The inaugural edition of the U23 World Squash Championships got off to a rip-roaring start at DHA Creek Club as 20 top quality matches wowed the Karachi crowd.

The tournament, which will see the winners claim the lions share of a $60,000USD prize pot and qualify automatically for this years PSA World Championships, is taking place in Pakistan from 6-10 April.

In the match of the day, Malaysian 3/4 seed Ameeshenraj Chandaran was pushed to the limit by unseeded Pakistani Muhammad Ammad in a 71-minute epic on the glass court.

Ammad, 19, thrived in front of the assembled squash royalty including Jahangir Khan and Qamar Zaman, taking a surprise lead against the World No.89 with a thrilling 12-10 win.

Chandaran fired back with an 11-7 win only for Ammad to dig in to reclaim the lead 11-9 in game three.

Ammad, whose highest World Ranking to date was 336 in 2023, was briefly in the ascendency in game four as he sensed a famous upset, only for Chandaran to finally find his rhythm, drawing level once again with an 11-9 win of his own.

With the wind in his sails, Chandaran pushed on and the 21-year-old closed out after a nervous video referee decision on match ball 11-8 to set up a second round clash with Hong Kong, Chinas Matthew Lam.

There was so much on the line and Ammad put up a very good fight.  Ive got juice left in me, but Im going to take it one game at a time, Chandaran said afterwards.

Ammad was one of six home representatives in action today. In the womens draw, Amna Fayyaz and Sana Bahadar battled bravely before going down in close matches against Kurumi Takahashi and Tamara Holzbauerová, while Mariam Malik was beaten in straight games by Noa Romero Blazquez.

In the mens event, the hosts secured two wins via Noor Zaman and Hamza Khan. Noor Zaman grandson of Pakistan great Qamar Zaman fought back from a game down to beat Kuwaits Hussain Alzaatari, while Khan World Junior Champion in 2023 cruised past Radu Stefan Pena of Romania.

Click here to view all the results from round one of the 2025 U23 World Squash Championship.

Squad selection for the Lions always stirs up debate and fly-half is set to be a hotly-contested position.

England duo Fin Smith and Marcus Smith, Scotland's Finn Russell and the Ireland pair of Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley will be under consideration to wear the 10 jersey.

Former Ulster fly-half Ian Humphreys believes England fly-half Fin Smith could be named in the squad at the expense of England team-mate Marcus Smith, with Russell and Prendergast also included.

"I think Prendergast will go and will start the first Test," said Humphreys.

"Marcus Smith could miss out because he didn't play there much in the Six Nations, so I think it will be Fin Smith, Prendergast and Russell.

Seymour disagreed and said Marcus Smith's versatility and credit in the bank before the Six Nations means he is still in a strong position to get the nod.

"I feel like Marcus Smith was in a really strong position before the Six Nations," said Seymour.

"Through performance and selection he's maybe not as clear-cut now, and Fin Smith has been a wonderful player for England.

"Marcus Smith's ability to play 15 as well might provide him with a little bit of a leverage on Fin Smith."

An outside contender is Owen Farrell, son of head coach Andy, who has recently returned from injury for Racing 92, but has not played Test rugby since the 2023 World Cup.

"He's missed a lot of the season, but if he can get back to playing well - you talk about multiple positions," added Humphreys.

"In a good way, I don't think he [Andy Farrell] cares what anyone else thinks.

"If he can go out there and do a job, which no doubt he probably can, then it's not beyond the realms of possibility."

Former British and Irish Lions and Wales fly-half Dan Biggar has ended his playing career.

Biggar finished his 18-year career with French club Toulon, who he joined in November 2022.

He won 112 caps for Wales in a 15-year Test career and scored more than 600 points. His final appearance was at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Biggar went on two British and Irish Lions tours, making three Test appearances in South Africa in 2021.

"There comes a point where you just know, not because of anything in particular, but someone once said to me when you know, you'll know," Biggar said as he announced his decision on social media.

"Rugby has given me everything. I threw myself into this game at 17 and it's given me a life that I could never have imagined.

