Tommy Fleetwood rode a wave of home support to the top of the leaderboard on day one of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Roared on by a partisan crowd, the 32-year-old from Southport carded six birdies and a solitary bogey in an opening 66 to share the clubhouse lead with South African amateur Christo Lamprecht on five under par.

Former champion Stewart Cink, who denied 59-year-old Tom Watson a fairytale victory at Turnberry in 2009, rolled back the years himself with a flawless 68 matched by US Open champion Wyndham Clark, with Jordan Spieth and club member Matthew Jordan round in 69.

Fleetwood revelled in the support of the large galleries as he bids to win his first major title in memory of his late mother Sue, who died on July 21 last year.

“It really was a great day,” Fleetwood said. “It’s always very nerve-wracking playing in front of your home crowd in such a big event, but I got off to a decent start.

“I was actually happy to have to get up and down on the first, holing a putt really settled me down and to get that going on the back nine was really, really cool. To get that support all day was amazing.

“If you’re not going to enjoy this atmosphere and these experiences then what’s the point? Make sure you have the time of your life out there.

“Being this close to home is the coolest thing and I’m so grateful to everyone that cheers me on.”

Lamprecht had set the early target thanks to a round containing seven birdies and two bogeys, the 6ft 8in 22-year-old having qualified by winning the Amateur Championship at nearby Hillside a month ago.

Aided by playing alongside mentor Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 winner, Lamprecht carded the lowest round by an amateur in any major since England’s Tom Lewis shot 65 at Royal St George’s in 2011.

“I’d probably say the first tee shot was the only bit of nerves I had all day,” Lamprecht said.

“I just kind of walked off the first tee box after hitting my snap hook drive, and my caddie just told me, ‘listen, you’re playing The Open as an amateur, no need to stress’. We kind of had fun from there.

“It’s pretty surreal to be leading. [But] I think I earned my spot to be here. I think the way I played today I earned to be on the top of the leaderboard, as of now.

“It’s not a cocky thing to say. I just personally think I believe in myself, and I guess stepping on to the first tee box if you’re a professional or a competitor, you should be believing that you should be the best standing there.”

Jordan struck the opening tee shot at 6.35am, but the early start did not prevent him attracting plenty of support from fellow Royal Liverpool members, friends and family.

“Amazing. I’m kind of running out of words to describe it,” Jordan said of the reception he received. “It was crazy, mental, loud – everything that I could have wished for.

“I’m certainly trying to think of a better experience than that, and I don’t think I can.”

The controversial new 17th hole claimed its first victim with Lucas Herbert, joint-leader at the time on three under, making a triple-bogey at the 126-yard par three.

Herbert missed the green to the left, chipped across the putting surface into a bunker, left his next in the sand and eventually finished with a six.

My Prospero could seek a confidence-boosting success in the Sky Bet York Stakes on Saturday week.

Trained by William Haggas, the four-year-old was unlucky not to bag at least one Group One contest last term.

He was beaten a neck when third to Coroebus in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and returned to the Berkshire track to run Bay Bridge to half a length when third in the Champion Stakes.

Things have not gone according to plan so far this term with a fourth-placed effort in the Lockinge over a mile on his return at Newbury in May, before filling the same position when beaten over six lengths by Mostahdaf in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

A drop back to Group Two company over 10 furlongs on the Knavesmire could now be an appealing option for My Prospero, for a race which is the highlight of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival on its final day.

Haggas said: “We are looking at York next Saturday. He has run in two Group Ones (this season) and we just want to get his confidence, get him back winning if we can.

“It will be a tough race, but he’s a pretty nice horse and he looks and seems well, so hopefully he will run a good race.

“He is a good horse. He hasn’t done badly, he’s been fourth – but I was a little disappointed with him at Ascot. We have freshened him up a bit and hopefully he will run well.”

Meanwhile, Desert Hero has been pencilled in for the Group Three Gordon Stakes at Goodwood on August 3.

