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A CENTRE COURT punter was told off by umpire Alison Hughes after letting off a champagne cork during the Wimbledon men’s singles final.

The Championships have featured several incidents of carried away punters disrupting play with champagne antics.

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Jannik Sinner was about to serve when a champagne cork flew onto court[/caption]

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The world No1 stooped to pick up the cork[/caption]

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The cork was collected by a ball kid[/caption]

But this time the cork even made its way onto court, prompting a few pantomime boos from the rest of the crowd.

With Jannik Sinner pausing to pick the cork up and give it to a ball kid, Hughes sternly warned: “Please do not pop the champagne corks as the players are about to serve!”

The Italian had been serving down 4-6 2-1 AD.

When he was finally allowed to play the point, the world No1 went on to squander a crosscourt backhand, sending the game back to deuce.

Fans watching at home had their say on the typically Wimbledon affair.

One called it on X: “The most Wimbledon announcement ever.”

While a second cheekily wrote: “They will have to ban champagne!”

And a third blasted: “Idiots on freebies who probably have no interest in tennis but they must be seen there.”

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Alison Hughes was in the chair for her second men’s singles Grand Slam final[/caption]

Thankfully the incident didn’t have much of an effect on the game, with Sinner dusting himself and going on to hold serve.

The first-time Wimbledon finalist had gotten off to a flying start on Centre Court, going up 4-2 in the first set.

But two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz then produced some scintillating tennis to win the next four games and pinch the opener, doing so in style with a remarkable backhand winner on the stretch.

Undeterred, Sinner grabbed an early break in the second set, taking advantage of an Alcaraz lull to pounce.

The rest of the second set went with serve, Sinner taking it 6-4 to level the contest.

A MAN has appeared before a special court sitting charged with murdering a pensioner.

Philip Ambrose, 43, did not reply when charged with murdering Michael Hayes, 71, gardai told Limerick District Court on Saturday night.

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Michael Hayes was allegedly attacked near his home in Limerick last Thursday night[/caption]

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Philip Ambros did not speak when charged with murdering Mr Hayes on Saturday night[/caption]

Mr Ambrose, of no fixed address, and who appeared in court dressed in a dark top and pants and a grey t-shirt, did not speak during the brief late night hearing before Judge Alec Gabbett.

Garda Aoife Quinn told the court she arrested, charged and cautioned Mr Ambrose in respect of murdering Mr Hayes.

Mr Ambrose was arrested by gardai last Friday morning, a few hours after Mr Hayes was allegedly attacked near his home in Limerick City Centre at around 11.30pm last Thursday night.

Mr Hayes was found with critical injuries at St Michael’s Court, Watergate, and despite paramedics and doctors best efforts he was pronounced dead at University Hospital Limerick last Friday.

Garda Quinn said she arrested Mr Ambrose at Henry Street garda station at 6.35pm on Saturday for the purpose of charging him with the murder of Mr Hayes, contrary to common law.

The murder is alleged to have occurred at St Michael’s Court, Watergate, Limerick city, a block of apartments where Mr Hayes had been living.

Garda Quinn gave evidence that Mr Ambrose “made no reply to the charge after caution”.

Mr Ambrose’s solicitor, Turlough Herbert, Herbert & Co Solicitors, Limerick, told the court that he was not applying for bail.

The solicitor explained in court that the question of bail did not arise as bail applications in respect of a murder charge can only be made before the High Court.

Mr Herbert made an application before the court for legal aid on behalf of the accused and said Mr Ambrose was in receipt of a “disability allowance”.

Judge Gabbett acceded the application and granted Mr Ambrose free legal aid.

The judge ordered that a psychiatric evaluation be conducted in respect of Mr Ambrose.

Judge Gabbett remanded Mr Ambrose in custody to Limerick Prison, to appear via video-link before Limerick District Court again tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15.

LAURA WOODS has lifted the lid on her anxieties of returning to work after giving birth.

The award-winning presenter gave birth to baby Leo in January and only returned to work in April.