"I've lived out my childhood dreams for the best part of two decades and I'm so so grateful for that."

More to follow.

TAMPA, FLA. -- Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart gathered at the UConn Huskies' team hotel following their alma mater's loss in the 2022 national championship game to South Carolina. The trio of UConn greats wanted to console the Huskies -- and Paige Bueckers.

The defeat was devastating, historic. It was UConn's first loss in a national title game after 11 previous wins, extending the school's championship drought another year. And yet, the alumni wanted to reassure Bueckers, then a sophomore, that heartbreak was all part of the process.

"[The titles] never come without some really trying times," Bird recalls telling Bueckers and teammate Azzi Fudd. "Even if you go 39-0 in a season, it still wasn't perfect." Bueckers' tenure in Storrs, while undoubtedly impressive, has been far from perfect. Her freshman year was held in a bubble amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She missed more than half of her sophomore season and her entire junior year because of knee injuries, most consequentially tearing an ACL in summer 2022. She reached the Final Four three times before this year, and fell short in each instance.

But not this time. In her final game as a Husky, Bueckers earned that elusive national title. She scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in an 82-59 victory over defending champion South Carolina that secured the sole accolade missing from Bueckers' résumé and snapped UConn's nine-year title drought.

The past five years for Bueckers and UConn have been defined by their shared pursuit of that coveted championship, with the common thread of getting knocked down and needing to find their way back up.

"When you lose at UConn, it's like the world is ending," Stewart told ESPN. "[We knew] that they were going to get it. It took a little bit longer, but they got here today."

The path might have been circuitous. The process might have been trying. But the ending for Bueckers and UConn? It was as perfect as it gets.

"It's truly storybook," said Rebecca Lobo, who like Bueckers won her first and only national championship with UConn in her final career game. "For her and the journey that she's had, what she's been through, I think, too, it means so much because of all the trials and tribulations she's had along the way."

The entirety of that tumultuous and rewarding five-year journey was distilled in the 10-second hug Bueckers and coach Geno Auriemma shared on the sideline when she checked out of the game for the last time. It was the first time Auriemma had seen Bueckers cry, and he told her, "I love you." It was Auriemma who couldn't hold back tears later, calling this "one of the most emotional Final Fours and emotional national championships I've been a part of since that very first."

"[Bueckers'] journey," he said on ESPN's postgame show, "has been the most incredible for any kid I've had."

NEARLY SIX YEARS to the day before Bueckers cut down the nets in Amalie Arena, she was visiting Tampa as a junior in high school attending the 2019 Final Four for USA Basketball. It was just days after she'd announced her commitment to UConn, her dream school, where she envisioned winning championships and getting the Huskies back on top.

The pairing of Bueckers and UConn proved seamless. With a swagger to her game to pair with her on-court dominance, she took the college basketball world by storm as soon as she arrived in Storrs, becoming the first freshman to win multiple national player of the year awards. She propelled the Huskies to the Final Four, but even after they were upset by Arizona in the national semifinal, it seemed that time was on Bueckers' and UConn's side.

But the middle chapters of Bueckers' career taught her that nothing -- not time, not championship opportunities, not health -- could be taken for granted. She missed 19 games because of a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear as a sophomore, later admitting she forced her return too quickly. After tearing an ACL four months later, she sat her entire junior season.

Bueckers pushed through nearly two years of rehab, often masking her anguish. She completely altered her approach to the game and how she takes care of her body, prioritizing better nutrition, embracing Pilates and working with one of women's basketball's most renowned performance enhancement specialists. She leaned into her faith; she said that even if she didn't understand why this had happened to her, she believed there was a reason God handed her this obstacle.

Things went far from smoothly even once she returned to the court in November 2023. Last season took a toll on her as the Huskies confronted a new slew of season-ending injuries. By the postseason, Bueckers was playing some of the best basketball of her career, back better than ever from her ACL injury, but the happy-go-lucky player was nowhere to be seen, replaced by someone feeling so much weight that she'd wake up on game days just wanting them to be over.