A son of Sea The Stars, the three-year-old earned a third success in five career starts when recording a famous victory under Tom Marquand in the King George V Stakes.

His head verdict over Valiant King gave the King and Queen their first success at Royal Ascot.

Haggas said: “It is looking like he will go for Gordon Stakes.

“It was the Glasgow Stakes at Hamilton or the Gordon, but Sir Michael (Stoute) is running another of the King’s in the Glasgow Stakes (Circle Of Fire) and we are going for the Gordon.”

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw credited her side’s resilience but lauded Australia’s attacking threats despite the absence of Sam Kerr after their 1-0 defeat to the joint-hosts in the Women’s World Cup.

Steph Catley’s 52nd-minute penalty was enough for the Matildas to overcome a dogged Ireland and get them off to the perfect start in Group B.

The hosts were without captain Kerr, with the Chelsea striker set to miss the next two matches of her home World Cup with a calf injury.

Pauw praised her team’s reaction to going a goal down and their overall performance despite defeat.

“It was impossible to switch play in the first half because they (Australia) did really well but in the second half we found solutions and we made changes to make sure we had control in those areas,” Pauw said.

“We had more opportunism in our play because we needed to score and I think that worked out really well. Abbie (Larkin) and Lucy (Quinn) were fantastic when they came on.

“Sam Kerr is of course one of, if not the top striker in the world so the fact that she did not play was a surprise for us but Australia have so many fast and attacking players that our game plan did not change because of that.

“We had prepared for that (top attacking players) and we had taken all their intentions out to get beyond our defensive line, they were not there once and that’s a huge compliment for our team as that’s what they were aiming for.”

Tony Gustavsson credited Kerr’s leadership off the pitch.

The Matildas manager admitted he did not want Ireland to learn the news of her injury prior to Thursday’s fixture.

“She (Kerr) means a lot for us emotionally, spiritually and with that team spirit for sure and Steph (Catley) as a vice captain, the way those two lead this team is amazing,” Gustavsson said.

“Sam is a massive part of Ireland’s game plan and we didn’t want to give that away in advance but once we come to the stadium we didn’t play any type of mind games, we were honest with the team sheet but we wanted to wait to the last second to not give away too much in tournament football.

“I ask for some understanding with that, I hope it’s OK. It’s obviously devastating for us and the players.”

Moeen Ali reached the Test all-rounder’s benchmark of 3,000 runs and 200 wickets as he batted against Australia at Old Trafford.

The England spinner, promoted to number three in the batting order for the fourth Ashes Test, flashed a Pat Cummins delivery wide of gully to reach 24 for his innings and exactly 3,000 runs in the format before immediately celebrating with a more authentic boundary through the covers.

He is the 16th player and the fourth Englishman to reach both landmarks and, here, the PA news agency looks at that select group.

Awesome foursome

Moeen brought up 200 wickets with the scalp of Steve Smith in Australia’s second innings of the third Test at Headingley.

With Ollie Pope out injured, he put his hand up to bat at three in England’s chase in Leeds and would have had hopes of making the 28 runs he needed to tick off both marks in one match.

Just five were forthcoming but he took his opportunity on the second morning in Manchester.

Moeen’s five centuries include a best of 155 not out against Sri Lanka in 2016 while he also has five five-wicket hauls, his best figures being six for 53 against South Africa in 2017.

He joins team-mate Stuart Broad and past greats Sir Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff, in the 3,000/200 club.

Broad had his own moment in the spotlight on day one of the fourth Test with his 600th wicket, just the fifth man ever to achieve that feat, which he paired with his 3,640 runs at 18.10 in his 165 Tests prior to this, with a best of 169 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010.

Botham amassed 5,200 runs at 33.54, with 14 centuries and a best of 208, adding 383 wickets at 28.40 to stake a firm claim as statistically England’s greatest all-rounder – he is also the only one of the quartet to have a higher average batting than bowling.

