:00:17. > :00:27.This is out of this board stay. News, reviews and more coming up. --
:00:28. > :00:32.Saturday Sportsday. 22 pack in over the next 15 minutes.
:00:33. > :00:35.Some early kick-offs in the Premier League and Championship and I have
:00:36. > :00:42.updates on those but here is what is coming up. The six Nations
:00:43. > :00:49.Championship starts today. The champions are favourites to lift the
:00:50. > :00:53.trophy once again despite the shaky foundations of the club game. The
:00:54. > :00:58.Winter Olympics start next week and we meet a gay athletes heading to
:00:59. > :01:02.Sochi with the Russian authorities standing by their controversial new
:01:03. > :01:06.laws on homosexuality. And will it be a big freeze for the big game in
:01:07. > :01:15.American football? It is certainly a wintry first for the Super Bowl this
:01:16. > :01:19.weekend. All that come but here are the headlines. Ashley Giles is the
:01:20. > :01:23.leading contender to take over from Andy Flower. England gave a news
:01:24. > :01:27.Conference confirming that Alistair Cook will be remaining as captain.
:01:28. > :01:33.Giles is currently coaching the one-day and Twenty20 sides. We agree
:01:34. > :01:38.that he is a strong candidate. Ashley is a valued employee. We have
:01:39. > :01:44.the highest regard for him as a man and as a coach. He is a man of great
:01:45. > :01:48.integrity and capability. He has played a lot of cricket for England
:01:49. > :01:53.and is very well respected. Great Britain are on course for victory in
:01:54. > :02:02.their group tie in the Davis Cup against the USA. They have the 22-0
:02:03. > :02:06.lead with three rubbers to play. -- 2-0. And Brian McDermott will
:02:07. > :02:13.remember transfer deadline day. He was sacked last night after only ten
:02:14. > :02:18.months in charge. The six Nations gets underway in
:02:19. > :02:21.Cardiff in a few hours, where Wales will play Italy, looking to become
:02:22. > :02:26.the first side to win three titles in a row. But longer term, there is
:02:27. > :02:30.concern about the future of rugby union in Wales.
:02:31. > :02:35.Beneath the ever-changing sky in Welsh Rugby union, there are two
:02:36. > :02:39.realities. At the Millenium Stadium, there is one. The national
:02:40. > :02:45.side, favourites for the six Nations again. A source of pride for all.
:02:46. > :02:49.Welsh rugby is in a permanent state of agony or ecstasy. And when we are
:02:50. > :02:55.in agony, some of us can be ecstatic about it. When we are in ecstasy, we
:02:56. > :03:04.agonise. Letters look at what is taking place. We have one three six
:03:05. > :03:13.Nations champions -- Championships. 20 miles from Cardiff, echoes from
:03:14. > :03:15.history. When people talk about the parklands of Welsh rugby, this is
:03:16. > :03:21.the kind of place they mean. Pontypool, population 40,000. Yet
:03:22. > :03:32.not so long ago, the most famous group of four words in the world
:03:33. > :03:37.played here together. -- for words. Immortalised in song and sculpture,
:03:38. > :03:41.the Pontypool front row, almost unbeatable for club and country in
:03:42. > :03:49.the 70s. Now not even the great prop, Graham Price, would support
:03:50. > :03:55.Pontypool alone. Before we went into the Millenium Stadium, -- if all the
:03:56. > :03:59.people who went into the stadium supporting Wales supported club
:04:00. > :04:05.Brondby, we would not have a problem but many of those people just come
:04:06. > :04:08.for the occasion. -- club rugby. Pontypool's clubs are now in the
:04:09. > :04:13.hundreds, but it used to be 20,000. Those in charge here that the club
:04:14. > :04:20.could be gone inside a decade. Our volunteers at the moment go out on
:04:21. > :04:24.this pitch before every fixture and trawl the pitch for needles and drug
:04:25. > :04:27.paraphernalia. Can you tell me that someone is going to race to fill
:04:28. > :04:34.that position when these people move on? The Welsh challenge is to make
:04:35. > :04:40.rugby union meaningful and relevant here as well as here. The six
:04:41. > :04:43.Nations will be across the BBC for the next six weeks, starting with
:04:44. > :04:49.that game on BBC One at two o'clock, all by France against
:04:50. > :04:52.England. To the Davis Cup, Great Britain are in a fantastic position
:04:53. > :04:55.in San Diego, Andy Murray won his singles rubber last night against
:04:56. > :04:59.Donald Young. And James Ward then stunned the hosts by beating Sam
:05:00. > :05:03.Querry in five sets. Ward is ranked at 175 in the world, Querry 49.
