Latest - Manchester City returned to the top of the English Premier League in emphatic fashion by crushing West Bromwich Albion 5-0 at the Hawthorns.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
City, who scored three goals in the opening half hour, have 41 points, one more than rivals Manchester United who have also played 19 games and will return to the summit if they beat bottom club Sheffield United at Old Trafford tomorrow.
The win was Pep Guardiola's team's 11th straight victory in all competitions.
Struggling West Brom remain second-bottom on 11 points, six points from the safety zone.
West Ham United moved into the top four with a 3-2 victory at London rivals Crystal Palace.
Palace have now won once in their last seven league games and remain in 13th spot.
Arsenal improved to eighth after winning 3-1 at Southampton, exacting revenge for their FA Cup fourth-round loss to the Saints on Saturday.
Meanwhile Leeds United got their first win of 2021 with a 2-1 win at Newcastle United, piling more pressure on Magpies manager Steve Bruce.
Newcastle have now gone nine League games without a win and stay 16th on the table, while Leeds improve to 12th.
-Reuters
Spectator accused of racial abuse cleared
Six spectators accused of racially abusing India bowler Mohammed Siraj during the third test at the Sydney Cricket Ground have reportedly been cleared by Cricket Australia.
Mohammed Siraj playing against Australia in the third test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Officials say he was subjected to racial abuse and they are still trying to trace the offenders. Photo: Photosport
Cricket Australia (CA) and police launched an investigation after Siraj complained of hearing racist slurs while fielding on the boundary.
Six male fans were removed from their seats and questioned by police.
Cricket Australia believes the Indian players were racially abused but were unable to identify the culprits.
"CA's investigation concluded that the spectators filmed and/or photographed by media...did not engage in racist behaviour," said Sean Carroll, CA's Head of Integrity & Security
"Members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse. CA's own investigation into the matter remains open, with CCTV footage, ticketing data and interviews with spectators still being analysed in an attempt to locate those responsible."
Kobe and daughter remembered
Vanessa Bryant has taken to social media to share her thoughts on the one-year anniversary of the death of her husband, Kobe, and daughter, Gianna.
Photo: AFP
Vanessa wasn't alone, however, as other sports teams and leagues also remembered the NBA legend and his daughter, who perished along with seven others in a helicopter crash in California on Jan. 26, 2020.
"I miss my baby girl and Kob-Kob so much, too," Vanessa wrote on Instagram. "I will never understand why/how this tragedy could've happened to such beautiful, kind and amazing human beings. It still doesn't seem real. Kob, we did it right. Gigi, you still make mommy proud. I love you!"
Kobe was a five-time NBA champion and three-time NBA Finals MVP during his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was elected posthumously to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
-Reuters
Crusaders hooker out for the season
The Crusaders hooker Andrew Makalio will miss the entire Super Rugby season after injuring his neck while playing for Tasman towards the end of last year's Mitre 10 Cup.
Subsequent investigations have determined that surgery is required.
The surgical date has yet to be set but it can be confirmed that Makalio will be out for the Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competitions.
Bay of Plenty hooker Nathan Vella has joined the Crusaders squad as an injury replacement.
Tuchel new Blues boss
Thomas Tuchel has become the latest manager to take over the Chelsea hot seat when the English Premier League football club confirmed the German as Frank Lampard's replacement.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 47-year-old former Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain coach has agreed an 18-month contract with the option of another year.
Lampard, Chelsea's record goalscorer, was sacked yesterday after 18 months in charge following a run of five defeats in their last eight Premier League games.
Tuchel will be less familiar to Blues supporters but has an impressive managerial CV, albeit mainly with PSG in a far less competitive league than England's top flight.
He delivered back-to-back French league titles and took them to last season's Champions League final but was sacked and replaced by Mauricio Pochettino in December.
Tuchel is the 14th managerial appointment made by Chelsea since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the west London outfit in 2003, including Jose Mourinho's two spells.
