The Dallas Wings are at home on Saturday afternoon, where they are 4-1 on the season, looking to avoid a third straight loss when they take on the Seattle Storm.Seattle is coming off a blowout loss against the Las Vegas Aces, and the team is in last place in the Western Conference with a 2-7 rec...

Lucy Staniforth says her recall to the England squad after being a standby player ahead of the World Cup is something she feels she earned. The 30-year-old, who had been set to go on holiday with her mother to Ibiza, changed that plan when she was called up by Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman in late June to replace Jess Park on a standby list also featuring Maya Le Tissier. Staniforth was subsequently involved in preparations at home and then in Australia before parting ways with the squad as the tournament – in which Wiegman’s European champions went on to finish runners-up – got under way. The Aston Villa midfielder, capped 17 times, most recently in October 2021, is back in the fold at the first opportunity since the World Cup, for the upcoming Nations League matches against Scotland and Netherlands. She said: “I think from January, moving to Villa (after leaving Manchester United), it sort of put me back in the frame of England. “It was always on my radar, something I wanted to get back into, and it felt like there was sort of unfinished business with the team. “I really want to contribute and not just be here for the ride. So it was really pleasing to hear from Sarina and know I was called up to this camp. “I felt like I’d earned it, and it’s a really satisfying feeling to know you’ve put in that hard work and obviously made an impact in the pre camps before the World Cup. And it just feels like I’m in the right place, this is where I should be.” Staniforth says the standby stint left her with “fire in my belly”. “I wouldn’t call it bittersweet,” she said. “It was such a wonderful camp. It was a real privilege to be part of that whole experience. I think me and Maya certainly enjoyed ourselves and we brought lots of good stuff to the camp too. “But when we had to say goodbye, it was a bit like ‘the dream’s over now’. You always kind of had in the back of your head ‘maybe, maybe there’s a chance’. “It’s probably my favourite camp I’ve ever been on, strange as that is because obviously it was stopped shorter than I would have liked. “I came away and had such good feelings and no regrets. It left me in a really good mental place to go ‘OK, there’s still so much I want to achieve, there’s so much I want to do with England, and with Aston Villa.’ I just had so much hunger and fire in my belly.” Asked if the experience had given her an extra push in pre-season, Staniforth said: “Oh yeah – I’ve been trying so hard! I felt like I'd earned it, and it's a really satisfying feeling to know you've put in that hard work and obviously made an impact in the pre camps before the World Cup Lucy Staniforth “I have felt every rep, every run we’ve done. It’s been a really hard pre-season, probably the hardest I’ve done. I’ve really enjoyed the pain and the struggle! “I kind of just had a little word with myself in the gym and was like ‘right – you’ve got time now, let’s go for it, let’s really push.’ “I just thought to myself ‘come on, let’s get down and work really hard’, and I’m really glad I’ve done that because now I’m here, I feel really good, really fit and I’m really looking forward to the England games.” England face Scotland at the Stadium of Light on Friday, and ex-Sunderland player Staniforth feels it would be “pretty cool” to be involved again at a ground where she played in an FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea in 2009. She added: “I have really fond memories of living and playing in the north east. I’m so excited to get back up there and whatever happens on Friday is just a bonus.” Staniforth was “really proud” of her team-mates for their efforts at the World Cup – and regarding her mother, she said: “She went on holiday on her own and had an amazing time, so I was really happy for her. It’s the first holiday, first flight, everything, that she’d done on her own, so I was like ‘well done Mum!'” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Steve McNamara enjoying ‘excitement’ of three-way battle to top Super League David Raya backed himself to be number one at Arsenal Jason Roy rejects England call as Tom Kohler-Cadmore added to squad

