, as we head through friday morning. there'll still be some showers, too, across parts of aberdeenshire, heading towards the northern isles, and a good scattering of showers out towards those western coasts, but plenty of sunshine around. the winds will be lighter, and the temperatures will be a little lower, too, 6—9 celsius. and then, as we head through the weekend, the high pressure starts to build in. it will become quite firmly established across the uk,

and should stick around into next week, but of course, as the jet stream dips southwards, we're also going be drawing in much colder—feeling air, so there will be a drop in temperature. so feeling colder, turning dry, though, with some frost and fog through the mornings. bye—bye for now.

live from washington. this is bbc news. and the us house speaker leads a delegation of republican lawmakers on a tour of the us—mexico border. they want the white house to agree to stricter migrant policies. hello, i'm caitriona perry. we begin with a developing story. a us court has released hundreds of pages of court documents connected to the financier and sex offenderjeffrey epstein. those files contain the names of people accused of wrongdoing, while others

on the list are making allegations or are potential witnesses.