"I was so worried about all that could go wrong," Bueckers said, "that you can't even do anything right," which all came to a head in the 2024 Final Four when the Huskies fell to Iowa by two.

This past season, Bueckers' fifth in the program, was different. With the help of a sports psychologist and Auriemma's continued guidance, she learned how to stay where her feet are. To not be so outcome-oriented. How to be more at peace with herself, to run her own race and to not let the pressure amid ever-heightening expectations become a burden.

In the leadup to Sunday, Bueckers wasn't consumed by the fear of losing. Well before she was even crowned a champion, Bueckers said she still wouldn't change a thing about her journey -- and in the end, it made Sunday's emotions all the stronger.

"You recognize the things that you've overcome to get to this point, and you feel like it's all been worth it," she said. "Just an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everything that's happened through the ups and downs. I wouldn't trade it for the world. And to be rewarded with something like this, you can't really even put it into words."

THE 12 NATIONAL championships Auriemma has won over 40 years of coaching don't alter his thinking: Winning is hard, and it requires so much to break your way.

For most of Bueckers' career, he believed that little worked in her favor. Her time in Storrs overlapped with the program's most snakebitten stretch in decades: Since Bueckers' sophomore year, UConn players have sustained 12 season-ending injuries. Bueckers and Fudd, who were recruited to be the most potent backcourt pairing in the country, appeared in just 17 games together prior to the 2024-25 campaign. It was a stretch Fudd described as having "bonded [the team] through trauma."

Even when the Huskies found themselves in the Final Four during Bueckers' sophomore and redshirt junior years, it wasn't with a group that Auriemma thought was healthy enough to have a real shot at winning it all. That's what bothers the coach most, he said this weekend, about how these past few seasons went. Because for as sensational as Bueckers had been, Auriemma has long maintained that she wouldn't be able to lift UConn to a championship -- and knock off the South Carolina juggernaut -- alone.

Finally, in her last season in Storrs, the stars aligned. For the first time in years, Auriemma believed UConn was playing at full strength. "We kind of have a chance to be able to manipulate the game a little bit better than we had before -- that's rewarding," he said Saturday. "That makes up for all the heartache and all the trauma and tribulations that we have had to go through."

Fudd enjoyed her healthiest season since arriving at UConn, playing twice as many games (34) as she had in the previous two seasons combined (17). Freshman Sarah Strong -- who announced her commitment to UConn one year ago Sunday -- surpassed even internal expectations, emerging as one of the best players in the country and a superstar in her own right.

The Bueckers-Fudd-Strong big three reminded Auriemma, as early as December, of some of his other championship cores: Rebecca Lobo, Kara Wolters and Nykesha Sales; Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson; Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.

The emergence of this UConn team -- which outside of Bueckers skews younger and inexperienced because of the team's injury spell -- was more of a slow burn, particularly after early losses to Notre Dame and USC (games in which Fudd was limited or unavailable) and a stunning February upset at Tennessee. But 10 days after looking like a shell of themselves in Knoxville, the Huskies showed their first real glimpse of what they could be, demolishing South Carolina by 29 points on Feb. 16 in Columbia -- an indication that they had changed, and a harbinger of what was to come.

"About two months ago, this team fell in love with each other," Auriemma told ESPN's Holly Rowe. "At first they would play, it was like, 'Yeah we like each other, we like each other a lot.' ... I think after the Tennessee game, they fell in love with each other, with the process, with ourselves as a group, and they started liking their coaches. I've never been happier than I've been the last couple of months coaching a team."

Playing with a new mindset, Bueckers saved some of her best performances for her final NCAA tournament, scoring 105 points across the second round, Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, the most points scored in any three-game stretch by a UConn player. She and the Huskies breezed through the tournament in such dominant fashion because of Auriemma's mastery at getting his teams to peak at the right time.

Everything was coming together with the makings of a fairytale ending. That's why, amid his usual nerves, Auriemma kept the faith.

