Countdown to Rio 2016: GB sets medal target

Eilidh Doyle is one of an 80-strong GB athletics team

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GB Olympic medal target set

UK Sport: Team GB have been set a target of making Rio 2016 their most successful overseas Olympics by winning 48 medals.

UK Sport has invested £350m of public money into elite sport since 2012, and says Britain could win as many as 79 medals.

Britain won 65 medals as the host of London 2012, having won 47 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Doyle marches on

Athletics: Britain’s Eilidh Doyle enhanced her Rio 2016 medal credentials on Friday with a second 400m hurdles Diamond League victory of the season in Monaco.

Doyle, 29, is one of an 80-strong GB athletics team that has been named for Rio – it also includes 42-year-old Jo Pavey, who will become the first British track athlete to compete at five Olympics.

Elsewhere in Monaco, South Africa’s Caster Semenya set an 800m national record to continue her impressive 2016 campaign while Mo Farah finished fifth in the 1500m.

More stars pull out over Zika

Tennis: Several high-profile tennis players have pulled out of the Olympics, citing fears over the Zika virus as a contributing factor. They include Wimbledon runner-up, Canadian Milos Raonic and Romania’s world number five Simona Halep.

Czech world number eight Tomas Berdych is another to withdraw, while two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka will not play as the Belarusian is pregnant.

More than 20 golfers have already withdrawn from the Olympics, with many concerned about the mosquito-borne virus.

News in brief

Equestrian: Pippa Funnell and Billy The Biz will replace Izzy Taylor in the GB eventing team for Rio. An injury to Taylor’s horse, Allercombe Ellie, has forced the horse and rider to withdraw from the Olympics.

Golf: Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who will be competing in Rio, won The Open at Royal Troon, the final major before Rio.

Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Catriona Matthew and Charley Hull will make up the British team for the Olympics.

Gymnastics: London 2012 Olympic medallists Max Whitlock, Louis Smith and Kristian Thomas have been selected to represent Team GB at the Rio Games.The women’s team includes the Downie sisters Becky and Ellie and Commonwealth champion Claudia Fragapane.

Hockey: Simon Mantell scored a last-minute equaliser as Great Britain’s men drew their final Four Nations Invitational game against Belgium 2-2. That draw ensured Britain went unbeaten in the tournament in Dusseldorf – they also beat Netherlands 3-0 and drew 1-1 against Germany.

Road cycling: Chris Froome continues to dominate the Tour de France andheads into the final week in the yellow jersey and well placed to claim a third title with a near-two minute advantage at the head of the general classification. Mark Cavendish took his tally of stage wins to four – and 30 overall – with victory on stage 14.

Tennis: Kyle Edmund, whose place at the Olympics was confirmed last week, steered Great Britain into the Davis Cup semi-finals. Edmund won both his singles rubbers as GB beat Serbia in Belgrade.

Triathlon: Olympic gold-medal favourite Gwen Jorgensen suffered a second defeat of the season at the final World Series round before Rio in Hamburg. The American is a two-time reigning world champion but compatriot Katie Zaferes took victory in Germany. Spain’s Mario Mola won the men’s race in the absence of Britain’s Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee and 2012 silver medallist Javier Gomez, who has been ruled out of Rio with an elbow injury.

Rugby sevens: With the final 12-man squad announced on 19 July, Great Britain warmed up for Rio 2016 by winning the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series event in Poland. Luke Morgan will not be part of the final GB squad after suffering a knee injury.