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F1 driver Lando Norris outlined his concerns about some potential issues with the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit ahead of the race mere minutes before his heavy crash on Sunday. In a grid walk interview with Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle, Norris was asked what he thought of the track and how it feels to drive on to which he replied: “Pretty dreadful. “Just because it’s the least high temp we have had all weekend. Just because you’re pushing on an out-lap. Normally you don’t push on an out-lap. “It didn’t feel great, it should come back towards us. The track should improve a lot throughout the race, it’s a lot more windy and I’m at the back of the grid. “There’s a lot of things going against it but it should be a good race.” Norris, who started 15th on the grid after a disappointing qualifying, lost control of his car on turn 12 and spun into the wall with sparks flying from his rear end. The Brit steered right, lost a tyre in the impact with the wall and ended up in the barriers over to the side of the track. Norris managed to let his engineer know that he was okay before the safety car was deployed. The McLaren driver was then transferred to the circuit medical centre, before being taken to the university medical centre for further precautionary investigations. Max Verstappen went on to claim victory in an entertaining first-ever race on the strip in Sin City beating Charles Leclerc who had started the race on pole. Sergio Perez looked to have sealed a P2 for Red Bull before Leclerc overtook him on the final lap. It was the second race in a row that Perez has dropped a position on the final lap, after Fernando Alonso denied him a podium last time out in Brazil. Norris’ team-mate, Oscar Piastri, secured one world championship point with a P10 finish. Read More F1’s Lando Norris expresses Las Vegas Grand Prix track concerns moments before crash Lando Norris endures heavy crash at start of Las Vegas Grand Prix F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix LIVE: Verstappen wins as Leclerc overtakes Perez on last lap

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said another 3,000 of his men were ready to join Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid reports of heavy losses for Vladimir Putin's troops in their push to capture an eastern city. Mr Kadyrov, a self-proclaimed "foot soldier" of the Russian president, said his fighters were ready to form new units of the Russian defence ministry and the Russian National Guard forces. His statement comes amid reports of Russian troops suffering “some of the highest” casualties of the conflict so far amid intense fighting in eastern Ukraine. The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Monday said Russia was losing an average of 931 men a day this month, largely in the fight for the town of Avdiivka. Until now the heaviest casualties suffered in a month by Russia – according to Ukrainian data – was March this year, with an average of 776 losses per day during the push to capture Bakhmut. "They (the Chechen fighters) have the best equipment and modern weapons," Mr Kadyrov claimed on Telegram. "In addition, the guys are highly combative and very motivated to achieve results," he added. Mr Kadyrov had earlier sent 26,000 fighters to the battlefield since the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine last year. According to reports, 12,000 were volunteers at that time and 7,000 of them were actively fighting. These claims about Chechen deployments to Ukraine could not be independently verified, and Reuters reported that several Chechen armed formations have fought on the side of Kyiv against Russia since Mr Putin launched his invasion in February last year. Mr Kadyrov also claimed last year to have sent his three teenage sons to fight in Ukraine, saying he wanted them to "show themselves in a real battle". "Soon they will go to the front line and will be on the most difficult sections of the line of contact," he had said in a Telegram post in 2022. Mr Kadyrov enjoys wide leeway from Mr Putin to run Chechnya ruthlessly as his personal fiefdom, but he angered pro-Kremlin hardliners in September by praising his 15-year-old son for beating up an ethnic Russian prisoner in Chechen custody. Mr Kadyrov met the Russian president in September amid speculations over his health, with rumours swirling that he was either dead or in a coma. He later clarified that he was fine and was travelling to a hospital in Moscow to visit a "sick uncle". Earlier this month Mr Kadyrov said that a large group of Russia's former Wagner mercenaries, who had played a prominent role in some of the fiercest fighting in Ukraine before their group fell into disarray after a brief mutiny against the Russian defence establishment, had also started training with special forces from Chechnya. Mr Kadyrov, 47, has mused publicly about handing over power at some point and appears to be actively working to raise the profile of his three teenage sons, the eldest of whom was photographed with Mr Putin in the Kremlin in March.