"I don't think the basketball gods would take us all the way to the end [only for UConn to not win]," Auriemma said. "They've been really cruel with some of the kids on this team. They've suffered a lot of the things that could go wrong in their college careers as an athlete. ... So they weren't going to take us here and give us more heartbreak."

IT WAS 30 years ago Wednesday that the Huskies celebrated their first national championship by beating Tennessee in Minneapolis' Target Center. They thought they might get their full-circle moment back in 2022, when Bueckers, a Hopkins, Minnesota, product, returned to the state for her second Final Four. But it instead came three years later in the Sunshine State, when that Minnesota kid delivered the Huskies back to the mountaintop in her final collegiate basketball game, riding into the sunset a champion.

Auriemma tried to posit that Bueckers didn't need a championship to be considered one of the program's all-time greats, that her individual play and ability to lift all those around her elevated UConn to heights it wouldn't have achieved without her. People debated what her legacy would be without a ring. But now that's a moot point.

Sunday was her coronation. ESPN's "The Bird & Taurasi Show" displayed after the game a graphic listing Bueckers' collegiate accomplishments: three-time Big East player of the year, three-time unanimous first-team All-American, 2021 national player of the year.

"All those don't count," Taurasi said. "Only thing that counts is she has a national championship. She is a champion. She will forever be in the record books."

And she did it in her own way. After years of being pushed by Auriemma, even criticized by outsiders, to play more aggressively, she didn't take over the game, nor did she need to. Fudd and Strong dazzled with a combined 48 points, and the team played the UConn way. Bueckers is known for her selflessness as a teammate, so it was fitting that she could celebrate in the background as Fudd was presented the Most Outstanding Player trophy.

"It's destiny, and obviously I have a great faith, so I believe God planned it perfectly in the way that it went out," Bueckers said. "It's a great last showing of the great team basketball that we've been playing all season."

Bueckers was the last player to cut down a piece of the net, twirling it around as she let out a roar. She departed the court for the last time in her collegiate career, surrounded by a throng of screaming UConn fans and with the rest of the net around her neck -- enshrined as a national champion.

"There is something extremely validating about winning a championship. There is something about shutting people up when you win a championship," Bird said. "I'd imagine, just given the roller-coaster ride that has been her career in terms of the injuries, I think this would just be such a warm, fuzzy-feeling way to end everything."

Added Lobo: "When you get to the other side and look back, you realize sort of the perfection of it all. How many players end their career with a victory? Very few. It's just sort of the incredible culmination of everything, the exclamation mark on everything that you've done."

World number four Jessica Pegula mounted a superb second-set fightback as she beat Sofia Kenin 6-3 7-5 to land her first clay-court title at the Charleston Open.

In what was the first all-American final at the tournament since 1990, the 31-year-old Pegula took charge initially, breaking Kenin in the opening game on her way to going a set ahead.

But 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin, 26, fought back to lead the second set 5-1 and appeared poised to take the match to a decider.

However, top seed Pegula saved three set points and won six games in a row to seal victory against an opponent 40 places below her in the world rankings.

The success, coming a week after her Miami Open final loss to Aryna Sabalenka, was the eighth title of Pegula's career and second of the year after victory in Austin last month.

"To be able to come here this week after a long two weeks in Miami and take the title is just incredible," said Pegula, who will climb to number three in the rankings.

The 31-year-old told the Tennis Channel she felt tired in the second set in what were "super windy" conditions.

"In the second set, I just wanted to hold, I just wanted to tell myself to get momentum for the third, because coming into a third like that never feels good," she added.

"I honestly didn't think I was going to break her twice, but luckily I could play some good tennis."

Compatriot Jenson Brooksby clinched his first ATP title at the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston.

The 24-year-old, who entered the tournament as a qualifying wild card, stunned the second seed and 2023 champion Frances Tiafoe 6-4 6-2.

Brooksby, ranked a lowly 507th to Tiafoe's 17th on the ATP list, has returned to the tour this season after serving a 13-month ban for three doping test 'whereabouts' failures in a 12-month period.