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Laura Woods has opened up about her anxieties coming back to work after giving birth[/caption]

https://www.instagram.com/laurawoodsy/

The award-winning presenter gave birth to baby Leo in January[/caption]

https://www.instagram.com/laurawoodsy/

She has opened up about her scrutiny struggles as she juggles a career and being a mother[/caption]

However, the 38-year-old says her return to working life hasn’t been easy.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Woods had candidly lifted the lid on her fears of stepping back in front of camera.

Her worries included concerns about her appearance due to her weight gains during her pregnancy and suffering from “baby brain”.

She explains how at times she had just been sitting at home and forgetting normal things like the name of a fork.

Woods said: “I was very worried that I would be off the mark. I was worried that I would have lost some of my edge or sharpness.

“I kept forgetting names, which started during pregnancy. It’s a thing that everyone talks about. You don’t think you’re going to get it.

“You get a bit of ‘baby brain’ and it’s hard when you’re presenting because a lot of the time stuff is thrown at you and you don’t see it before it goes live.

“It’s live TV, so you have to react. You have to be sharp… I was nervous about getting little kind of brain drop-outs. But I surprised myself. I wasn’t awful!”

Women who work in television are often judged by how they look, but fortunately Woods says that when she came back she had found a new “level of acceptance of myself” after rearranging her list of priorities.

She continued: “I was nervous about how I looked. You put on a lot of weight in pregnancy and you feel a little bit different.

“Of the things I used to worry about, my appearance probably would have been top of that list. But funnily enough that’s sort of taken a bit of a back step…

“When I came back I felt quite a level of acceptance of myself I don’t think I had before I had a baby.

“However you have your baby, however tricky or easy your pregnancy is, your body will change and you just accept it because you think there’s something much bigger going on. My body has done an amazing thing.”

The former TalkSPORT radio presenter was always open about her journey to motherhood, supported by fiance and former Love Island star, Adam Collard, who is Leo’s father.

Her “wonderful” colleagues at ITV have also been a great source of support for her following the major life milestone.

While the sports broadcasting industry can be brutal and unforgiving, becoming a mother opened Woods up to a completely new world of scrutiny, which naturally came with its own fears of judgement.

Woods added: “I remember putting a picture of Leo up on social media and thinking, ‘What if people pull me up on something? Am I holding the baby wrong? Is he wearing too many clothes? Is he not wearing enough clothes?’

“I had my phone in the background and someone messaged me and said, ‘Get your phone away from that baby!’ I just thought, ‘Give me a break’.

“I thought it was bad enough when you work in telly and football. I just don’t really bother with social media like I used to and that’s great. It makes me feel a lot better to be honest.”

After initially returning to TNT Sports for their coverage of the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Inter Milan, Woods is now leading ITV’s coverage of the Women’s Euros this summer.

England fell to defeat to France in their opener before a resounding victory over the Netherlands for Sarina Wiegman‘s team as they look to defend their European title won on home soil in 2022, and Woods is hopeful of that being achieved.

The Lionesses are in action against Wales for their final game of Group D, with England being fully fit going into the critical home nations clash.

THE family of an Irish woman missing in Portugal for five years today are demanding a full police investigation into her disappearance.

Jean Tighe’s family are deeply unhappy at the way the authorities in Portugal have dealt with her case.

The 38-year-old vanished off the face of the earth at the Pareda holiday resort.

She was last seen alive on July 13, 2020 outside a hostel in the town.

A private investigator previously established Jean was last seen exiting the hostel with a man from Brazil, leaving her passport behind.

Jean had booked a flight to return home to Ireland on July 15, 2020 but never made it.

She was reported missing by persons who were staying in the hostel with her on July 16, but her family were never informed at the time.

She was a seasoned traveller who went all over the world and her family only became concerned and actually discovered she was missing when she didn’t arrive home for Christmas that year.

Her family also suspect her social media was being used by another person in the months after her disappearance.

Her sister Leona said her Facebook Messenger and Instagram accounts were being used around September, October and through to November, which led the family to believe that she was fine.

She said: “Whatever was going on with the social media needs to be investigated because there are huge clues there.

“We think it wasn’t Jean that was on the social media but whoever was on the social media now needs to come forward. That person needs to be found.”

