Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Chelsea maintained their lead at the top of the Premier League as Hakim Ziyech came off the bench to secure a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Watford on Wednesday.

Thomas Tuchel's side were not at their best at Vicarage Road but had enough quality to emerge with three important points.

The game was held up for 32-minutes not long after the start while a fan was treated for a medical emergency.

Chelsea lead the standings with 33 points from 14 games and are one point ahead of Manchester City who beat Aston Villa 2-1.

Sublime first-half goals from Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva capped off a dominant display by City at Villa Park.

Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool thumped Everton 4-1 in the Merseyside derby to stay third, one point behind City.

West Ham stay fourth after a 1-1 draw with Brighton.

Southampton and Leicester City drew 2-2.

Meanwhile Chris Woods' Burnley remain in the relegation zone following a 0-0 draw with Wolves.

North of the border Rangers scored late to beat Hibernian 1-0 and stay seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

-Reuters

Thompson-Herah and Warholm win athletics awards

Olympic champions Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica and Karsten Warholm of Norway have been named the World Athletes of the Year.

Thompson-Herah produced one of the finest sprint seasons in history this year, retaining her Olympic 100m and 200m titles in Tokyo and adding a third gold medal in the 4x100m relay.

On top of her Olympic triple, she also clocked world-leading times of 10.54 and 21.53 over 100m and 200m respectively, moving to second on the world all-time lists and coming within touching distance of the long-standing world records.

Warholm uncorked one of the most remarkable performances in athletics history when he stormed to gold in the 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics.

Having already broken the world record with 46.70 in Oslo in the lead-up to the Games, Warholm exceeded all expectations in the Japanese capital to claim gold in a stunning world record of 45.94. In a race of incredible depth, the top three athletes finished inside the pre-2021 world record.

-Reuters

Latham rises in rankings

The Black Caps opener Tom Latham has climbed into the top ten in the World Test batting rankings after knocks of 95 and 52 in the drawn first test against India.

He is up from 14th to ninth place.

Joe Root remains number one with Steve Smith two and Kane Williamson third.

New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson has risen six places to ninth in the bowling rankings after his three wickets in each innings in Kanpur.

Tim Southee remains third in the bowling rankings but is now within one point of second-placed India spinner Ravi Ashwin, following his eight-wicket match haul in the the opening test of the two match series.

Australian Pat Cummins is number one.

The second test starts in Mumbai on Friday.

Colgate Games to go ahead

The biggest athletics meeting for children will go ahead in January.

Athetics New Zealand has confirmed that under the government's traffic light system the two meeting Colgate Games for children aged between 7 and 14 can be held.

Those attending will have to follow Covid-19 protocols and those over 12 will need a vaccination pass.

The North Island meeting is in Wellington from January 7-9 and the South Island meeting is in Invercargil from January 14-16.

Athletics New Zealand says the events need sufficient entries to go ahead and the entry deadline has been extended until this Sunday.

Firebirds pip Volts

The Wellington Firebirds have beaten the Otago Volts by 13 runs in their Ford Trophy one day game at the Basin Reserve.

Chasing 243 for victory Otago were crusing at 202 for four in the 39th over, but then crumbled to be all out foe 242 with one over left.

Eight down Otago needed 14 off the last 8 balls, before Wellington captain Hamish Bennett wrapped up the game.

Neil Broom top-scored for the visitors with 72.

Earlier Troy Johnson top-scored for the hosts with a knock of 73.

Teams now revert to Super Smash mode for upcoming matches, the Volts heading to Hamilton to play Northern Brave on Friday evening and the Firebirds remaining in the capital to face the Central Stags on Sunday afternoon, before the next Ford Trophy clash - a rematch between Canterbury and Northern Districts - in Rangiora on Monday 6 December.

Australian Open mandate isn't about Novak Djokovic

The Australian Open's COVID-19 vaccine mandate is about protecting the community, not about "blackmailing" Novak Djokovic, a state government official said.

Organisers of the year's first Grand Slam have said all players would have to be vaccinated to take part, drawing criticism from world number one Djokovic's father.

"Under these blackmails and conditions, (Djokovic) probably won't (play)," Srdjan Djokovic told Serbian media.

Victoria sports minister Martin Pakula said the vaccine mandate applied to all athletes in the southern Australian state, which hosts the Australian Open in Melbourne.

