Latest - Diogo Jota scored against his former club to give Liverpool a 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League and keep them in contention for a top-four finish.
Jurgen Klopp Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The result lifted Liverpool two places up to sixth on 46 points from 29 games, five adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea and two behind fifth-placed West Ham who have a game in hand.
Wolves stayed 13th on 35 points from 29 matches.
Play was held up for 10 minutes in the closing stages as Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio suffered a concussion and was carried off on a stretcher after colliding with team mate Conor Coady who tried to close down Mohamed Salah.
Meanwhile in Spain, Lionel Messi celebrated his record-equalling 767th appearance for Barcelona by scoring two goals in a 4-1 La Liga victory over Huesca which helped the Catalans to move within four points of the top of the table.
The victory lifted Barca to 59 points in second place, four behind table-toppers Atletico Madrid.
Messi equalled Xavi Hernandez's all-time appearance record for Barcelona.
Three goals not enough for Phoenix
The Wellington Phoenix have been beaten 4-3 by Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Phoenix led three times following goals from Ulises Davila in the seventh minute, Cameron Devlin in the 32nd minute and Tomer Hemed in the 64th minute.
Wanderers substitute Kwame Yeboah then scored the winner in the 84th minute.
Hemed put the ball in the back of the net in stoppage time, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside following consultation with VAR.
Wanderers are now second on the table, while Wellington are tenth.
-A-League
Fury and Joshua to fight
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have signed a two-fight deal to unify the IBF, WBO, WBA and WBC heavyweight titles, ESPN reported citing boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
British boxer Tyson Fury celebrates after defeating US boxer Deontay Wilder in the seventh round during their World Boxing Council (WBC) Heavyweight Championship Title boxing match. Photo: AFP
Joshua beat Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in December to retain his IBF, WBO and WBA titles and set up the prospect of a mouth-watering clash with fellow Briton Fury, the WBC belt holder.
Fury, 32, has not fought for over a year since his knockout win against American Deontay Wilder, but said last month he would fight twice this year.
ESPN reported that both fights are set to take place in 2021 with the first in June or July followed by the rematch in November or December.
The contract would have the fighters getting a 50-50 split in the first bout and a 60-40 split in the rematch where the winner would get the higher share.
-Reuters
King into last 8 in Cairo
New Zealand squash player Joelle King is into the quarter-finals of the Black Ball Open in Cairo after beating 17th ranked Nadine Shahin of Egypt in straight games.
The Waikato player was beaten by Shahin the last time they played but was fully focused today to get the job done by a 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 scoreline in 28 minutes.
"It was by no means easy," said King, the world number eight. "I actually lost to Nadine the last time we played 3-0 last year in March, so I had that in the back of my mind. I know that I'm a different player to what I was in March. It was far from easy, mentally I had to keep my focus the whole time. As we saw the other day she never gives up until the last point is over.
King's quarter-final will be against either India's Joshna Chinappa or Egyptian fourth seed Hania El Hammamy.
Torch relay to start on time
Tokyo Olympics organisers say the torch relay will begin on March 25 from the J-Village training centre in Fukushima, as planned, launching the build-up to the start of the Games in July as they continue to work on Covid-19 counter-measures.
The Olympic torch. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Grand Start ceremony and first section of the relay on day one will not be open to the public as organisers reduce the number of participants and simplify the programme to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The torch relay has long been planned to start on March 25 but is nevertheless a major milestone after the Games were postponed last year and following speculation over whether they should be delayed again or even cancelled due to the pandemic.
Tokyo organisers have also said they want to decide before the start of the relay whether to allow foreign spectators into the country amid fears of a resurgence in coronavirus infections.
Underscoring the complications in preparing for the Games during the pandemic, Tokyo 2020 also said that test events for skateboarding and shooting have been postponed until May due to the impact on scheduling from the COVID-19 situation.
The Olympics will be held from July 23 to Aug. 8 and the Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
-Reuters
Murray to play Miami
Former champion Andy Murray has been granted a wild card for this month's Miami Open tennis tournament.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The British ex-world number one, who has fallen to 116 in the rankings after long injury lay-offs because of hip surgeries, is a two-time Miami Open champion having won the title in 2009 and 2013.
Murray, a three-times Grand Slam champion, has had a stop-start year after he was unable to fly to the Australian Open after testing positive for COVID-19.
The 33-year-old Briton's last tournament was the Rotterdam Open where he was beaten by Russian Andrey Rublev two weeks ago. He then decided to sit out this week's Dubai Championships after his wife gave birth to their fourth child.
The Miami Open, which will feature 74 of the top 77 ranked men, is scheduled to run from March 22-April 4.
-Reuters
Narendra Modi pitch "average"
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad has avoided being hit with demerit points after the pitch for the pink-ball test between India and England was rated as "average" despite the match lasting only two days.
Venues can be suspended for a year if they pick up five demerit points and for two years if they pick up 10.
India won the third test inside two days after 30 wickets tumbled in five sessions on a turning track at the new stadium, which is the world's biggest cricket venue with a capacity of seating 132,000 people.
Former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath was the match referee for the four-match series, which the hosts won 3-1.
England collapsed for 81 in their second innings, and neither side reached 150 runs in what was the shortest completed test match since 1935.
The pitch for the second test at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium, which assisted spinners from the first session and ended on the fourth day when India sealed a 317-run win, also earned an "average" rating.
-Reuters
