* Real Madrid were dumped out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage on Thursday (Feb 6) after losing 4-3 at home to Real Sociedad in a hugely entertaining game which saw two goals ruled out by video technology and a late red card for the visitors.
* Serena Williams enters her fourth decade as a Fed Cup player with the United States on Friday and Saturday as the 2020 qualifiers get under way. The 38-year-old icon teams with newly-crowned Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and teenage star Coco Gauff as the US tackle Latvia in Everett, Washington.
* Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, killed with eight others in a helicopter crash last month, will be honoured at a public memorial service planned for Feb 24 at the Staples Centre, the team's home arena and scene of many of his greatest basketball triumphs, the Los Angeles Times reported.
* Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling will miss Sunday's Premier League clash against West Ham and could face a race to be fit for their Champions League showdown with Real Madrid after suffering a hamstring injury.
* Premier League clubs have agreed to introduce league-wide bans on any supporter who is banned by a club for discriminatory or abusive behaviour, England's top flight said on Thursday (Feb 6).
* Sixteen nations will do battle this week to secure the last eight spots for the revamped Fed Cup finals in April with some heavyweights desperate to avoid missing the party.
* South African Olympic swimming gold medallist Roland Schoeman has been banned for a year after testing positive for a banned substance last May, governing body FINA said on Thursday. The 39-year-old's ban runs until May 17, 2020.
* Premier League clubs agreed on Thursday (Feb 6) to move the last day of the close-season transfer window back to the end of August or early September, in line with Europe's top leagues.