Flintoff reached 3,845 runs and 226 wickets, in only 79 Tests compared to Botham’s 102. Moeen has taken 67 games to reach 3,000 and 200.

Captain Ben Stokes has over 6,000 runs under his belt and could add his name to the list this series, if his troublesome knee allows him to add the three wickets he still needs.

Sweet 16

England have more representatives than any other nation in the group of elite all-rounders, after Moeen broke the previous tie with New Zealand.

The Black Caps have three names on the list in Sir Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori.

South Africa and India have two apiece – Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis for the former and Kapil Dev and Ravichandran Ashwin for the latter, with five other countries having one each.

West Indies great Sir Garry Sobers was the first to achieve the feat, with Imran Khan following as Pakistan’s only representative – Wasim Akram came up 102 runs short.

Australia spinner Shane Warne, Sri Lanka seamer Chaminda Vaas and Bangladesh’s former captain Shakib al Hasan complete the list.

Kallis has by far the most runs of the 16 players with 13,289, over 5,000 clear of Sobers (8,032) with Dev and Botham the only others over 5,000.

Warne, with 708, comfortably tops Broad as the leading wicket-taker with Ashwin next on 486.

Alice Haynes is excited to see Asadna make his stable debut in the Ire-Incentive – It Pays To Buy Irish Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury.

The Mehmas colt created a huge impression when storming to a 12-length success on his introduction at Ripon and as a result was widely considered Britain’s chief hope for last month’s Coventry Stakes.

But Asadna could finish only ninth at Royal Ascot, with owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah subsequently removing the youngster from George Boughey’s yard and switching him to the care of fellow Newmarket-based trainer Haynes.

The Cadland Cottage handler has been pleased with what she has seen from the two-year-old in his homework and has booked three-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy for Friday’s Listed feature.

Haynes said: “It’s obviously a bigger and more competitive renewal of the Rose Bowl than has been the case in previous years, but the ground should suit as long as they don’t get the rain and he seems to be in good order at home.

“We’ll learn a lot about him and we can go from there. We haven’t had him for that long, but I’m happy with what I’ve seen.

“He came to hand quite nicely and did a nice piece of work on Tuesday that I was quite happy with.”

Asadna’s rivals include the Ralph Beckett-trained Palmar Bay, who was last seen edging out subsequent July Stakes scorer Jasour at Salisbury in May.

Jasour’s trainer Clive Cox and owners Al Mohamediya Racing are also represented, with Shagraan stepping up in class following an impressive Windsor success.

“I was very pleased with him at Windsor and he’s come back from the race well. This is a big step up in company, but I hope he’s ready to take that move,” said Cox.

“It’s great we’ve got a very good bunch of two-year-olds that are all moving forwards nicely. If we can keep our 31 per cent strike-rate up, I’d be delighted.”

Richard Hannon’s Dapper Valley looked the part on his debut at Newbury, but needs to bounce back from a disappointing effort in Sandown’s National Stakes.

Balon D’Or has run four good races for Hugo Palmer and steps down in grade after finishing fourth in a French Group Three on his most recent appearance.

Marco Botti’s once-raced Windsor victor Kinnigoli Kid also features in a competitive contest.

Steph Catley ensured co-hosts Australia opened their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland despite the absence of star striker Sam Kerr.

Catley’s second-half penalty was enough to clinch three points for the Matildas in front of a record crowd of 75,784 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

However, they had to do it the hard way after their record goalscorer Kerr was ruled out of the first two Group B games with a calf injury suffered in training.

Vera Pauw’s side, making their debut at a major tournament, made life difficult throughout for a side ranked 10th by FIFA, 12 places above Ireland.

But despite a late flurry, they were unable to get themselves back on level terms and will now turn their attention to next Wednesday’s clash with Canada in Perth.

For Australia, there was relief after three hard-earned points were banked to match the feat of co-hosts New Zealand, who had earlier stunned Group A rivals Norway with a 1-0 victory in Auckland, ahead of their second fixture against Nigeria next Thursday.