-Reuters
Robinson finishes ninth again
New Zealand alpine skiier Alice Robinson has finished ninth in the latest World Cup giant slalom race in Italy.
Alice Robinson Photo: PHOTOSPORT
It is Robinson's second ninth place finish for the 2021 season and leaves her in 16th place in the overall giant slalom standings.
Italian Marta Bassino tops the standings.
Robinson was 10th after the first run and heading for a fast time but a mistake in the second half of the course proved costly.
Frenchwoman Tessa Worley took the win, her first World Cup Giant Slalom win for the 2021 season.
Fellow New Zealander Piera Hudson didn't finish.
This is Robinson's last Giant Slalom race ahead of the World Championships to be held in Cortina, Italy from February the 8th.
Wickets tumble in Karachi
14 wickets fell on the opening day of the first cricket test in Karachi with Pakistan 33 for four in reply to South Africa's 220.
Yasir Shah Photo: PHOTOSPORT
South Africa were in many ways the architects of their own downfall with the bat, however, having won the toss in their first test in Pakistan since 2007.
They had two run outs in their top six, while captain Quinton de Kock (15) gave his wicket away with a wild swing across the line off left-arm spinner Nauman (2-38), who is playing in his first test at the age of 34.
Pakistan spinners Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali took took five wickets between.
Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam were both not out on 5 and will resume on the second morning on a wicket already producing both turn and variable bounce, suggesting the visitors' modest first innings score could be par.
South Africa will play two tests and three Twenty20 Internationals on their tour, their first in Pakistan since a militant attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 in which six policemen and two civilians were killed.
-Reuters
LeBron rolls on
LeBron James became the oldest LA Lakers player to score 40 points in a game since Kobe Bryant's farewell appearance in 2016 as the Lakers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 36-year-old, playing on the eve of the first anniversary of Bryant's death, finished on 46 points.
It was his second-highest total as a Laker and the most against his first NBA team.
He added eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Lakers have won all 10 games on the road this season and have the best record in the League at 10 and 4.
-Reuters
Yastremska appeals suspension
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has begun hearing an urgent appeal by the provisionally suspended Dayana Yastremska so a decision can be taken about her participation at next month's Australian Open tennis tournament.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Ukraine's Yastremska was suspended earlier this month after the World Anti-Doping Agency found a banned substance in an out-of-competition urine sample she submitted.
The International Tennis Federation had denied Yastremska's application to have the suspension lifted even as the world No 29 was preparing to compete in the year's first Grand Slam, which begins on Feb. 8 in Melbourne.
Yastremska, who travelled to Melbourne and is currently in quarantine, had denied using performance-enhancing drugs and said the positive test was the result of a "contamination event".
-Reuters
Washington promotes female coach
The Washington Football Team promoted Jennifer King to assistant running backs coach on Tuesday, making her the NFL's first full-time Black female coach.
King was an intern under Washington running backs coach Randy Jordan during the 2020 season.
Jennifer King previously served as an offseason and preseason intern for the Panthers, when Ron Rivera was Carolina's head coach. Rivera became Washington's head coach prior to the 2020 campaign.
In early 2019, Jennifer King was the wide receivers coach for the Arizona Hotshots in the short-lived Alliance of American Football, working under head coach Rick Neuheisel. The Hotshots went 5-3 before the league folded.
-Reuters
Love to captain US Golf team
Former PGA Championship winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III has been named captain of the U.S. Team for the 2022 Presidents Cup.
Love, who has played in the biennial team match-play competition six times in his career, was an assistant captain in the 2013, 2015 and 2017 editions and holds a 16-8-4 record in 28 matches.
The 56-year-old becomes the ninth captain of the team since the competition was established in 1994 and takes over from Tiger Woods who led the side to an eighth straight title in 2019 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.
Love will be up against South Africa's former Masters champion Trevor Immelman who was named captain of the International team last year.
The 2021 edition was moved to 2022 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and is set to be played at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
-Reuters
