Paula Radcliffe has described the empty stands at the European Athletics Championships as “a shame” after the event in Birmingham came under fire for its expensive prices.

Nearly 10,000 empty seats were available on the first evening of the Championships as 13,623 people watched Great Britain’s Amy Hunt sprint her way to 100m glory at the Alexander Stadium.

Extortionate food and drinks prices have also been called out – supporters are being made to pay as much as £18.50 for a BBQ pork roll and chips, while a bottle of water costs nearly £4 from vendors in and around the stadium.

Fans were being made to pay £150 for a Category A ticket on Monday evening and while prices for those tickets dropped by £40 for Tuesday and Wednesday, they rocket back up to £150 for the final four evenings of the tournament with no discount for concessions. The cheapest ticket in Category E is £26.

Radcliffe – who competed for Great Britain at four consecutive Olympic Games between 1996 and 2008 – exclusively told the Press Association: “It is a shame because I think there is the willingness but I don’t know whether perhaps as a sport we need to look at the pricing and accessibility for those tickets.

“Nothing beats a stadium seeing a home victory, feeling the buzz and the hairs on your arms stand up, it’s really special.

“It’s fighting with many more different sports now, that’s the truth. We have so many different sports available to choose from, it’s about standing above the rest.

“It’s about giving the opportunity to see and experience it live in person but some people are not able to afford expensive prices.

“Something like athletics, the best experience is in the stadium or on the side of the road rather than TV.”

Attendance on Tuesday evening was seemingly higher but empty seats were still scattered across the stadium to watch the men’s 100m athletes in action.

Fans turned up to the Alexander Stadium to find there is no on-site parking and are being forced to cough up £22.50 for a park and ride service which serves as an inconvenience.

Many people have spoken out on social media while former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore also branded the pricing “tone deaf”.

He posted on X: “Weather is amazing and the sport needs as many eyeballs as possible so kids for a quid!! £150/£100/£70 for the 3 categories at the weekend is aimed at who? Not families and kids who may want to be athletes!”

All eyes are on the championships in the UK this week after London formally submitted a bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships in London and the empty seats inside stadiums are not a good look.

Some prices on the concourse differ from the food vans sitting on the premises and PA understands that organisers have no control over the expensive sausage rolls outside the stadium.

Birmingham 2026 responded to criticism and said they were “delighted” with ticket sales which have “surpassed” targets and say Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening sessions are approaching sell-out.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy also defended ticket prices and says numbers will pick up as the week goes on.

She said: “Some of the ticket prices are higher but half of all the tickets here at the championships are £30 and under. Organisers have really worked to make it accessible.

“The numbers have been a bit low being the first few days. I think we will see that rise steadily and hoping for big numbers this weekend.”

Cristiano Ronaldo poses with his partner, model Georgina Rodriguez(AP Photo)

Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez are officially married, but a series of photographs circulating online claiming to show football stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane at the wedding are fake and AI-generated.Ronaldo confirmed his marriage to Rodríguez on Tuesday by sharing a photograph of the couple’s hands showing their wedding bands. The Portugal star captioned the post “C (heart) G”, confirming that the couple had tied the knot after almost a decade together.

Cristiano Ronaldo confirms marriage with long-time girlfriend, posts picture with rings

The announcement was quickly followed by a wave of images on social media supposedly showing some of football’s biggest names attending the ceremony. Among those featured in the viral photographs are Messi, Mbappé, Haaland and Kane.

