24 May 2021

Today's sports news: What you need to know

12:49 pm on 24 May 2021

Latest - Kiwis utility back Peta Hiku will leave the Warriors at the end of the NRL season to join the North Queensland Cowboys on a two-year deal.

Warriors player Peta Hiku.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Hiku featured in just four matches for the Warriors this year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last month.

"We made an offer to Peta but unfortunately we couldn't match the terms he had on the table from his new club and understandably he has to look after his family's best interests," Warriors recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan said.

Hiku has played 67 games for the Warriors after stints for Manly, Penrith and Warrington.

He will be reunited with Todd Payten, who is now the coach of the Cowboys.

"Peta is a smart and experienced centre, who has also shown he can play fullback and in the halves," Payten said.

"He's really creative for his outside men, he's a try scorer himself and he's a good family man who is going to add value to the club on and off the field."

Liverpool and Chelsea claim Champions League berths

Sadio Mane struck twice as Liverpool secured Champions League qualification with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield.

Sadio Mane celebrates his goal with Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah

Sadio Mane celebrates his goal with Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah Photo: Actionplus

Last season's champions ended the season unbeaten in their final 10 Premier League matches to finish third, 17 points behind Manchester City.

Chelsea held on for fourth and the final Champions League place despite losing 2-1 at Aston Villa on the final day of the season.

The Blues finished a point ahead of Leicester City who twice squandered the lead to lose 4-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur as their Champions League dream was shattered on the final day for the second successive season.

The FA Cup winners finished in fifth place and will have to be content with a Europa League campaign, while victory left Tottenham in seventh and they will enter the inaugural Europa Conference.

West Ham United secured Europa League football for next season and their best ever Premier League points total after two goals from Pablo Fornals and a late strike from Declan Rice propelled them to a 3-0 home win over Southampton.

West Ham finished sixth in the standings with 65 points, three more than their previous best total in 2015/16.

In other final day results, Manchester City beat Everton 5-0, Manchester United won 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arsenal beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0, Newcastle won 2-0 at Fulham, Leeds United beat West Bromwich Albion 3-1 and Sheffield United beat Burnley 1-0.

- Reuters

Mixed results for New Zealand squash players in Egypt

New Zealand squash player Paul Coll is through to the quarter-finals of the El Gouna International in Egypt by beating Frenchman Victor Crouin in the third round.

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Photo: Supplied

The world number four was in complete control of the match through the first two games, and although Crouin fought back in the third, taking the match to a tie-break, it was Coll who took the win to set up a meeting with Egypt's Karim Abdel Gawad in the last eight.

"I was very happy with the way I adjusted my game to the glass court in the first two games, I just lost a bit of concentration and he is too good of a player to let him play the way he wants to, and I think he showed that in the third," Coll said.

"I didn't give away much in the first two games, it was just in the third there, just a lack of concentration. He made me play and I wasn't as stable on the ball. I just need to focus on the whole match. The ball moves in the wind a bit out there."

Earlier in the day fellow New Zealander Joelle King was beaten in straight games in the third round by Egyptian Rowan Elaraby.

Verstappen takes F1 lead

Red Bull's Max Verstappen has won Formula One's showcase Monaco Grand Prix to lead the world championship for the first time in his career.

Max Verstappen (NED) Red Bull Racing

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The 23-year-old Dutch driver started the day 14 points behind Mercedes' seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton and ended it four clear of the Briton with 18 races remaining on the schedule.

Hamilton finished seventh, gaining an extra consolation point for the fastest lap after making a late stop for fresh tyres.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished second -- a boost for the team after Charles Leclerc, who had secured pole position and crashed in qualifying, was ruled out before the start with a driveshaft problem.

Britain's Lando Norris, Sainz's team mate last year at McLaren, held off Red Bull's Sergio Perez to complete the top three.

- Reuters

NZ men complete sevens sweep

The All Blacks Sevens have swept the Australian men in their six match international series in Auckland.

Caleb Clarke.
New Zealand All Blacks Sevens v Australia, Trans-Tasman Sevens series at the Grammar TEC rugby club at Orakei Domain in Auckland on Sunday 23 May 2021.

Photo: Photosport Ltd 2021

The New Zealand men's team prevailed 31-14 in their final game at Orākei Domain.

The Black Ferns Sevens won five of their six matches against the Australian women, capping the three-day tournament with a 24-12 victory.

The New Zealand and Australian sides are hoping to meet again before the Tokyo Olympics.

It was the first international matches for the All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens since early last year.

Fury vs Wilder III confirmed

World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Tyson Fury has signed a contract to fight American Deontay Wilder for a third time in Las Vegas on July 24, Top Rank Boxing said.

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury box during their WBC heavyweight title bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. 2020.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Fury, 32, had been set to face fellow Briton Anthony Joshua on Aug. 14 in Saudi Arabia in a world heavyweight unification title fight, but an American arbitrator ordered Fury to fight Wilder again before Sept. 15.

Fury first fought Wilder, who is now 35, in 2018 and took the WBC title from him in a rematch in February 2020 with a seventh-round stoppage.

"Shall we do it and put him out of his misery? Crack the other side of his skull? Give him another shoulder injury, another bicep injury, a leg injury... the whole lot," Fury said in a video https://twitter.com/trboxing/status/1396278040003448837 posted by Top Rank Boxing.

"Wilder, contract's signed, you're getting smashed... You're getting knocked out, end of, one round, you're going. I've got your soul, your mojo, everything, I own you."

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has ordered Joshua to defend his heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk.

- Reuters