since hejoined the club in 2016 england's number one tabletennis player liam pitchford — in the black at the top of the screen — has been beaten at the end of season finals in china. he lost in straight sets in the first round to the brazilian hugo calderano. the grandson of former england cricketer sir ian botham will make his rugby union debut for wales this weekend. cardiff blues flanker james botham will start in saturday's autumn nations cup game against georgia. he was only called up to the squad on monday as head coach wayne pivac makes thirteen changes to the side that lost to irealand last friday. fly—half george ford will start on the bench for england's match with ireland at twickenham on saturday. he's been out with an achilles problem. that means owen farrell stays at 10 while maro itoje, tom curry, sam underhill, mako vuinpola and kyle sinckler return to the starting 15.

centre ollie lawrence will make his second england start in an unchanged back line from the 40—nil win over georgia. definitely, there is a bit more edge around the place. you know, all the guys know that ireland's a very, very tough team, you know, what was it, 18 months ago they were ranked number one in the world, so it shows you the class and ability of this team, and we know we've got to be at our best to get the result we want to get. and in the england women's side — fly half katy daley mclean will captain the team against france on saturday at twickenham. it'll be her 116th cap — making her the third most capped england player of all time. you will have seen this week how the fiji rugby union squad have been hit by a covid outbreak. their first two matches in the autumn nations cup have

had to be cancelled. it's very timely that a documentary has been released this week, oceans apart, that looks at the state of pacific islands rugby. despite producing some of the greatest talents in the game, player welfare is still a major concern with allegations of corruption within their unions. the former samoa international, dan leo is behind the film and spoke to me about some of these issues. one of the key stats is that 25% of all professional players or pacific island heritage now. refer close to 30% of all layers that rugby world cups. when we go back to the pacific isjust not cups. when we go back to the pacific is just not reflected cups. when we go back to the pacific isjust not reflected in our economies and our stadiums and our facilities. but we delve into those and won the game to look a bit more favourably. start looking up to the values of equality, fairness and the ways of the world in terms of treating some of it is most

important. the players bring the biggest names of the sports a lot of the time. interpret the issue, it'll think of spoiling the film when you say is the attitude from tier nations come and world rugby and corruption within the federations themselves. we love the sport of by themselves. we love the sport of rugby and our communities are built oi'i rugby and our communities are built on rugby and christianity as we say in the film. but it's a tough one. it's a because we have these issues and talk about the most senior politicians in our nations running the sport, that's how much rugby means they don't know if they control rugby the control the hearts and minds of the people. they hold her tight and minds of the people. they hold hertight grip on and minds of the people. they hold her tight grip on the sport and sadly it's used as this at times. confronting those there's systematic issues with the governing bodies but also we have to make sure it's

important and we look introspectively and address some of the cultural issues we got at play, and affect us detrimentally as well. to shake any positive as of the whole or moving closer towards a little bit more fairness? that's a tough question. that's a tough one. i like to think there's a lot of scope for positivity. we went in with a lot of questions that i think we know what the answers moving forward have to be for rugby to become the world to support the we all hope. and we know it can you hope will become. world rugby have given us a statement regarding some of the issues raised in that documentry, they say they are continuing to ‘prioritise programmes that will protect pacific islanders on—field performance and support off—field development. and that a review of global competition structures will enable

unions, including the islands, to further performance and revenue outcomes' rafa nadal and stefanos tsitsipas face play each other this evening for a place in the semi—finals at the atp finals in london. more on that in a moment but we've already had one match today something of a dead rubber because the us open champions dominic thiem had already qualified for the last 4. this was always going to be andrey rublev‘s last match at the o2 arena, but he went out on a high winning in straight sets. so now attention turns to the nadal tsitsipas match which has a lot more riding on it. sue barker is at the 02 arena in london with former british number one tim henman. well, we know that dominic thiem is through so tonight it's rafael nadal

against tsitsipas, it's such a wonderful match and two great blocks of his players coming head—to—head tonight. certainly it is with this round—robin format over the years had some public aid scenarios, but the beauty of this is it's winner takes all. the winner of this match will grow through to the semi finals and began to have this type of match up and began to have this type of match up is going to see who can really dictate play. at the get both played a lot of good tennis in the tournament. the doll spoke of after his loss to dominic thiem how well he felt he played. a brick of any second set it was not able to take advantage, and negritude did very well to beat rublev. —— tsitsipas. not 70,000 people here but you will crave to counts of the all—time greats. and he's the defending champion let's not forget. so for him to have that opportunity of playing where the great icons of the