Boss Jitka Klimkova revealed all remained calm in advance of New Zealand’s 1-0 victory over Norway which opened the Women’s World Cup in Auckland, where a fatal shooting took place on Thursday morning.

The incident, which occurred in the city’s central business district close to Norway’s team hotel, resulted in three deaths – including that of the suspected gunman – with more wounded in what New Zealand Police characterised as an “isolated incident” and “not a national security risk”.

FIFA said a decision was taken to proceed with the match as planned after consulting with New Zealand authorities and the participating teams, who observed a moment of silence for the victims before the tournament kicked off at Eden Park.

The Football Ferns opened their campaign in style as Hannah Wilkinson’s second-half goal was enough to set the pace in Group A.

Klimkova said: “The players today were more preparing for themselves and it was pretty relaxed, but we still gave them the option to speak to the staff to get clarity but I believe the clarity was there, so they were more focussing on their individual preparation.”

FIFA also issued a statement before kick-off assuring they had no safety concerns for the rest of the tournament, which will see England open their campaign against Haiti on Saturday and conclude with the August 20 final at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: “We appreciate the collaboration with the New Zealand authorities from the earliest moment of this tragic incident.

“We have been involved in ongoing communication from the outset, and we have also received the necessary reassurances from Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson in relation to the safety and security of the participating teams and fans at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.

“FIFA extends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who lost their lives, and our thoughts and prayers remain with those who have been injured in this tragic incident.”

Robertson echoed Infantino’s assurances, saying: “This incident is in no way related to the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament and there are no national security concerns. We have provided the necessary assurances about the security of the tournament to FIFA’s leadership this afternoon.

“There is a comprehensive security plan around our hosting of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and we will continue to work with the police who have been part of an operational planning group for the tournament, and as such, have plans in place and were well placed to deal with this morning’s incident.”

An earlier statement from football’s global governing body said FIFA was “in constant contact” with the teams involved and they are “being supported in relation to any impact that may have taken place”.

Norway’s team hotel is located around 400 metres from where the shooting took place, but a team spokesperson told the PA news agency before the match that everything was calm in the Norwegian squad and preparations for the match were proceeding as normal.

Captain Maren Mjelde said in a statement: “Being informed about the consequences, the Norwegian team’s thoughts are with those affected and their families.

“Everyone probably woke up quite quickly when the helicopter hovered outside our hotel window and a large number of emergency vehicles arrived.

“At first we didn’t know what was going on, but eventually there were updates on TV and the local media. We felt safe the whole time. FIFA has a good security system at the hotel and we have our own security officer in the squad.

“Everyone seems calm and we are preparing as normal for the game tonight, then we may have to adapt if there are any instructions from the authorities.”

England made an encouraging start with bat and ball as they attempted to take control of their must-win Ashes Test at Emirates Old Trafford.

The hosts snapped up Australia’s last two wickets as the tourists bowed out for 317, and recovered well from the early loss of Ben Duckett to reach 61 for one at lunch.

Moeen Ali’s experimental promotion to number three was beginning to pay off, with the all-rounder reeling off five boundaries on his way to 31 not out and Zak Crawley was unbeaten on 26.

The growing sense that the game was unfolding in England’s favour was strengthened when Cameron Green had Crawley lbw, only for ball-tracking to show the ball disappearing past the leg stump.

With plenty of rain forecast over the weekend, the home side know they must move fast to set the game up and land the victory they need to keep the series alive, but after four sessions the building blocks are in place.

They enjoyed the perfect start, hometown hero James Anderson striking with the first ball of the day following 17 wicketless overs on Wednesday.

It was far from his best delivery, served up a fraction full outside off stump, but it got the desired response as Pat Cummins lifted a gentle catch straight to Ben Stokes at point to make it 299 for nine.

Anderson, bowling from the end that bears his name, took the acclaim in what could yet be his last appearance at this ground.

England looked to have wrapped things up in the next over, number 11 Josh Hazlewood fencing Chris Woakes to slip, but the TV umpire called a marginal no-ball as the seamer nudged the line.

