Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The Italian syndicate Luna Rossa has gone two nil up in the America's Cup challenger series semi finals, with convincingly winning both of today's races over American Magic.

Luna Rossa won the opening race by 2 minutes 43 seconds and then took the second by 3 minutes and seven seconds.

Luna Rossa skipper Jimmy Spithill got the better of his American Magic counterpart Dean Barker in the pre-start manoeuvring and Barker unable to recover.

The best of seven series resumes tomorrow with two more races and if Luna Rossa wins both of those, they'll advance to the Prada Cup final against Team UK.

The winner of that series will then go onto race Team New Zealand in the America's Cup.

Liverpool return to winning ways

Liverpool's spluttering attack burst back to life to help the champions return to winning ways with a commanding 3-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Thursday.

Goals from Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane capped a dominant display by Juergen Klopp's side whose first league win since 19 December sent them back into the top four.

Firmino's effort in first-half stoppage time ended Liverpool's barren run of 482 minutes without a league goal.

Alexander-Arnold doubled their lead in the 47th minute before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg lashed in his first goal for Tottenham a minute later to give the hosts hope.

With Tottenham's defence unravelling, Mane struck again for Liverpool in the 65th minute and there was no coming back for Jose Mourinho's side who lost talisman Harry Kane to injury.

Liverpool's seventh successive win over Spurs in all competitions moved the side into fourth spot with 37 points from 20 games, four points behind leaders Manchester City who have played a game less. Tottenham, who could have gone above Liverpool with a win, stay sixth with 33 points.

-Reuters

More talk of RTS moving to union

Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has again been linked with a move to rugby union in a bid to play for the All Blacks at the 2023 World Cup.

Newscorp in Australia is reporting that 2021 will be his last season in the NRL.

Tuivasa-Sheck is contracted to the Warriors until the end of the 2022 season, although the final year has an option in his favour.

The 27 year old has previously said that reports of a code switch "pretty much happen every year".

The star player is currently on a million dollar contract with the Warriors but would likely have to take a significant pay cut if he was to move to union.

The 2018 Dally M medal winner is currently with the Warriors squad in Tamworth before they relocate to the Central Coast next week.

The NRL seasons in early March.

-Newscorp

Proteas back on even terms

Aidan Markram and Rassie van der Dussen produced patient half centuries but Pakistan grabbed three late wickets as South Africa reached 187 for four in their second innings at the close on day three of a see-saw first cricket test in Karachi.

The tourists lead by 29 runs and have wiped out a first innings deficit after they trailed by 158 having bowled Pakistan out for 378.

Captain Quinton de Kock has yet to score and will resume on the fourth morning with nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj (2 not out), the pair looking to push South Africa towards a total that will give them something to defend in Pakistan's fourth innings.

Their situation looked a lot brighter 30 minutes before the close but Pakistan's spinners grabbed three big wickets as the shadows lengthened on the day.

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

Australia to vaccinate Olympic athletes

Australia aims to vaccinate its Olympians against Covid-19 before they head to the Tokyo Games, federal sport minister Richard Colbeck has said.

Advice from the body coordinating the vaccination rollout plan suggested that athletes would likely be inoculated before the July 23-August 8 Games, Colbeck said.

Colbeck later issued a statement saying that "older Australians, frontline workers and those with underlying medical conditions" would be prioritised and that "most athletes" would be vaccinated in a later phase of the rollout.

A number of national Olympic committees are planning to vaccinate their athletes before the Games.

Israel's Olympic Committee said it had already vaccinated half its Olympic delegation and would complete the process by the end of May.

The NZOC is hoping their athletes will be vaccinated before the games.

-Reuters

Man U condemns racial abuse

Manchester United has condemned the racial abuse of some of their players following yesterday's shock 2-1 Premier League home defeat by Sheffield United.

Sky Sports reported that former England under-21 defender Axel Tuanzebe and France forward Anthony Martial were targeted on Instagram, with several users posting racist comments and symbols on their pictures.

Tuanzebe also suffered abuse on Twitter, the report added.

"Everyone at Manchester United is disgusted by the racial abuse received by players via social media after last night's game," Manchester United said in a statement.

"We utterly condemn it and it is encouraging to see other fans condemn this on social media also."

The Professional Footballers' Association said the racist abuse was "disgraceful and unacceptable", adding that such social media accounts should be banned.

Since the end of last season, players, coaching staff and match officials have been taking a knee before kickoff at every game as an act of solidarity against racial inequality.

-Reuters

Osaka invests in US football team

Japan's three-times Grand Slam tennis champion Naomi Osaka has invested in US women's football team the North Carolina Courage to become a team owner.

"The women who have invested in me growing up made me who I am today, I don't know where I would be without them," Osaka, the world number three, wrote on Twitter.

Osaka, 23, was named Forbes' highest-paid female athlete in May last year when she surpassed her idol Serena Williams, raking in $US37.4 million in prize money and endorsements over 12 months.

Courage, founded in 2017 by Stephen Malik who acquired the franchise rights from 2016 champions Western New York Flash, won back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019 after moving to North Carolina.

Osaka, who won the US Open last year, has used her standing in the sport to fight for racial justice and at every round of the tournament in New York she wore masks bearing the names of Black Americans who had been killed.

-Reuters

F1 team founder dies

Spanish motor racing team boss and former Minardi Formula One driver Adrian Campos, who helped compatriot and double world champion Fernando Alonso reach the top, has died aged 60.

Campos Racing, who have teams in the Formula Two and Three support series, said in a statement that their founder had passed away from "sudden coronary disease".

Campos started 17 grands prix in 1987-88 without scoring a point.

He then focused on running teams in the junior series, working with future F1 drivers Marc Gene and Alonso early in their careers.

In 2009 Campos had a bid to enter a Campos Meta team in Formula One accepted but financial problems saw it change ownership and compete as Hispania, later HRT F1. The team folded at the end of 2012.

-Reuters

Frenchman wins Vendee Globe

Yannick Bestaven was declared the winner of the Vendee Globe sailing race after being handed a time bonus for his role in rescuing a fellow competitor.

He crossed the line in the solo round-the-world race third in 80 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds.

But compensation of 10 hours and 15 minutes for helping rescue Kevin Escoffier saw Bestaven, 48, win by more than two hours from Charlie Dalin.

A third Frenchman, Louis Burton, completed the podium, with the top three crossing the finish line within eight hours of each other.

This was the ninth edition of the Vendee Globe, which is held every four years, and saw a record entry of 33 skippers.

The 24,000 nautical mile races starts and finishes in France.

Each competitor must sail alone and continuously around the planet.

-BBC