AI-generated or digitally manipulated images

AI-generated or digitally manipulated images

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However, the images are not genuine photographs from Ronaldo and Rodríguez’s wedding. They are AI-generated or digitally manipulated images that have been circulated online as though they were authentic pictures from the ceremony.The confusion has been fuelled by the fact that Ronaldo and Rodríguez kept their wedding extremely private. The couple reportedly married in Cascais, Portugal, in an intimate ceremony attended by their five children. Ronaldo has so far shared only a simple photograph of the couple’s wedding bands to confirm the occasion.There is no evidence to suggest that Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Kane or the other footballers seen in the viral images attended the wedding. The photographs circulating online should therefore not be treated as proof of their presence at the ceremony.Ronaldo and Rodríguez first met in 2016 when Rodríguez was working at a Gucci store in Madrid. The couple have remained together ever since, building a family and sharing several major milestones during Ronaldo’s career.Rodríguez announced their engagement on August 11, 2025, when she shared a photograph of her engagement ring on Instagram. Exactly one year later, Ronaldo confirmed that the couple had married.The wedding marks another major milestone for the pair, who have largely kept their personal life away from the spotlight despite their enormous global following.As the wedding photographs continue to circulate online, however, social media users should be careful not to mistake AI-generated content for genuine images. While Ronaldo and Rodríguez’s marriage is real, the viral photographs showing Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Kane and other football stars at the ceremony are not authentic.

Paul Pogba has been offered to terminate his contract by mutual consent at Monaco after struggling with injuries and regular game time at the French side

Monaco and Paul Pogba are in talks about terminating his contract after making just six appearances for the club. The Ligue 1 side had hoped to get Pogba back to his previous fitness but feel they have not been able to.

The 33-year-old sustained a hamstring injury on Monaco’s pre-season tour at St George’s Park on Tuesday, and there are worries that it may sideline him for several months. However, according to The Athletic, Monaco have been in talks with Pogba over the mutual termination of his contract for a number of weeks.

Former Manchester United midfielder Pogba joined Monaco on a two-year contract last summer, having been a free agent since leaving Juventus in November 2024. He made his debut for the French side in November 2025, his first appearance in 26 months after receiving a ban for breaching anti-doping regulations.

Pogba had initially been handed a four-year ban in February 2024 which looked like it would end his professional playing career. However, following an appeal, the ban was reduced to 18 months, meaning he was free to resume training in January 2025 and make his return to competitive action in March of that year.

In total, Pogba has played just six times for Monaco – all in Ligue 1 last season – and was present at Anfield for his side’s 3-2 win against Liverpool on Sunday. But he hasn’t featured for Monaco in pre-season after struggling for fitness and he might not now be involved for them again with talks over terminating his contract ongoing.

Last month, Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro cast doubt on Pogba’s future, hinting he could leave this summer. “Maybe he’ll leave, yes, maybe he’ll stay here, yes,” Scuro told a news conference. “That’s [Pogba’s future] a very complicated subject because we have a lot of respect for Paul. For the person first of all.

“When he first arrived here he was very positive, he worked, he helped the young players. But the truth is that the project didn’t go well last season. When we started this project during the summer, the expectations that we had were different to what happened.

“I think now, we must be fair to him, look at his preparation every week, to see how he has progressed, his physical level, his technical level. And after, that will be a decision for the coach. If the coach decides to give him game time or not. That depends completely on performances. We have the summer to see what Paul’s level will be.

“With Paul, the relationship has always been open, transparent. If, at a certain time, the player’s objectives and the club’s are different, we have to talk and find a solution. Performance will give all the answers we need.”

Pogba, who came through the ranks at United, returned to Old Trafford for £89.3million in 2016 after spending some time at Juventus. He went on to become an important asset for Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during his six-year spell back at the Reds, making more than 200 appearances in the process.

But Pogba would go on to leave United for a second time in 2022 after his contract expired and re-joined Juventus.

The organisers of the upcoming BWF World Championships in India have taken extensive steps to upgrade the venue, the Indira Gandhi Stadium, to avoid the embarrassment that rocked the India Open earlier this year.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) — the venue’s owner — learnt their lesson the hard way. During the India Open in January, pigeons twice halted a second-round match between HS Prannoy and Loh Kean Yew. The subsequent complaints regarding hygiene and Delhi’s smog left the BAI in a difficult position.

With the BWF World Championships returning to India after 17 years, the organisers are leaving no stone unturned to avoid further controversies. They have put anti-bird measures in place and even roped in monkey whisperers to host the world-class event from August 17 to 23.

The vents have been sealed, wooden doors have been replaced with a double-door entry system, and an automatic outer door has been added ahead of the regular ones. Additionally, a non-toxic gel sourced from the US has been applied around the stadium’s ducting to keep birds and insects away, while portable machines that mimic predatory bird calls have been installed as a final layer of defence.