:05:04. > :05:06.Great Britain now need just one more point from the remaining three
:05:07. > :05:13.rubbers to win the tie. They haven't beaten the USA in the Davis Cup for
:05:14. > :05:17.nearly 80 years. James Ward, that was simply sensational. It must be
:05:18. > :05:26.the greatest performance and victory of your life. It is. Sam is ranked
:05:27. > :05:32.pretty high. The one in Russia was also a massive win for me. I'll hope
:05:33. > :05:35.to use it and push on from here. I love playing the Davis Cup. I love
:05:36. > :05:41.playing for my country. And that shows the performances. -- in the
:05:42. > :05:44.performances. Staying with tennis, Great Britain start their Fed Cup
:05:45. > :05:47.campaign in Hungary this week. There will be plenty expected of
:05:48. > :05:56.Australian born Yohanna Konta in Judy Murray's team. Emily Croydon
:05:57. > :06:05.reports. I am in good athlete. I have a good
:06:06. > :06:08.serve. I can be quite loud. You might know all about Laura Robson
:06:09. > :06:12.and Heather Watson but there is another young starlet in British
:06:13. > :06:16.tennis. Born in Australia to hunt Gehry and parents, Yohanna Konta
:06:17. > :06:22.began representing Great Britain in 2012. There was never a specific
:06:23. > :06:28.agenda to change nationality. It was more of a process that happened over
:06:29. > :06:35.time. As I started living here, this became home and it was just a
:06:36. > :06:38.natural process. And I have never looked back since I've became
:06:39. > :06:44.British. Under the British flag, she enjoys a successful 2013 and is
:06:45. > :06:49.currently ranked 114 in the world. And she is being noticed. Last year,
:06:50. > :06:53.she spent time in illustrious company as an ambassador for Venus
:06:54. > :06:56.Williams' clothing brand after a chance training session with the
:06:57. > :07:02.five-time Wimbledon champion. It was interesting to be with her, just
:07:03. > :07:06.because she is one of the few remaining players who I grew up
:07:07. > :07:09.watching. I've felt like a looks like a little girl again, watching
:07:10. > :07:14.these players play. It was overwhelming at the beginning. But
:07:15. > :07:17.then you get on with it. When not on the road, Yohanna Konta lives,
:07:18. > :07:20.sleeps and eats at the National tennis centre and crucially spends
:07:21. > :07:26.up to four hours a day on the training court. The next focus is
:07:27. > :07:29.the Fed cup, where the British women will have to beat four other
:07:30. > :07:33.countries to qualify for a play-off in the spring. Last year, Yohanna
:07:34. > :07:36.Konta was involved in the team for the first time and this year, she
:07:37. > :07:44.could have a big part to play. Robson is absent from the squad with
:07:45. > :07:54.the rest injury. Watson is included but struggled through 2013 after
:07:55. > :07:58.glandular fever. That means that Johanna is the highest ranked player
:07:59. > :08:02.in the team. We are all different players and we bring our best to the
:08:03. > :08:07.team. I believe in the team as much now as for the future. Football's
:08:08. > :08:10.transfer window shut last night, and there was a new face among the
:08:11. > :08:15.agents. Sheneelah Ahmed recently became the first female muslim agent
:08:16. > :08:18.on the FA's books. And, as Shabnam Mahmood reports, she's determined to
:08:19. > :08:23.make an impact. A cold Saturday morning and the
:08:24. > :08:30.under 14 is from Redbridge football club are training at the ground in
:08:31. > :08:33.east London. Watching them, Sheneelah Ahmed, Britain's first
:08:34. > :08:39.female Muslim football agent. Have you spotted any talent? I think I
:08:40. > :08:42.have spotted two. As a passionate football fan, she says that she is
:08:43. > :08:48.not fazed by her journey into a man's world. You hear it is male
:08:49. > :08:52.agents doing football, and I thought, why not a female? It is
:08:53. > :08:58.only afterwards that I've realised that there was not an Asian female
:08:59. > :09:04.football agent. So that was like, wow. And she has already facilitated
:09:05. > :09:09.two Premier League transfers and is hoping to get more Asians into the
:09:10. > :09:15.game. I hope to go into schools and detox and try to engage myself in
:09:16. > :09:19.Asian communities. Taiwan to visit clubs and academies to promote
:09:20. > :09:24.youngsters to get into this profession. The Football Association
:09:25. > :09:32.have currently pledged to get more British Asians into the game but so
:09:33. > :09:35.far, only eight of 4000 players have professional deals across England's
:09:36. > :09:39.top four divisions. Michael shopper is one of the very few British
:09:40. > :09:50.Asians to make it to the top level in English football. -- Chopra. But
:09:51. > :09:55.it is not just wrappers addition on the pitch. More needs to be done off
:09:56. > :09:58.it. We need to do more. In terms of coaches and managers and people at
:09:59. > :10:01.the top of the game. If you have not got any influence at the top of the
:10:02. > :10:05.game, you will not get the influence at the bottom of the game.
