hello, i'm gavin ramjaun. this is your update from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: a historic day in golf as the saudi breakaway liv series joins forces with the pga and dp world tour, taking everyone by surprise. a win for carlos alcaraz at the french open, to set up a tantalising semi—final with novak djokovic at roland garros. and london irish are ejected from rugby union's top flight, after the deadline passes for the club to pay players and staff. hello and welcome to the programme. it's been described as an historic day for golf, with many still in a state of shock as the saudi—backed breakaway liv tour today merged operations with the pga and dp world tour.

it's a move which effectively ends the bitter divide within the sport. the pga tour had been defending its position since talk of a rival circuit began, with litigation pending against the liv tour, which had poached some of their best players. here's our sports editor dan roan. for the last year, it has been tearing the world of golf apart. bankrolled by saudi arabia, the rebel liv series lured some of the biggest stars away from the traditional tours, sparking an unprecedented dispute. but today came news of a shock merger and an end to theirfeud. in a joint statement, the pga tour, dp world tour and saudi public investment fund hailed a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf on a global basis, with a new collectively owned for—profit entity, vowing to work together to best feature and grow team golf going forward. notably, today's announcement, they said, would be followed by a mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties.

featuring huge prize money, a shorter three—day format and a team element, those behind liv claimed its innovations would attract new audiences, but critics saw it as an attempt to seize control of the sport. i hate what it's doing to the game of golf, i hate it. with legal disputes in both the us and europe, where several liv golfers lost a case over the fines and suspensions they faced for playing in the series. the time was right for all three parties to come together and there is no question that all three partners shared the appetite to get a deal done. as for the players, there was a mixed reaction. phil mickelson, paid a reported £160 million to sign up to liv, tweeted, "awesome day today." but, for other leading pga tour players, it seemed to come as a surprise. two—time major winner collin morikawa saying, "i love finding out morning news on twitter." ian poulter and sergio garcia

were among several top liv players who walked away from the dp world tour and became ineligible for the ryder cup, but they could now return. already the chair of saudi—owned newcastle united, another of the kingdom's growing list of sports investments, pif governor yasir al—rumayyan will now chair the new golf entity, with the pif also providing fresh funds, reinforcing the concerns of human rights campaigners that this is sportswashing, something i put to al—rumayyan last year. it's the big thing in golf and we are going to enjoy it. that is why i'm here. thank you very much. can i just ask you very quickly about the suggestions of sportswashing? what do you say to that? i am really not sure about this terminology. for many in the sport, however, today's peace deal will come as a major relief. dan roan, bbc news. we've a box—office clash to look forward to in the men's semi—finals at the french open. carlos alcaraz, the men's number one, will take on novak djokovic after the spaniard beat stefanos tsitsipas in straight sets. alcaraz raced into a two set

lead but wobbled a little in the third. he was 5—2 up and served for the match, but was taken to a tie break where he edged through to make the final four at roland garros for the first time. djokovic had no real issues in his victory over karen khachenov. he lost the first set but came back to win the next three as he continues his quest for a record 23rd grand slam. these kind of wins, you know, i think serve as a great confidence booster, you know, mentally, so also physically and emotionally for me. you know, it is important. to win a match where you were losing or you are being down and then you came back and won a match, so especially at the latter stages of a grand slam against the top players. and aryna sabalenka sealed her semi—final place in the women's draw. the belarussian, who won in straight sets was accused by her ukrainian opponent elena svitolina

of encouraging fans to boo her by waiting at the net for a handshake after the victory. svitolina hasn't shaken hands with russian opponents since ukraine was invaded with support from belarus. i just wasn't instinct, like i always do after all my matches. an i say many times already, i am not supporting war. i do not want my country to be involved in any conflict and if i would like to be political i would not be here. i don't want to be involved in politics. i just want to be a tennis player. i don't know, to be fair, why she was waiting because my statements were clear enough about the handshake and secondly, i was expecting that whoever in this situation looses i guess gets boos so i was expecting that and it was not a surprise for me. london irish have been suspended from playing in rugby

union's premiership, after missing a deadline to pay wages of staff and players. takeover talks with a us consortium failed to materialise meaning the club are ejected from the english top flight. natalie pirks reports. chanting. this was the end of their season, but it turned out to be the end of an era. london irish players and staff tonight learned their fates on a zoom call. 125 years of history potentially gone. fans are struggling to understand just how it came to this. i would say heartbroken is a very accurate description. it can't get any worse than this, to be honest with you. i can't imagine a life now, not supporting london irish. well, london irish�*s demise is just the latest chapter in a sorry story of premiership rugby. they're the third club to fall injust nine months, with a recent report saying the problems were a stain on the reputation of the governing body.