“The January event, the India Open, we had our job cut out… so we had to improve it and we were given this task. We actually started planning from February itself on how we can improve the overall situation of this stadium as this is a pretty old stadium. The infrastructure is obviously quite old. So we just wanted to refurbish it and also represent it as a new and good thing,” SAI Executive Director Ambar Pratap Singh told reporters.

“So as you’ve be seeing, it’s not just structural upgradation that have been done, a lot of soft upgradation has also been done. One, I would like them to see is the lake. We have a lake and we have tried to improve it. By the start of the event, you will see a beautiful lake just across the stadium. These are some of the soft upgrades that have been done along with structural upgrades where the roof was treated, a lot of expansion joints were treated.

“A lot of chairs are new, many of them have been rubbed and polished properly. The buildings have been painted. As far as the pigeons are concerned, there was concern inside the arena. We have introduced innovative ways to deal with it.

“It includes machines which have been imported from the US. It has also to do with a lot of non-toxic gel, a technology which repels pigeons,” he added.

He said it was a joint effort between SAI, CPWD, and BAI, and that the Badminton World Federation was happy with the work done and the condition of the venue. 

“Many works have been done together by a newly-constituted engineering division. SAI now has come up with a specialised engineering division of its own. The engineering division have taken up some works, others have been taken up by the CPWD and now it has been taken over by BAI. We have given the venue to them and they will be further beautifying it, making it ready for the tournament.

“The BWF is pretty happy and satisfied with the work,” he said during a guided tour of the venue for mediapersons accompanied by BAI secretary general Sanjay Mishra.

Singh said they are in regular touch with MCD to keep stray dogs and monkey away from the venue.

“We have introduced double doors, automatic closing system… now it is not possible for monkeys to enter the arena. As far as the whole campus is concerned, there can be a possibility (of stray monkeys) but we are in touch with the MCD.

“For dogs also we are regularly in touch with the MCD. They will do whatever is there to be done… send them (dogs) to shelters.” 
He declined to reveal the expenditure for the renovation, stating that the BWF was satisfied with the court lighting and drift control.

“That (court lighting and drift control) has been done by specialists from the BWF. These are technical things BWF has to do, so that was sorted and they’re absolutely satisfied that the drift has been managed.

“At the India Open also, the BWF had no problem with the lighting. There was a little bit of shadow (on the court) during the India Open. We have resolved it. An expert will come from Indonesia to test the facility but BWF is satisfied,” the official said.

“Besides, roof leakages have been sorted. This is a very old building and roof leakage was a big issue but the engineering team has done a wonderful job so far. We have had heavy rains in the past few days and we have been tested.

A Women’s Champion announced on tonight’s WWE show that she was medically not cleared to compete in the ring. She was involved in a brutal tag team match last week.

The name being discussed is Kendal Grey. She won the NXT Women’s Championship from Lola Vice in the main event of The Great American Bash 2026. The win marked Grey’s first title victory in WWE’s black-and-silver brand. Last Tuesday, the 25-year-old put her gold on the line against Vice in an Underground match.

Kendal Grey was exhausted in the final stages of the contest. However, Wren Sinclair motivated her to fight through the pain. Grey ultimately applied the armbar submission on Vice, forcing her to tap out.

This week on WWE NXT, a backstage segment featured a doctor checking on Grey. He taped up the champion’s ear, meaning she got hurt in her title match against Vice. The angle was followed by Kali Armstrong calling out Grey. However, she was interrupted by Kelani Jordan.

Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair arrived with a contract and joined the duo in the ring. During the segment, it was revealed that the NXT Women’s Champion was medically not cleared to compete. However, she handed the contract for a future title shot to Jordan, confirming a match between the two at Heatwave 2026.

Kali Armstrong was displeased with the development, and she initiated a brawl. She took out Grey to make a strong statement and stake her claim to the NXT Women’s Championship. The promo segment also confirmed that Grey will defend her gold against Armstrong if she manages to beat Jordan in their upcoming title match at Heatwave.

Kelani Jordan has been part of WWE NXT since June 2023. Surprisingly, the title match at Heatwave will mark her first televised singles bout for the NXT Women’s Championship. Fans must stay tuned to find out if she can finally achieve her goal and become a world champion.