barry hearn, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. it's a pleasure to be here.s a pleasure to have you on the show. you have spent a life in sport. was it all about business for you? no, i mean, it started off and still remains to this day a question of passion. making money is, you know, not easy sometimes, but you have a chance to do whateverjob you want to do in life. i suppose with me, i started off wanting to be a great sportsman, but then found out i didn't really have the ability. so next best thing, let's get involved with the promotion of sport, and we did that by promoting sports that we have passion for and that doesn't seem to make it a job, really. it's been nearly 50 years ofjust pleasure. promoting sport, of course, depends on having high—profile events and usually events with fans watching and creating an atmosphere. that hasn't been possible for the past year and more because of the pandemic. so before we get to your past, just talk to me about the present. how difficult has the last year been? i think in my nearly 50 years of involvement with s

and a little known fact for you — the horse was bred by the wife of the former sports promoter barrie hearnte, sophia dunkley was unbeaten on 7a when her team declared on 396—9 in bristol. in reply india have been impervious to england's bowlers — teenager shafali verma really impressing, almost hitting a century also on her debut before being caught out on 96. since then the wickets tumbled for india commit last five wickets for 13 runs and at stumps they were 187-5 a. 209 13 runs and at stumps they were 187—5 a. 209 runs behind. the us open golf got underway today, the third major of the year. it's being held at torrey pines in san diego, the bbc�*s katherine hogan isn't there — covid means you're covering the event from here. iam i am katherine downes, i've never been catherine hogan. i don't know who that is! it's been a really exciting opening few hours of action. it was delayed because of a wind that blew it on the west coast so really foggy to begin with. six way tie for the lead and patrick rogers wrestled the americans, but to english players in the mix already. so matt fitzpatrick