:10:06. > :10:09.Traditional Asian attitudes towards sport are changing, giving children
:10:10. > :10:12.like these more of a chance. Younger parents want their kids to do what
:10:13. > :10:19.they love. The older generation are they did not. They wanted their kids
:10:20. > :10:23.to be doctors and lawyers. It is not a game. It is a profession. That is
:10:24. > :10:27.a message that needs to be sent across to the ethnic communities.
:10:28. > :10:33.And that is why they need to support their children. Will we ever see an
:10:34. > :10:38.Asian David Beckham? 100%, we will. It is just a matter of time and
:10:39. > :10:41.effort. As long as the community and everybody that works in the game
:10:42. > :10:46.carries on working, I have no doubt that we will see an Asian Ronaldo or
:10:47. > :10:49.David Beckham. Russia says gay athletes are welcome
:10:50. > :10:53.at the Winter Olympics in Sochi next week, but they have a new law in
:10:54. > :10:58.place ,banning what it calls 'homosexual propaganda'. Australia's
:10:59. > :11:03.Belle Brockhoff is an openly gay snowboarder and has been speaking to
:11:04. > :11:09.our reporter Ollie Williams. Russia has no ban on homosexuality.
:11:10. > :11:13.The country's president recently told journalists that. Instead, you
:11:14. > :11:18.said, feel free in your relationships, but leave the
:11:19. > :11:22.children in peace. It is a sentence that Belle Brockhoff finds strange.
:11:23. > :11:26.I'm not going to go around to every kid in Russia and say that gay is
:11:27. > :11:32.OK, that is not why I am there. I was not even thinking of doing that.
:11:33. > :11:36.But I will leave the children alone. Belle Brockhoff is 21 years old,
:11:37. > :11:41.gay, and heading to her first Olympics as a Australian
:11:42. > :11:45.snowboarder. She has not been afraid to speak out about homophobia. There
:11:46. > :11:48.is a war out there, which is almost encouraging the rest of the
:11:49. > :11:51.population to discriminate. I want to go there because I'm not afraid
:11:52. > :11:59.of these laws and want others that live in Russia who are homosexual to
:12:00. > :12:03.see that and be inspired by that. She knows that when she gets to the
:12:04. > :12:09.games, she has to be careful. I do not want any official to come aside
:12:10. > :12:15.and stop me competing or stopping at the border. I am putting my Olympic
:12:16. > :12:20.dream first. What is the best outcome for you? A goal medal would
:12:21. > :12:24.be the best outcome. That is the top outcome for me. If I do not get a
:12:25. > :12:27.goal medal, most people will not care about my opinion. We wish her
:12:28. > :12:30.well. The Super Bowl takes place in New Jersey tomorrow, with the
:12:31. > :12:33.Seattle Seahawks up against the Denver Broncos in sub zero
:12:34. > :12:39.temperatures. Alex South has been down to Times Square.
:12:40. > :12:43.It has not been your average build-up to a Super Bowl. There have
:12:44. > :12:46.been plenty of ups and downs. The biggest down, the weather.
:12:47. > :12:50.Temperatures have fallen to around freezing for the past few days and
:12:51. > :12:56.it could be the coldest Super Bowl in history on Sunday. That has put
:12:57. > :13:00.some fans of going but it has not put the advertisers off. Companies
:13:01. > :13:05.are looking to spend ?2.5 million for a 32nd spot. As you can imagine,
:13:06. > :13:10.for the first time, New York and New Jersey have held this event and
:13:11. > :13:13.security is tight. But the City has embraced having the Super Bowl here.
:13:14. > :13:18.They have renamed Broadway Super Bowl Boulevard. And you can ride a
:13:19. > :13:23.sexy foot slide or practice your field goal skills. You can also have
:13:24. > :13:27.your picture taken with the trophy. It seems that whatever the weather,
:13:28. > :13:33.you cannot stop New York getting excited about the Super Bowl.
:13:34. > :13:36.It should be quite something. A quick update on the matches on the
:13:37. > :13:41.match, no goals in the premier league matches so far. Newcastle
:13:42. > :13:45.against Sunderland, West Ham against Swansea, they are about 15 minutes
:13:46. > :13:50.old. Kevin Doyle and Richard Dunne had given QPR a 2-1 lead in the
:13:51. > :13:53.Championship. From all of us at the BBC sport centre, have a great
:13:54. > :14:02.weekend, whatever sport you're following. Goodbye.