Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - New Zealand golfer Danny Lee was unable to finish his first round at the Players Championship in Florida because of darkness.

Lee, who was one over par through 15 holes and tied for 60th, was one of 21 players that were still on the course when play was halted.

Lee hadn't reached the famous island-green 17th hole which had so far had 35 balls put in the water today... the second most in history.

Sergio Garcia holds a two shot lead after firing a seven under 65.

Bryson DeChambeau, who won last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, was at 3 under In a six-way tie for sixth place. Phil Mickelson, who won the 2007 Players Championship, shot 1 under and was in a tie for 26th place.

The Players Championship is considered the unofficial fifth major.

Daniell into final

New Zealand tennis player Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald have beaten the world's top ranked pair to reach the final of the ATP 250 tournament in Doha.

The unseeded Daniell and Oswald have beaten top seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

Daniell and Oswald had knocked over the Australian Open champions Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in the first round.

They reached the quarter finals in Melbourne in their best Grand Slam result as a team since joining forces in late 2019.

They will face a couple of Russian singles specialists in the final, world number 8 Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev, the qualifier who made an incredible run to the Australian Open semi finals and who is now ranked 35 in the world in singles.

Daniell will be chasing his sixth ATP doubles title and second with Oswald after they won on clay in Sardinia last year.

Meanwhile Roger Federer has lost his second match back since returning from a 14-month injury lay-off.

Federer lost to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarter-finals of the singles in Doha.

Canterbury batsmen in form

An unbroken sixth wicket stand of 247 was the feature of the only game to be played on the opening day of round five of Plunket Shield cricket.

After being asked to bat first by Otago at Hagley Oval, Leo Carter and Cam Fletcher both scored centuries for Canterbury with Fletcher achieving his highest first class score.

Canterbury will start day two on 435 for five.

Rain prevented any play in the Northern Districts-Auckland game in Whangarei and the Central Districts-Wellington game in Napier.

Canterbury top the Plunket Shield standings.

Storm beat Bunnies

Two tries from Ryan Papenhuyzen helped champions Melbourne to a 26-18 win over Souths in the opening game of the National Rugby League season.

Just a day after the retirement of legend Cameron Smith, Papenhuyzen and Cameron Munster showed that their title defence was in safe hands as the Storm piled on 22 points in the first 30 minutes.

Papenhuyzen ran for 174 metres and kicked five goals from six attempts in a standout individual performance, while Munster led superbly in the absence of the man who had been the heart and soul of the club for 18 years.

The Warriors open up against Gold Coast in Gosford tomorrow.

-NRL.com

Roglic recovers from fall to retain lead

The Slovenian cyclist Primoz Roglic has retained the overall lead in the Paris-Nice race despite falling 35km from the finish of the fifth stage.

Roglic came down along with his Jumbo Visma team-mate Tony Martin who was forced to retire.

However with the help of the rest of his team including New Zealander George Bennett, Roglic was able to catch the peleton.

Ireland's Sam Bennett claimed his second victory of the tour with a perfectly timed sprint at the end of the stage.

The race will not get its traditional finale on Nice's Promenade des Anglais this year because regional authorities said it would have to avoid the city, which will be under a lockdown on Saturday and Sunday because of the coronavirus pandemic.

-Reuters

Historic day for Afghanistan cricket

Hashmatullah Shahidi became the first Afghanistan cricketer to hit a test double hundred while his team notched up several batting records on a memorable day two of their second and final match against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi.

Playing their sixth test match, the Afghans racked up 545-4, their highest total ever, before captain Asghar Afghan declared their first innings.

Their previous highest total was 342 when they beat Bangladesh in 2019 to register their first test victory.

The skipper himself hit 164, which was briefly the highest test total by an Afghan batsman until Shahidi eclipsed it.

The 307-run fourth-wicket stand between them was also the biggest partnership for Afghanistan who played their first test against India in 2018.

Zimbabwe were 50-0 at stumps.

Zimbabwe had won the opening test at the same venue inside two days.

-Reuters

China offers vaccine for Olympic athletes

The Chinese Olympic Committee has offered vaccine doses to be used for participants at this year's Tokyo Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

The Tokyo Olympics, postponed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, were the first Games outside wartime to be cancelled but have been rescheduled for July 23 to Aug. 8.

Due to the delay the Beijing Games will now start just over six months after Tokyo.

"The IOC has received a kind offer from the Chinese Olympic Committee, hosts of the 2022 Beijing winter Olympics, to make additional vaccine doses available to participants in both editions of the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

He did not provide any details on the number of doses. The Olympics involve more than 10,000 athletes while usually tens of thousands more people are involved in the Games as coaching staff, media, volunteers and officials.

Most Japanese people do not want international visitors to attend the Tokyo Games amid fears that a large influx could spark a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

-Reuters

Australia right behind Brisbane Olympic campaign

Brisbane's bid to host the 2032 summer Olympics got the backing of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday, who told the International Olympic Committee all levels of government were firmly behind the candidacy.

Brisbane was named as the preferred choice for the 2032 Games late last month, beating several other cities and countries who had publicly expressed an interest, and will now enter into a detailed dialogue with the IOC before any final decision is taken.

"Every level of government is working together to deliver Brisbane 2032," Morrison told the IOC session via a short video message. "We will leave nothing to chance as we work with you during this period of dialogue."

The IOC praised Brisbane's candidacy, saying it provided stability to the Olympic movement amid turbulent times.

Other countries and cities interested in the 2032 Games included, Indonesia, the Hungarian capital Budapest, China, Doha and Germany's Ruhr valley.

-Reuters

Federer exits Qatar

Roger Federer's hopes of winning a fourth title Qatar tennis have been dashed after he was beaten in the quarter-final but the 20 time grand slam winner says is first event after two knee surgeries was just a "stepping stone" as he targets full fitness for the grasscourt season.

The tournament was the 39 year old's first competitive event in 14 months.

Date set for PSL return

The Pakistan Super League will resume in June after the Twenty20 competition had to be suspended last week following a spate of Covid-19 cases among players and officials.

The Pakistan Cricket Board abruptly suspended its flagship tournament after seven people, including six players, tested positive for Covid-19.

The PCB, the franchises and the league's governing council have now decided to resume the tournament in Karachi.

There are no New Zealanders playing in the competition.

-Reuters