Latest - The Wellington Phoenix's A-League game against the Central Coast Mariners on Monday night in Gosford has been postponed as a result of positive Covid cases within the Mariners team.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Central Coast men's football department is currently in isolation and awaiting further test results.
The women's match between the Wellington Phoenix and Newcastle Jets, to be played in Gosford on Monday night, remains as scheduled.
However, it will take place behind closed doors, without crowds in attendance.
All positive cases involve double-vaccinated individuals who tested positive to PCR tests on the 26 and 27 December.
All positive cases and those close to them are adhering to relevant state government health directives, in close consultation with the A-Leagues.
As a result of the number of cases, the A-Leagues have determined that game postponement is necessary to ensure the spread of the virus is limited and the health of their clubs is ensured.
The A-Leagues will continue to work with the Phoenix and the Mariners on confirming a new schedule for the postponed match as soon as possible.
City net a half dozen
Manchester City held off an unlikely Leicester comeback with a 6-3 win to clinch a ninth successive Premier League win and move six points clear at the top of the table.
Kevin de Bruyne Photo: Photosport
It looked like the defending champions had wrapped up the points by half-time as they led a depleted Foxes side 4-0, with a penalty apiece by Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling on top of strikes by Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan.
Leicester had other ideas, however, with three goals in the space of 10 second-half minutes from James Maddison, Ademola Lookman and Kelechi Iheanacho giving them hope.
A header by Aymeric Laporte restored order and gave the home side much-needed breathing space, before Sterling's second made sure of the points late on, but what had started out as a walk in the park will be remembered as a much sterner test for the league leaders.
Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to lead Chelsea to a 3-1 victory at Aston Villa with midfielder Jorginho scoring two penalties
Arsenal cruised to a 5-0 win at bottom side Norwich City, with Bukayo Saka's double helping them to secure the victory as they consolidated fourth place.
Brazilian Lucas Moura inspired fifth placed Tottenham Hotspur to a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace that stretched their unbeaten Premier League run under new manager Antonio Conte to six games.
James Ward-Prowse scored one and created another as Southampton dug deep to earn a much-needed 3-2 win over West Ham United.
-BBC/Reuters
India on top at Centurion
Opener KL Rahul showed superb application to score a seventh test century with an unbeaten 122 and steer India to a commanding 272 for three at the close of play on day one of the first test against South Africa at Centurion.
KL Rahul Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Vice-captain Rahul, who averaged 7.50 in four innings with a top score of 16 in South Africa three years ago, reached his ton off 218 balls as he toyed with a blunt home bowling attack on a slow wicket.
He will resume on the second morning with Ajinkya Rahane (40 not out), whose place in the side had been under scrutiny but played some wonderful shots to share an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 73.
Ragged South Africa looked like a side who have not played test cricket since June, with a number of their players having had no red-ball cricket at any level in the last six months.
They bowled too short on a wicket providing little assistance and did not attack the stumps enough after India had won the toss and elected to bat in overcast conditions.
The decision to select 21-year-old debutant left-arm seamer Marco Jansen (0-61) over the more experienced, and in-form, Duanne Olivier raised eyebrows too.
-Reuters
Wilkinson bags five
Football Fern Hannah Wilkinson scored five goals as Melbourne City beat Melbourne Victory 5-1 in the A-League women's competition.
Wilkinson's hat-trick came in 26 minutes.
She becomes just the second player to score five goals in an Australian women's game.
Not suprisingly Wilkinson is now the leading scorer in the competition this season.
The win takes City to second in the standings.
Otago Sparks remain unbeaten
The Otago women's cricketers have kept their unbeaten run going in the domestic T20 Super Smash competition.
Suzie Bates Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Suzie Bates scored 47 Canterbury women's and Eden Carson and Kate Ebrahim took three wickets each as Otago beat Canterbury by 12 runs at Hagley Oval.
The Otago Sparks are five from five.
Canterbury beat Otago by 36 runs in the men's game to move to second in the standings.
Central Districts and Auckland meet in a double header in New Plymouth today.
NBA may play in season tournament
The NBA and the players union are discussing making an in-season tournament part of the annual league calendar -- an addition that could shorten the league season by four games.
Photo: 2021 Getty Images
If the league and the National Basketball Players Association come to an agreement, the tournament could be added to the league calendar as early as the 2022-23 season, ESPN is reporting.
The proposal being discussed by the two sides involves all 30 teams, who would compete in the pool-play portion of the tournament as part of the regular season. The eight teams with the top records would play in a single-elimination tournament that would finish before the holidays, and the regular season would have 78 instead of 82 games under the plan, per ESPN.
Financial incentives would be included for the players that could include as much as US$1 million per player on the winning team. But the report said the league must balance what it could gain in television and sponsorship revenues against what teams could lose by the reduction of games.
Commissioner Adam Silver is an enthusiastic supporter of the idea and has watched how fans of European football have embraced in-season tournaments.
-Reuters
Leeds game postponed
Leeds United's home Premier League game against Aston Villa on Wednesday has been postponed due to positive COVID-19 cases and injuries in the Leeds squad.
Fourteen Premier League games have been called off this month due to COVID-19, but the league said its intention was to continue the fixture schedule where safely possible.
Leeds's trip to Liverpool on Boxing Day was postponed for similar reasons, while positive cases in the Villa camp forced the league to postpone their home game against Burnley on Dec. 18.
The Premier League only grants a postponement if a club has fewer than 14 players -- 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper -- available, with the board examining requests on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira missed today's game at Tottenham Hotspur after testing positive for COVID-19.
-Reuters
Norwegian star to miss Winter Olympics
Norway's double Olympic cross country skiing champion Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg will miss the 2022 Games in Beijing due to health issues.
The Norwegian Ski Federation said the 31-year-old, who won gold in the team sprint in Sochi in 2014 and the 4x5km relay in Pyeongchang in 2018, would miss the Tour de Ski and the Olympics.
Oestberg returned to the national team in November after almost two years of health problems, in which the results she returned in physical tests were not deemed to be high enough for the ski federation to clear her to compete.
"The planned follow-up after the first races shows that her health situation cannot manage the ski program. For that reason Ingvild must take a longer break from competition, which means that the Olympics are unfortunately too soon," NSF medical director Oeystein Andersen said in a statement.
Oestberg won the overall World Cup title in 2019.
-Reuters