Australia cashed in another 17 runs but Woakes’ hopes of a first five-for against Australia were only on pause, Hazlewood clipping to third slip to end the innings.

The English reply began with four off the first delivery, Crawley brushing Starc fine off his hip to keep the cheers coming from the stands.

It was not long before they turned to groans though, Duckett lasting only six balls as he pressed forward and nicked Starc tamely into Alex Carey’s gloves.

That meant an early appearance for Moeen, who promptly threw his hands at the fourth delivery he faced and hit fresh air. Crawley was also bested when he edged Hazlewood just in front of the cordon, but the attacking instincts of the pair began to pay off.

Crawley whipped Hazlewood smartly through midwicket as his timing returned and Moeen hit the boundary ropes four times in eight deliveries as he unfurled a couple of picturesque drives and took his career tally beyond 3,000 Test runs.

Green thought he had Crawley when umpire Joel Wilson raised his finger, but a wise referral spared the opener and brought one of the biggest roars of the day.

Crawley signed off the session with a sweet cover drive off Cummins, leaving Australia with questions to answer in the afternoon.

Amateur champion Christo Lamprecht outscored the professionals to set the clubhouse lead on his Open debut as 50-year-old 2009 champion Stewart Cink rolled back the years to put himself in contention.

The 22-year-old Lamprecht, a 6ft 8in South African who qualified by winning his title at Hillside just up the coast in Southport a month ago, posted an impressive five-under 66 to set the mark for some of the bigger names going out later in the day.

His round was the lowest opening 18 holes by an amateur in a major since England’s Tom Lewis shot 65 in 2011 at St George’s.

Cink, the man who denied five-time champion Tom Watson’s potential fairytale Open victory at the age of 59 at Turnberry 14 years ago, also found some form to follow him home on three under.

There was also a dream start for Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan, given the honour of hitting the first tee shot at 6.35am after coming through final qualifying at nearby West Lancashire, who carded a two-under 69.

Lamprecht reeled off three birdies in four holes from the third as he turned in 32 and picked up another shot at the 10th where he holed a 13-foot putt.

The big-hitting South African’s aggressive approach got the better of him at the 387-yard par-four 11th when his drive off the tee found the rough and ended in his first bogey of the day.

However, he chipped in from the front of the 14th and then also birdied the 602-yard par-five 15th to get to five under and, although he bogeyed the next, he was on in two at the par-five last and two-putted for his seventh birdie of the day.

Cink turned in 33 after birdies at the fifth and seventh and picked up a further shot at the 15th to finish bogey-free two strokes behind.

Two shots further back was Jordan, a member at Royal Liverpool since the age of seven, who found his feet after a nervy opening hole which required a 14ft par save.

Cheered on by a supportive crowd which included family, friends and fellow members of the DP World Tour, he birdied the second and then produced a brilliant three-wood approach to 10 feet from 256 yards at the par-five fifth, which just carried the greenside bunker to set up a two-putt birdie.

He turned at two under but after his second bogey of the day at the 11th, where he found himself up against the face of a bunker, he bounced back with a birdie at the 16th.

On his reception during his round, Jordan – who holds the course record of 62 – said: “Amazing. I’m kind of running out of words to describe it. It was crazy, mental, loud – everything that I could have wished for.

“I’m certainly trying to think of a better experience than that, and I don’t think I can.”

Southport’s Tommy Fleetwood got to two under through 11 holes with world number one Scottie Scheffler a shot further back.

The controversial new 17th hole claimed its first victim with Lucas Herbert, joint-leader at the time on three under, making a triple-bogey at the 126-yard hole.

He missed the green to the left, chipped across the putting surface into a bunker, left his next in the sand and eventually finished with a six.

Declan Rice is one of the world's best players in his position and is a great signing for Arsenal, according to John Barnes.

England midfielder Rice completed his move from West Ham to Arsenal last week in a transfer that could reach a value of £105 million.

