Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Title-chasers Liverpool slipped to their second Premier League defeat of the season after substitute Ademola Lookman earned Leicester City a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

Liverpool dominated the first half against an injury-hit Leicester and looked set to take a deserved lead when they were awarded a 16th-minute penalty, only for Egyptian Mohamed Salah to see his spot kick saved by home goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

The chances kept coming for the visitors, with Sadio Mane blazing over when he should have scored early in the second half.

Liverpool's profligacy proved costly as Lookman fired Leicester in front just before the hour mark, sparking scenes of euphoria at the King Power Stadium.

It was backs to the wall for Leicester after that, but they dug in to secure a win that leaves second-placed Liverpool six points adrift of leaders Manchester City, as Foxes coach Brendan Rodgers got one over on the side he used to manage.

After conceding six at Manchester City on Boxing Day, Leicester's morale-boosting win moved them up to ninth in the standings.

West Ham beat Watford 4-1, Crystal Palace beat Norwich 3-0 and Tottenham and Southampton drew 1-1.

-Reuters

Shami helps India gain advantage

India seamer Mohammed Shami claimed his 200th test wicket and completed figures of 5-44 as hosts South Africa were bowled out for 197 on the third day of the first test.

India reached 16 for one in their second innings at the close, a lead of 146 that already looks imposing for the home side on a Centurion Park wicket that will get harder to bat on.

First-innings centurion KL Rahul (five not out) and nightwatchman Shardul Thakur (four) will resume on the fourth day trying to quickly move to a score that allows India to declare and have enough time to bowl the home side out again.

Mayank Agarwal (four) was the only wicket to fall in India's second innings as he edged debutant left-arm seamer Marco Jansen to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

Eighteen wickets fell on the third day after no play was possible on Monday due to rain.

Shami led the Indian attack with a superb bowling display, eking out every ounce of assistance from the helpful conditions.

His haul included the wicket of South Africa's top-scorer Temba Bavuma, who had reached 52 when he edged to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

-Reuters

DNF for Robinson

The Queenstown skier Alice Robinson has failed to finish the latest World Cup race.

Robinson was fifth fastest after the first run of the Giant Slalom at Lienz in Austria.

However she was unable to complete the second run.

Frenchwoman Tessa Worley won from Slovakian Petra Vlhova and Swede Sara Hector.

Fellow New Zealander Piera Hudson was 35th overall.

American Mikaela Shiffrin, who didn't compete after testing positive for Covid, still leads the overall Giant Slalom standings.

Black Jack takes line honours

Black Jack has won line honours in the 76th Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

The Mark Bradford-skippered, Monaco-flagged yacht crossed the line after 2 days, 12 hours, and 37 minutes, arriving just after 1:30am local time.

Black Jack held and extended its lead over LawConnect and SHK Scallywag in the final hours of racing.

It is the slowest line honours time since 2004.

Black Jack previously claimed line honours in the bluewater classic in 2009 under the name Alfa Romeo.

It finished fifth in the last Sydney to Hobart in 2019 and was second to Wild Oats XI by just 28 minutes in the 2018 thriller.

-ABC

Thiem out of Australian Open

Dominic Thiem has pulled out of next month's Australian Open to work towards regaining full fitness after a long-standing wrist injury.

The 28-year-old Austrian, who has not played since suffering the injury at the Mallorca Open in June, was unable to defend his U.S. Open title this year.

He had earlier withdrawn from the team-based ATP Cup, which starts on Saturday in Sydney, and other warmup events ahead of the hardcourt major at Melbourne Park.

"I am now feeling well again, my wrist is in optimal condition and I am practicing normally with a very good intensity," the former world number three said.

"After the short holidays, my team and I have assessed all matters and we have decided to make some changes to my initial tournament schedule."

Thiem, who has slipped to 15th in the rankings, reached the final at Melbourne Park last year before winning his maiden major title at Flushing Meadows.

He opted against playing five-set matches on his return to competition at the Australian Open, deciding to start his 2022 season in South America at the Cordoba Open in Argentina at the end of January.

-Reuters

England coach sees positives

England head coach Chris Silverwood said he believes the players are responding to his coaching methods despite Tuesday's innings and 14-run defeat by Australia in the third test.

Australia clinched the series 3-0 before matches in Sydney and Hobart after another commanding performance that heaped the pressure on Silverwood.

Asked whether the players were responding to his coaching techniques, Silverwood told BT Sport: "I think they are.

"We had a good honest chat after the last game. We just have to put performances together and start pushing back (against Australia). It's disappointing for us all and the lads will be feeling that in the dressing room."

England's team selections have also come under scrutiny in the series.

Bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad were left out of the opener in Brisbane, while ex-skipper Michael Atherton said the decision to have five seamers and no spinners and leave Mark Wood out of the Adelaide test was "lacking cricketing sense".

They made four changes for the third test with Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Jack Leach and Wood coming in.

"We do know who are our best 11 players are, but we had to make changes after the first two games. We knew we had good people to come in," Silverwood added.

The fourth test will begin on Jan. 5.

-Reuters

Ganguly tests positive

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who heads the country's cricket board, has been admitted to hospital in Kolkata after testing positive for COVID-19, his brother Snehasish said.

"Sourav has got COVID but he is feeling fine," Snehasish said, adding that the positive result came on Monday night.

One of India's most successful captains, the 49-year-old underwent an angioplasty at the start of the year after complaining of chest discomfort.

India reported over 6,000 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with the number of deaths rising by 293.

About 34.8 million people have contracted the novel coronavirus in the world's second-most populous nation with confirmed deaths of over 480,000.

-Reuters