sport to get through to the semi finals he's deftly going to relish that. and likewise he's in great shape, been playing very well and knows these conditions. it's good to bea knows these conditions. it's good to be a great one to watch. and it's rare to see rough young adult come to the shape itjust because he has not played much tennis this year. one one tournament he has not one and we feel is biggest and best chance. and a couple of weeks ago in paris is committing to play there and to come here in london. his qualified 16 times but pulled out on six occasions. he is looking and eager, and that's a worrying sign for his competitors because when he has that energy on any surface he's going to be a very tough player to beat. dphil it could be rafael nadal‘s night. beat. dphil it could be rafael nadal's night. i feel so, beat. dphil it could be rafael nadal's night. ifeel so, but it's going to be close. another tennis line for you, british number two kyle edmund has

split with his coach afterjust one season together. edmund won the new york open in february alongside franco davin, but since the tour resumed in august — he's won just one of his seven matches. edmund said covid travel restrictions had made "working together quite difficult". there's no formula one race this weekend, that will have given lewis hamilton a bit of time to catch his breath, take stock and hopefully celebrate a little. in his first uk tv interview since becoming world champion for a record equalling seventh time he told sally nugent about his hunger to win more in the sport and also the responsibility he feels, in trying to make f1 more diverse. i've definitely not got used to it. i've had more messages than i've ever had in my entire life, some of them from some incredible people. go on, drop me some names. tell me who has sent you messages. the royal family posted a message, which was, i mean, wow! i was just, to see the royal

family do a personal post, i think that was, for me, that was the most, that was one of the biggest honours i feel like i've experienced. how important is it to get that recognition, when you've worked so hard for so many years? in all honesty, i don't do it for recognition, you know? i've trained my whole life, i think the most important people when i got out of the race, and when i got home, was talking to, you know, facetiming with my sister, my brother, my mum and my niece and nephew. that was, like, and speaking to my dad, and my step mum, linda. but you managed in that moment, when you crossed the line, to deliver a really powerful message over the radio. just remind everybody what you said in that moment, because it was really special. for the kids out there who dream the impossible, do not give up on that dream, because i am living proof that you can manifest your dreams, and even the impossible ones.

i remember as a kid, adults, teachers, parents of other drivers, and youngsters, telling me that i would not make it, you'll never — you're not good enough, there's no way you're going to make it, go back to your country, you know? like, all these horrible things, and i remember, i'm going to prove you wrong. what's next, lewis? yes, i have won this seventh title, but we have another big, big fight to win, and that's for racial equality, across the board. lots of industries now work to have, you know, an ideal number of people of colour within their company. should formula 1 be looking to do that? you want people to earn their position, you know, so no—one wants to be handed, and we don't want to, we don't want to create a position to force these people to just hire people, minorities, for the sake of filling a space. i want to find out what the real problem is first, so we can fix it, efficiently.

i am working with the royal academy of engineering in london. this research that we are doing is trying to understand why there is a lack of young black kids applying to stem subjects. what are the barriers? we had the nba draft overnight, when the top prospects in the college game are picked up by the professional teams. it was an emotional moment for anthony edwards, the number one draft pick, who is moving to minnesota timberwolves. the minnesota timberwolves select anthony edwards from the university of georgia. he paid tribute to his mother and grandmother, who both died of cancer. the 19 year old sat next to paintings of the pair as the announcement was made of his nba destination. i mentioned to the england red road system the rugby team as france coming of that we can her will also have france at the same group of the

women's rugby union world cup next year. go to the bbc sport website for all of that and also a breakdown of our lead story with that £300 million rescue package is going to english sport in the next few months. for me and the rest of the tea m months. for me and the rest of the team for now that's it for sports day. good evening. we ended thursday with some beautiful sunsets out there. this one, this is the scene in kent. many areas ended the day with clear skies can we get the clear skies and the east and the 30s and frost tonight. for the and the east and the 30s and frost tonight. forthe and rain the east and the 30s and frost tonight. for the and rain will be moving in. verity had that cloud moving in. verity had that cloud moving across northern and scotland as well. pushing for another ireland at western fringes of britain by the early hours of friday. for the east under the clear skies that where

temperatures will fall robust. a frost likely towards the southeast, could be the odd icy stretch for each of scotland as well and through the day it will turn milder as that cloud and rain move west to east across all parts. what was there for all of us at times for the course of friday, seven or 8 degrees returning milderfor friday, seven or 8 degrees returning milder for the friday, seven or 8 degrees returning milderfor the rest of friday, seven or 8 degrees returning milder for the rest of about 12 or 13. changeable conditions for the weekend, shari and quite windy on saturday, cooler and brighter by sunday. bye—bye. —— shower e.

hello, i'm karin giannone, this is outside source. americans are told not to travel for thanksgiving as the virus spreads. with hospitalisations surging, the centres for disease control urged americans not to meet relatives outside their households. more unfounded claims from president trump's campaign, alleging there was centrally planned fraud in cities that voted forjoe biden. fraud in cities that this fraud in cities that is not a single voter fraud in one this is not a single voterfraud in one state. this pattern repeats itself in a number of states, almost exactly the same pattern. it comes asjoe biden‘s win in georgia is expected to be confirmed

after a