Now Cavan-Monaghan TD Brendan Smith has requested the Portuguese police carry out a “comprehensive, ongoing and proper investigation” into her disappearance.

The police never had any public appeal for her at the time in Portugal. She was also only put on their missing database two years ago.

‘NEVER PROPER ANSWERS’

He said: “The investigation to date has been totally inadequate and it is simply just not good enough.

“CCTV that wasn’t used either in the immediate aftermath of Jean’s disappearance.

“There are a whole load of questions that have never been satisfactorily answered. that both I and Jean’s family have put out there to the different authorities from the Gardai, to the Dept of Justice, Dept of Foreign Affairs here and relayed to the Portuguese authorities.

“There have never been proper answers to those queries.”

Deputy Smith also organised a meeting about the case between members of Jean’s family and the new Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.

He is hoping that the diplomatic pressure from the Irish Government will persuade the Portuguese police to put more resources into the investigation.

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Jean Tighe vanished off the face of the earth at the Pareda holiday resort on July 15, 2020[/caption]

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THE Criminal Assets Bureau is working to find a new HQ as it continues to expand, we can reveal.

The bureau is currently based at Walter Scott House, a building in Dublin 8.

But chiefs are currently ­liaising with the Office of Public Works to find new facilities for their 101 staff, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan says.

Last week, the Cabinet backed the most substantial reform to Ireland’s civil asset forfeiture laws since their inception back in 1996.

One of its key parts is cutting the time frame for selling assets deemed to be the proceeds of crime, from seven years to two.

And the CAB will get extra investigative powers, including the freezing of bank accounts that are suspected of holding dirty cash.

A bill to enact the changes will now go before the Dail.

Answering a parliamentary question, O’Callaghan said: “I am aware that the work of CAB is expanding and I am conscious that the expansion of its numbers will require further facilities.

“My department has submitted a proposal for funding for CAB accommodation.

“CAB is currently liaising with the OPW to find new accommodation. The Government will continue to support the growth and expansion of CAB to recover assets for the State.

“It is extremely important for criminals to know that if they stay in Ireland, their assets will be seized if it is not the case that they will be convicted and brought before the courts.”

The CAB’s major successes in recent years includes stripping Hutch thug James ‘Mago’ Gately of €600,000 worth of assets.

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Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said that his department has submitted a proposal for funding for CAB accommodation.[/caption]

STEVE DAVIS and Jimmy White are set to renew their decades-old rivalry – in a DJ battle.

The pair’s rivalry, which was one of the best in the eighties, is still to this day one of the best in snooker history.

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Steve Davis and Jimmy White had one of the best rivalries in snooker in the 1980s’[/caption]

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The pair will renew their iconic rivalry on a different battleground in August[/caption]

But the duo, 67 and 63 respectively, will now go head-to-head in a DJ Battle at the Rock N Roll Circus fstival in Sheffield on Saturday 30th August.

It’s unclear what the battle, which is currently the talk of snooker fans, will look like.

But it’ll be interesting to see the pair spin the decks several years after they called time on spinning balls into pockets for a living.

Davis and White won’t be the only former sportsmen performing at Rock N Roll Circus.

Former England international turned pundit CHRIS WADDLE is also on the bill.

Waddle’s slated appearance is equally as surprising as the DJ battle booking of Davis vs White.

White, who got the better of Davis in their last meeting at the 2010 World Seniors Championships, has good memories of his “healthy” rivalry.

But he recently likened their battles to going to “war”.

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White said: “Neal will tell you, anybody playing in the 80’s, Steve Davis was the hardest player I have ever played against.

“He had such a great cue action, such great temperament and his scoring ability, he was so consistent, made so few mistakes.

“I had a style similar to [John] Higgins, probably even more attacking then Higgins.

“I went for my shots, so then the newspapers set up this new rivalry, because Steve Davis kept on winning.

“I quite liked it, me and Steve Davis, I was sort of wasting me time partying and he was practicing.

“So I never had any problems with Steve Davis, but you knew, if you were playing Steve Davis, you were going to be in a war.

“I had a rivalry with him that lasted for five or six years, and I think it was quite healthy for the game.”

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