Rice racked up 204 Premier League appearances for West Ham and bowed out by leading the club to success in the Europa Conference League.

Opta data showed he made more interceptions (63) than any other player in the Premier League last season.

Ex-England international Barnes has no doubts about Rice's ability to make an impact with Arsenal as they challenge for Premier League and Champions League glory under Mikel Arteta.

Rice made his first Arsenal appearance on Wednesday as his new side opened their US tour by comprehensively beating Wayne Rooney's MLS All-Stars 5-0 in Washington DC.

"Declan Rice, for a defensive midfield player, I think is one of the best in the country, if not the world, so, therefore, it's a great signing for Arsenal," Barnes said to Stats Perform.

"It is a great signing. He's very, very good. I would've loved him at Liverpool, but obviously, he wanted to go to Arsenal. He's a London boy.

"Arsenal have got what they needed. They have Thomas Partey in that position and Arsenal have always been a good footballing team, but they have lacked a bit of strength and protection for the back four and he will then give them that.

"That is as well as obviously signing Kai Havertz, a player with good experience, so they have made some very good signings."

Rice's England team-mate Jude Bellingham has also been on the move, swapping Borussia Dortmund for Real Madrid.

Bellingham completed 88 take-ons in the Bundesliga last season, the most by any central midfielder across Europe's big five leagues in 2022-23.

Barnes also believes that major transfer will prove to be a success as long as the 20-year-old does not try to do too much to meet any unrealistic individual expectations.
 
"He has been fantastic and I think he will do very well," Barnes said about Bellingham.

"However, he's not going there to be the superstar player. Of course, they had it with Cristiano Ronaldo and there was Lionel Messi at Barcelona, but Real Madrid doesn't have that [in the current team] – look at Eden Hazard [struggling] there. 

"Bellingham is a hard-working midfield player who is not going there to be a Messi or Ronaldo because that's not the type of player he is. 

"If you look at what they have there in terms of [Eduardo] Camavinga and [Aurelien] Tchouameni, they have got lots of good young players who are hardworking midfield players and Bellingham will be one of those. 

"Bellingham is not going there to be a Messi or Ronaldo – he is going there to help that situation whereby the age of the squad has come down. He's a very, very good midfield player who will help Real Madrid. 

"As long as he recognises that he's not going there to be the best player in the world in terms of what the public expect, like for him to score 30 goals a season and to be dribbling around people. 

"He does his job which he does very well and he will be very successful."

Ukraine Tennis Federation (UTF) chief executive Evgeniy Zukin sees no issue with Ukrainian players refusing to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian opponents.

The Wimbledon crowd booed Victoria Azarenka when she did not shake Elina Svitolina's hand on Centre Court earlier this month.

It left Belarusian Azarenka bemused, as she was respecting the wishes of Ukraine's Svitolina.

While Zukin was disappointed to see that reaction from the crowd, he also stressed there are more important matters at play than players not shaking hands after a match.

Zukin told Stats Perform: "It's really hard to explain to everyone in a 10,000-seater court what’s going on, what kind of conflict is happening and how everything is connected.

"I was at that match and I didn’t like how the crowd reacted but it clearly shows they don't understand. But if they would like to know, they would know.

"Any kind of statement from the tournament or the WTA, you cannot be sure everybody understands or everybody gets the message – it's just a strange situation.

"We were living in a strange time of COVID but it's nothing compared to this. I don't see it as a big problem that not everyone understands what's going on.

"Whatever the player's position – you cannot make exceptions in this case, because we’re in a war with Russia and Belarus.

"We didn't start it and simply it's not going to be comprehended by the Ukrainian society if our players shook hands with their opponents.

"Some spectators may not like it but this is how things are. We have so many worse things going on than this no-handshake thing. We are spending too much time on things that don't matter too much."

Zukin and the UTF do not believe Russian or Belarusian athletes should be allowed to compete amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Indeed, heading towards the Paris Olympics next gear, Zukin believes Ukraine will boycott the competition should Belarusian and Russians be allowed to feature, even under a neutral banner.