He has a career-high ranking of 33rd and was voted the ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2021.

World number three Alcaraz's only tournament win this year came in Rotterdam in February.

Monte Carlo marks the start of his clay-court season and it a surface on which the 21-year-old has strong credentials, having won last year's French Open.

The four-time Grand Slam champion admits external pressure to replace the suspended Jannik Sinner as world number one has been affecting his form, but he begins in Monte Carlo with a different mindset.

Italian Sinner is serving a three-month doping ban from tennis.

"A lot of people are asking me, or are telling me, that I have the chance to become number one if Jannik is not playing," Alcaraz told a news conference on Sunday.

"So probably that pressure has killed me in some way."

The Spaniard said the ranking is no longer his focus, and he expects that to allow him to play more freely.

"I'm just thinking that I'm not able to become number one in the clay season, even if Jannik is not playing, I don't have the chance to do it," Alcaraz said.

"I think I'm too far from Jannik. So I'm just here and I realise that I don't have to think about it and just go there and play.

"That's my mindset right now."

After a nervy delay of about 25 minutes, firemen in a cherrypicker finally freed the parachutist - who wasn't hurt - to big cheers from the crowd.

The players, who had returned to the dressing room while the rescue took place, were called back out and the last-16 match finally kicked off.

Holders Toulouse went on to secure their place in the quarter-finals with a 38-15 victory.

Dominic McKay, chairman of tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), thanked everyone involved in Trouillet's rescue.

"We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all involved at the stadium, both clubs and the emergency services for safely returning the parachutist to the ground," he said.

"The safety of the individual and of spectators in the stadium is of the utmost priority.

"We will pick up with Stade Toulousain and the stadium in due course."

Ospreys: Jack Walsh; Dan Kasende, Evardi Boshoff, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Dan Edwards, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake, Tom Botha, Rhys Davies, Adam Beard, Jac Morgan (capt), Justin Tipuric, Morgan Morris.

Replacements: George McGuigan, Garyn Phillips, Ben Warren, James Fender, Morgan Morse, Luke Davies. Owen Williams, Iestyn Hopkins.

Scarlets: Blair Murray; Macs Page, Joe Roberts, Eddie James, Ellis Mee; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies; Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Jac Price, Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Josh Macleod (capt), Taine Plumtree.

Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Sam O'Connor, Sam Wainwright, Alex Craig, Jarrod Taylor, Efan Jones, Ioan Nicholas, Dan Davis.

Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)

Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe & Jamie Leahy (RFU)

TMO: David Rose (RFU).

Saints' victory was as good as it got for the English sides, who collectively conceded 34 tries across their five matches.

Saracens rested England players Maro Itoje, Elliot Daly, Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Willis but raced into an early lead in France before being overpowered 72-42 by 10-try Toulon.

Harlequins picked their internationals, including England's Marcus Smith, but failed to land a shot as they were thrashed 62-0 by 10-try Leinster at Croke Park.

Leicester Tigers were comfortably beaten 43-19 at Glasgow in the final game on Saturday.

Saracens left out their Test stars, in compliance with England's player welfare guidelines, after prioritising their pursuit of a Premiership play-off place over a fourth Champions Cup title.

Director of rugby Mark McCall chose to select his England regulars for their Premiership matches against Harlequins and Leicester, forcing his hand in Toulon.

Tigers head coach Michael Cheika said "different teams are affected by different things", citing injuries for his side after captain Julian Montoya, Wales back row Tommy Reffell and England lock Ollie Chessum all missed the trip to Scotstoun.

"People are always looking for trends but in reality you have to take each individual game as it is," Cheika told BBC Radio Leicester.

"Saracens were affected by the laws of having to rest players. We had to rest one and have injuries off the back of the Six Nations, but it comes down to game day.

"There were a couple of things that weren't good enough and we weren't good enough to win."

It did not get much easier for Sale Sharks on Sunday as they travelled to defending champions Toulouse, who trailed at half-time before closing out a 38-15 win in the south of France.