"If you're a visiting international tennis player, or a visiting sportsman of any kind, it's about your responsibility to the community that you are being welcomed into," Pakula told Australian media.

"And that's why we are asking those international tennis stars to follow the same requirements as Victorians are.

"It's not about blackmail, it's about making sure the Victorian community is protected.

"I want to make it clear that I really hope that Novak Djokovic gets vaccinated and plays in the Australian Open.

Djokovic has won nine Melbourne Park titles, including this year's tournament, and shares the record of 20 men's Grand Slams with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.

He has refused to disclose his vaccination status, saying it was a matter of personal choice. (Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford )

-Reuters

Cardiff will play without most of squad

Cardiff plan to play Champions Cup rugby matches against Toulouse and Harlequins next week with a shadow squad as most of their players continue to quarantine.

A group of 42 players and staff are due to leave South Africa today after securing a charter flight and quarantine accommodation in England.

Six members of the party will stay in Cape Town after positive Covid tests.

As the Welsh side will be without 32 players - and 16 members of staff - who will be quarantining in either England or South Africa, they intend to field a team comprised of academy players, reserves and Wales internationals who did not travel to South Africa.

Meanwhile Irish club Munster have said 14 members of the team will remain in South Africa to isolate and the wider squad have flown out of Cape Town.

The Irish province's two scheduled games in South Africa were postponed following the detection of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the region.

-BBC

20-0 win not good

England women head coach Sarina Wiegman said yesterday's 20-0 thrashing of Latvia in the women's FIFA World Cup qualifiers was not good for the development of the game, stressing on the need for competitive matches.

England, ranked eighth in the world, recorded their biggest-ever competitive victory after 10 different players found the back of the net in a one-way encounter against Latvia, who are ranked 102nd.

"We want to develop well-developed countries and the countries that are not that far, so in every country you want to develop the women's game, said Wiegman.

"But I don't think it's good that the scores are so high. I know that has the attention of the federations - UEFA and FIFA. I think that's good because I don't think 20-0 is good for the development of anyone."

England are top of Group D in their World Cup qualification campaign with a perfect record of 18 points from six games. They have scored 53 goals and conceded none.

Latvia are bottom without a point having conceded 46 goals, scoring only twice in their five matches.

The 2023 Women's World Cup will be held in New Zealand and Australia.

-Reuters

MCG wants fifth Ashes Test

With Perth's Ashes test in doubt over strict COVID-19 rules, authorities in Victoria state have petitioned Cricket Australia to bring the series back to the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The MCG is already hosting the third test between Australia and England in its traditional Boxing Day schedule from Dec. 26 but would have an "undeniable" case to replace Perth for the fifth and final match from Jan. 14, Victoria sports minister Martin Pakula said.

"The Victorian government has certainly made it clear to Cricket Australia that if the Perth test is unable to go ahead that we'd be not just prepared to host the fifth test but very keen to host the fifth test," Pakula said.

Pakula's comments follow similar expressions of interest from other states including New South Wales, which hosts the fourth test in Sydney, and Tasmania.

Perth's hopes of hosting an Ashes test plunged on Tuesday when Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan said players and staff would need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival from New South Wales after the Jan. 5-9 Sydney test.

Cricket Australia has repeatedly declined to comment on the schedule.

-Reuters

Glazers buy into UAE T20 League

Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer has acquired a franchise in the United Arab Emirates' inaugural T20 Cricket League.

The Glazer family, who also own National Football League team Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have made their first foray into cricket by acquiring one of the six franchises in the league through their company Lancer Capital.

A member of the Glazer family was also among the bidders when two new Indian Premier League franchises were unveiled in October but was unsuccessful with a bid.

The newly established tournament with six franchise teams is set to be staged across the UAE in February and March next year.

-Reuters

Konta retires

Former world number four Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30, saying she was grateful she got to live her dreams as a professional.

Struggling for form and fitness this year, Konta dropped to 113th in the world and played her last tour match at the Cincinnati Open in August, suffering a first-round loss to Karolina Muchova.

The Briton withdrew from Wimbledon in June when a member of her team tested positive for COVID-19. She also missed the Tokyo Olympics after contracting the virus.

"Grateful -- this is the word that I've probably used the most during my career, and is the word that I feel explains it best at the end," Konta said in a statement

Konta achieved a career-high ranking of number four in 2017 after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals. She also made the last four at the 2016 Australian Open and 2019 French Open.

-Reuters