A SCOTTISH judoka has overcome diabetes to earn national recognition in the sport.

Ireland may be five places above Scotland in the world rankings but it was Gordon Shepherd’s charges who won their Test series with a 4-3 win in the final match at Peffermill, the first stage in the build-up for the European Nations Championships in Belgium later in the summer, writes Craig Madden.

The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) hopes to have the support of cycling’s governing body to store blood and urine samples from Tour de France riders for eight years.

SCOTLAND’S Paul Di Resta unleashed a flying lap in the final seconds of yesterday’s first practice session to top the times ahead of this weekend’s 
Canadian Grand Prix.

NEVIS Range, the setting for this weekend’s UCI Mountain Biking World Cup, is to build two new downhill tracks thanks to a six-figure investment from sportscotland.

DEFENDING champion Sir Bradley Wiggins has withdrawn from the Tour de France after a chest infection and a knee injury left him unable to train.

CHARLOTTE McKenzie (Larbert High School), Rebecca Murray (Braes High School) and Stephen Milne (Perth Academy) are in pole position going into the third and final leg of the Scottish Swimming Grand Prix at the Royal Commonwealth Pool this weekend.

AS yet another session nears an end, six Strathallan School pupils have achieved the dream of representing GB on the sporting stage.

MURRAY Caughey, an 11-year-old from Loretto School, was part of a mass event at the IAPS (Independent Association of Preparatory Schools) Fencing Competition at Millfield School in Somerset and returned to Scotland with a treasured silver medal.

KIERAN Doran is set to leave St Paul’s High this summer and become a full-time footballer with St Mirren.

NICO Rosberg realised a childhood dream with victory in the Monaco Grand Prix, but on a day tainted for Mercedes by a protest from two of their main rivals.

MARK Cavendish sprinted to victory in the final stage in Brescia to take the red jersey in the Giro d’Italia and become only the fifth rider to win the points classification in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours.

EDINBURGH University were on the verge of claiming their first piece of silverware but finally succumbed 5-4 to an experienced and very determined Milne Craig Western in the final of the women’s Arthur McKay Scottish Cup at Peffermill.

EDINBURGH cyclist Finlay Young has been tipped to become a future British Olympian after receiving funding as part of the Bank of Scotland Local Heroes initiative.