bad news, eh? the dream's over, bro. worcester warriors were the first club to go under, players discovering they'd been relegated in october. they still can't operate as a professional club. and last month, six times english champions wasps were demoted to the foot of the rugby pyramid after debts of more than £95 million forced them into administration. all three clubs were being chased for unpaid taxes. it gets to a point whereby the three clubs are losing way too much money, too much debts need to be paid and it comes to a point where those debts calling. and it comes to a point where those debts need calling. the pandemic exacerbated clubs' already perilous finances. the government is worried and has appointed independent advisers to help the sport. he's still going, mitchell, gives it to arundel! what a score! one of the stars

of london irish, whose future now lies elsewhere. on the pitch, rugby union enjoys sold—out internationals, but off it, clubs have been accused of sleepwalking into a crisis. natalie pirks, bbc news, twickenham. ten chinese snooker players have been punished for their involvement in the sport's biggest match fixing scandal. two players — liang wenbo and li hang — have been handed lifetime bans, with the others, including former masters winner yan bingtao, and former uk champion zhao xintong among those receiving bans ranging from 20 months to more than five years. we're very pleased to see this come to some kind of close. the outcome today really is a message to those trying to manipulate the spot. that's a very hard to come by in any spot and to see those two lifespans, we're very pleased that outcome. tottenham have appointed ange postocoglou as their new manager — the former celtic boss joins the premier league side on a four year contract. postocoglou is tottenham's fourth permanent manager since mauricio pochettino led them to the champions league

final in 2019 and followsjose mourinho, nuno espirito santo and antonio conte. he's the first australian to manage in the premier league and arrives after winning a domestic treble in scotland. karim benzema has agreed terms with saudi arabian champions al—ittihad after leaving real madrid. 35—year—old benzema is the latest big name recruit to the saudi pro league. the current ballon d'or winner won 5 champions leagues and 4 la liga titles at the bernabeu, having spent 14 years at the club. benzema's had a medical in madrid, and is set to sign a three year contract. thousands of west ham fans have travelled to prague for their europa conference league final against fiorentina. it's manager david moyes�* first european final in his 25 years as a manager. wingerjarrod bowen admits it's a big occasion. i have been here three years and if you told me we would be in the european final three years later, i would have bitten your hand. last year, it

was so disappointing to lose in the semifinals and that probably gave us that extra bit of motivation to do it this year and i of motivation to do it this yearand i think of motivation to do it this year and i think with the season we have had haswell, i think it adds to wanting to make it even more special. ——as well. i do not know how many numbers of fans are travelling by the fan base here is incredible.— by the fan base here is incredible. ., ., , incredible. more of that big uolf incredible. more of that big golf story _ incredible. more of that big golf story on _ incredible. more of that big golf story on the _ incredible. more of that big golf story on the website. | at our website — that's bbc.com/sport from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello, there. you've probably noticed the weather not really changing very much over recent times, and that's because high pressure's been firmly dominating. and with high pressure around, it's not rained very much anywhere. but in warwickshire, in church lawford, you'd have

to go back to the 11th of may — that was the last time it rained — so that's nearly four weeks of dry weather. some of the warmest weather has been across in northern ireland, county tyrone. it's been very warm in castlederg for the last nine days, but five of these recent days have seen temperatures reach 2a celsius — that's six above average. now, it's the west that had the highest temperatures again on tuesday, but england, stuck underneath this area of cloud, had much lower temperatures in many areas — for example, in leek, in staffordshire, 18 celsius on monday, 12 celsius on tuesday. we also had some cloud dropping the temperatures in parts of west scotland as well. now, over the next few hours, we're seeing that cloud again thicken up across parts of england, wales, northern and eastern scotland. you might find a few spots of drizzle, although predominantly, it will be a dry start to the day on wednesday. the best of the early—morning sunshine, like recent times, will be across these western areas of the country. could be a few mist patches, clearing and lifting, and then the sunshine comes out. i think there is a better chance of seeing this cloud break up

across the midlands, east wales, so you probably will see some sunshine. but there could be some areas of eastern england again that keep the cloud all day. where that happens, temperatures into the teens — but otherwise, i think more of us will see temperatures into the low 20s. and with those sunny conditions out west, we'll see some very high levels of pollen building in across parts of england and wales, so it could be quite a sneezy day for hay—fever sufferers allergic to grass pollen. now, for thursday, again, there could be a bit of cloud around across eastern areas — probably east scotland, northeast england, the favoured spots for holding on to that. but otherwise, plenty of sunshine around, and those temperatures again reaching the mid—20s in the very warmest areas. we then do start to see a change, courtesy of this storm system — storm oscar, that's been bringing some torrential rain to madeira. what that'll do, it moves to the southwest of the uk, and it shoves a load of humid air across the country. and so, we'll see a change in the weather conditions as we head into the weekend.

as it turns more humid, we'll start to see some showers and thunderstorms break out. and, although the rain from these will be hit—and—miss in nature, some could see the first significant rain for four weeks.