Wales flanker Sian Williams has been awarded Elite Athlete Status by Royal Air Force to play rugby professionally, making her the first full-time professional Welsh female rugby player.

The 25-year-old, who has won 20 caps for Wales and played for the Newport Gwent Dragons and Worcester, will now be released by the RAF to play full time for Wales for at least the the next two years.

Read Williams' column by clicking here. 

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Alex Cook: Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace. Kept us in the Premier League and moulded us into an organised and tough side to beat. Had he not clashed with the board over players he wanted to sign, last season could have been a lot different for Palace.

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Ejike Nnadi: I think Newcastle United should have kept Alan Pardew he is a top manager. Looking at his work rate now at Crystal Palace we miss him, should have kept us going. 

Keiran Ohare: We will never have a better coach at my team (Arsenal) than Arsene I'm savouring every day with him and will be truly gutted the day he goes!  

Swansea midfielder Ki Sung-yueng has revealed he spent two days with ice on his face after suffering concussion against West Brom. 

The 27-year-old South Korean international was carried off on a stretcher during last week's 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns following a clash of heads with Albion's Stephane Sessegnon.

"I felt really dizzy after the game and had a big headache for a few days, but I feel good now," Ki told the club's official website., external "I had a few days of rest and I had ice on my face for two days, but now I'm back in training and ready to play this weekend."

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Kevin Wheatley: Roy Keane at Sunderland. Thought he was going to be with us for years.  

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Ross Clarke: Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth as he guided us to a lot of success and we were relegated from the Prem when he left. 

Grant Ledger: David O'leary at Leeds. Top manager was best team in Europe at one point during his time.

Who'd have thought a simple picture would have caused such a flippin' stir

England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney posted a picture, external of his sons Kai and Klay in the kitchen on Pancake Day - but his eldest son was wearing an Aston Villa shirt. Is Rooney's son, like Prince William, a Villa fan? 

The Birmingham Mail , externalwrites: "Despite his dad being a world famous favourite of the Old Trafford title chasers, Kai is pictured wearing the claret and blue of relegation-threatened Villa. Now if you can just persuade your dad to do likewise please!"

The Daily Mirror , externalreports that Granit Xhaka has issued a "come-and-get-me plea" to incoming Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola by saying he will struggle to say no to a summer move to the Etihad.

The 23-year-old midfielder, currently with Borussia Monchengladbach, has been tipped for a summer move, with both Liverpool and Arsenal recently interested.

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Former England and Leicester manager Sven Goran Eriksson says "all football fans are hoping" the Foxes win the Premier League title and admits their rapid rise has surprised him.

(We're assuming he means all football fans other than Spurs, Manchester City, Arsenal supporters...)

"The spirit they have is incredible and the pace they have when they start to counter attack is incredible," he told Sportsworld. "It's not one or two players, it's the whole team."

The Olympics will soon be upon us, which is why it is wise to start making plans now.  

Mo Farah has just announced he will compete at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting on 5 June as he gears up for the defence of his two Olympic titles in Rio. 

The Olympic and world champion over 5,000m and 10,000m has not confirmed over what distance he will race at the Alexander Stadium. 

Farah said: "The Birmingham Diamond League will be my first big European track race of 2016."

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Arsenal fans have long complained about the club's lack of spending.

But the Gunners' largest shareholder, Stan Kroenke, knows how to splash the cash - a cool £500m on a Texas ranch. 

The property is spread over six counties and Kroenke, who is worth about £5bn, now owns more than 865,000 acres of land in the United States - an area three times the size of Los Angeles, or four-and-a-half times the size of New York - or about 432,000 football pitches. 

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David Mills: Howard Kendall after we won the league 87. Who knows what we would have achieved with him had he stayed prior to the euro ban being lifted. I also wish Bobby Robson had stayed as England manager to oversee the 1994 World Cup campaign  

Thomas Frost: George Burley or Joe Royle at Ipswich. It was attacking football without having much money to spend. Mick McCarthy has little cash to spend but its boring football.  

Elliot Leaver: Carlo Ancelotti. The Double and 103 league goals in his first season, three Manager of the Months and 2nd place in his second. Oh, and the most entertaining eyebrow in football.    

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Jonny Gray insists Scotland will not freeze amid the frenzied atmosphere in Cardiff during Saturday's Six Nations clash. 

"The boys always talk about the atmosphere there and you can see from the TV pictures how special a place is," said the 21-year-old.  

"You can hear from the national anthems how passionate the Welsh fans are so we can expect to face that again on Saturday. But that's not something we worry about. We will just be going down to focus on ourselves and our game plan."

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Promoter Eddie Hearn has paid tribute to Kevin Mitchell, who has announced his retirement from boxing today.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Kevin Mitchell over the past few years,” said Hearn.

"Kevin is one the biggest and brightest characters in the gym and has already played a huge part in the education and motivation of some of our younger fighters.

"He has a wonderful boxing brain and he can go on to be a great coach if that’s the path he wishes to take. He has been a wonderful servant to British boxing and I’m sure all fight fans will join me in wishing him the best and happiness in his retirement.”

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Three-time world title challenger Kevin Mitchell has announced his retirement from boxing.

Mitchell, 31, won 39 of his 43 fights and held the British and Commonwealth titles at super-featherweight, before moving to lightweight where he landed a trio of World title shots.

However, he was unsuccessful on each occasion.

“I’ve been fighting for 22 years, it is a long time to be putting your body through all you have to do to get right for a fight and my body has said ‘enough is enough'," said Mitchell.

Thinking caps on. It is Question of Sport teaser time.

We will reveal the answer later on.

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Busquets to Manchester City, who's next to head to China, and who does Sir Alex think is the best manager in England?  Read all the latest gossip here.

Scott Martin: Mark Hughes at Rovers. He got to semi finals and Europe more than once. Built a very decent side. I'd even have kept Big Sam, we'd still be watching Premier League football if that was the case.

Phil Bailey: While delighted with Ronald Koeman, I was always hugely disappointed at the way Saints treated Nigel Adkins. I am convinced he would have developed into a great Premier League manager if we had given him a bit more time.

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Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson has pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child, but denied two other charges.

Appearing at Bradford Crown Court, the 28-year-old admitted one count of sexual activity with a child and one count of grooming.

The winger, who has played 12 times for England, denies two charges of sexual activity with a girl aged under 16.

Mr Johnson, from Castle Eden, County Durham, was arrested in March 2015.

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Ticket prices in England is a cause for debate at the moment. And the debate has gone right to the top.

In Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, David Cameron was asked by Labour MP Clive Efford, the Shadow Minister for Sport, if he would act to give fans a place in club boardrooms so their voices are heard on important issues like ticket prices.

Cameron responded: “I will look very carefully at the suggestion the honourable gentleman makes.

"I think there is a problem here where some teams and some clubs put up prices very rapidly every year, even though so much of the money for football actually comes through the sponsorship and the equipment and other sources.”

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Bath head coach Mike Ford insists their six-match losing run will make them a "stronger and better organised team".

Last season's Premiership finalists are currently ninth in the table, just six points above bottom-placed Newcastle.

"We believe in what we are doing, we believe in our vision, believe in the way we coach and play," Ford told BBC Points West.

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