"We don't think it's fair that during the war, Russians or Belarusians are accepted in any way or any kind to the Olympics," he said.

"We know they are funded by their state, they are not neutral. Any success by a Russian or Belarusian athlete will be used by Russian propaganda to show their superiority and we're absolutely against them taking part until the war is over.

"Maybe if the war is over before the Olympics, this position changes. But when people are dying every day, it's not normal. When you attack one of the countries in Europe and you're playing sports, it's normal?

"We have the same position on this: they shouldn't play while the war goes on. It's going to be the IOC's [International Olympic Committee] decision whether to allow them to compete then the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee will have its decision about participating or not at the Paris Olympics."

Asked if he would be disappointed for Ukrainian tennis players should the nation choose to boycott the Games, Zukin added: "It's going to be taken out of our hands and their hands as it's the Olympic Committee who endorses all of the applications.

"In case it makes a decision not to send a team, then it's impossible to send just tennis players. We completely respect this. Russia and Belarus are banned from all tennis team events, their membership from the ITF is suspended.

"The Olympics is a team competition so it would not be normal to let them compete there. Of course it's the NOC's decision but the chances are really low that Ukraine would participate if Russia and Belarus participate."

Amnesty International has called on Jordan Henderson to speak out against human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia after Liverpool agreed a deal to sell their captain to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq.

The 33-year-old has reportedly reached a verbal agreement on a contract worth £700,000 a week, with the clubs having agreed a £12million fee, the PA news agency understands.

He would be joining up with former Reds teammate Steven Gerrard, who was appointed manager earlier this month.

LGBT+ groups have warned the England midfielder that his reputation as an ally to the community could be irreparably damaged if he accepts the offer, having previously been a vocal proponent of inclusivity in the game.

Homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, while the state stands accused of a host of other abuses including placing harsh restrictions on women’s rights and the right to political protest.

Critics including Amnesty have claimed that the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman seeks to ‘sportswash’ the country’s international reputation by luring world football stars to the Pro League, with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo amongst the most prominent players to have moved.

“Coming shortly after Steven Gerrard’s move to Al-Ettifaq, this looks very much like more Saudi sportswashing as huge amounts of Saudi wealth continues to pour into the purchase of star players, new events and even the acquisition of entire clubs,” said Amnesty’s UK economic affairs director, Peter Frankental.

“With every major signing Saudi Arabia is seemingly ratcheting up its sportswashing effort, with the overall strategy apparently one where Mohammed Bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia is increasingly associated with sport and entertainment, not repression and human rights abuse.

“While Saudi sportswashing gathers pace, there’s been a sustained human rights crackdown in the country, with peaceful activists intimidated and jailed, as many as 196 people executed last year alone, and (dissident journalist) Jamal Khashoggi’s sickening murder covered up.

“Jordan Henderson is of course free to play for whoever he chooses, but we would urge him to examine Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and be prepared to speak out about human rights violations in the country.”

Henderson has been in Germany on Liverpool’s pre-season tour but was left out of the squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Karlsruhe.

A deal is also believed to be close for midfielder Fabinho to join Pro League side Al Ittihad as the exodus of Premier League players moving to the country continues.

Chelsea have sold three players this summer to Saudi clubs, with N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy having left west London, whilst a £30m deal was agreed on Wednesday for Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez to join Al-Ahli for.

Frankental added: “On the one hand it would be deeply concerning if sporting figures like Henderson were expected to read from a script praising Saudi Arabia as part of their contractual commitments, but the real onus is on FIFA and other sporting bodies to ensure that Saudi Arabia’s growing involvement in sport doesn’t involve human rights violations.

“If, as rumoured, we end up with a Saudi bid to host the World Cup in the 2030s FIFA must rigorously assess any bid according to proper human rights criteria, and we would urge FIFA to consider Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing as part of this assessment.”