Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The Auckland Hearts have beaten the Canterbury Magicians by one run in their T20 Super Smash game at Eden Park.

Auckland made 135 for four with Lauren Down scoring an unbeaten 66 and Holly Huddleston 42.

In reply opener Amy Satterthwaite guided Canterbury through to the very last ball, before she was dismissed for 71.

Canterbury finished on 134 for five.

Auckland move up to third in the standings, just ahead of Canterbury on net run rate.

Wellington top the table from Otago.

Meanwhile the Canterbury Kings have gone to the top of the men's standings after beat the Auckland Aces by five wickets.

Auckland scored 167/8 with Glenn Phillips top scoring with 53.

In reply Cam Fletcher guided Canterbury home with two overs to spare with an unbeaten 57.

Kergozou wins sprint finish

The Southland rider Nick Kergozou has won the third stage of the New Zealand Cycle Classic in the Wairarapa.

Kergozou won a sprint finish in Martinborough at the end of the 127km ride from Masterton.

He crossed the line just ahead of Laurence Pithie and Zakk Patterson.

Kergozouz, a former New Zealand track representative, says it was a stage he and his team had targetted.

"Today was our main deal, to have a good sprint."

"It's really the only proper sprint stage for me so it was all in and the boys they just committed a hundred percent so you can't really ask for more."

Tour leader Mark Stewart of Great Britain finished in the pack with the same time as the winner.

He holds a 13 second lead over Keegan Hornblow.

Tomorrow's penultimate stage is a 137km ride from Masterton that finishes at the top if Te #Wharau Hill.

Haynes becomes a selector

Former opening batsman and test great Desmond Haynes has been appointed lead selector for West Indies Cricket.

The 65-year-old Barbadian will lead the selection panel until June 30, 2024, a period that includes two T20 World Cups, the 2023 Cricket World Cup and World Test Championship Final.

Haynes played in 116 tests, scoring 7,487 runs, and 238 one day internationals for West Indies between 1978 and 1994. He won the World Cup in 1979 and captained the side in four Tests.

"Being a selector is a thankless task, but a critical role in our cricket system and I am honoured to be appointed," he said in a statement.

-Reuters

North Korea blames US for not getting to Olympics

North Korea blamed "hostile forces" and the worldwide pandemic for not being able to attend the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing and accused the United States and its allies of trying to prevent the Games' success.

North Korea's Olympic Committee and Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports sent a letter to counterparts in China, including the Beijing Olympics organising committee, expressing their support for the Games despite their absence.

North Korea was suspended from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until the end of 2022, meaning it will miss out on the Beijing Winter Games, after failing to send a team to the Tokyo Olympics last year, citing COVID-19 concerns.

The letter criticised moves by the United States and its allies as "an insult to the spirit of the international Olympic Charter and as a base act of attempting to disgrace the international image of China."

In December, the White House announced U.S. government officials will boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics because of China's human rights "atrocities", while leaving U.S. athletes free to travel to Beijing to compete.

Several other countries, including Britain, Australia, and Canada have also since announced diplomatic boycotts.

-Reuters

Proteas win second test

South Africa captain Dean Elgar produced a heroic unbeaten innings of 96 runs to lead his team to a seven-wicket victory over India in the second test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Elgar defied a hostile Indian attack and body blows from balls that struck him on a difficult pitch to deliver a match-winning performance as he led a successful 240-run chase, fittingly hitting a boundary to secure the victory

South Africa reached 243-3 near the end of a rain-restricted fourth day to level the series after India had won the first test in Pretoria by 113 runs, with the deciding match to come in Cape Town, starting on Tuesday.

-Reuters

Guardiola contracts COVID-19

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will miss his team's third round match away to fourth-tier Swindon Town tomorrow, after testing positive for COVID-19.

City said that Guardiola returned a positive test on Tuesday along with one of his assistants Juanma Lillo.

"Both are now isolating, along with a number of other positive cases within the City first team bubble," City said in a statement adding that seven first-team players and 14 backroom staff are isolating for COVID-19 related reasons.

Assistant coach Rodolfo Borrell, who will take charge of the team for Friday's game, said Guardiola does not have many symptoms.

"We had an outbreak.... That's a big outbreak. We are getting it day by day, don't know where it will end," Borrell told a news conference.

"Pep is fine, he has the virus. Fortunately he doesn't have many symptoms. But we are permanently in touch, like we would be here but on zoom or via a call, through technology instead of live."

City are top of the Premier League table on 53 points after 21 matches, 10 points above second-placed Chelsea, whom they host in a league match on January 15 after facing Swindon.

-Reuters

ATP Cup semi finals revealed

World tennis number two Daniil Medvedev has beaten Italian Matteo Berrettini in the singles and then returned to the court to clinch the deciding doubles and fire defending champions Russia into the ATP Cup semi-finals.

Russia will face Canada in the final four after Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime won their respective singles matches in the evening session to beat Germany.

Poland will take on Spain in the first semi-final.

This year's ATP Cup has featured 16 teams, with the four group winners proceeding to the semi-finals.

-Reuters

Japanese tennis star to miss Australian Open

Japan's Kei Nishikori has withdrawn from this month's Australian Open because he is still recovering from a hip injury.

Nishikori, who reached a career-high ranking of fourth shortly after becoming the first man from Asia to reach a major final at the 2014 U.S. Open, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and struggled for consistency.

"Since the end of last year I have been struggling with my hip," Nishikori, currently ranked 47th, said on Twitter.

"It is not 100% recovered yet and I will have to pull out of the Aussie swing.

"This is very disappointing as the Australian Open feels like my "home" Grand Slam... And can't wait to be back next year."

Nishikori suffered a first-round exit in last year's edition of the Melbourne Park major.

-Reuters

USA pays WADA

After threatening to withhold World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) funding until its demands for reform were met, the United States paid its 2021 dues in full, the global anti-doping body said this morning.

WADA's largest donor outside the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. had been due to pay its dues of almost $4.3m NZD, by the end of the year.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) approved a second and final payment in December, avoiding a potential showdown with WADA.

"I welcome the decision by ONDCP to release the second tranche of its 2021 annual contribution to WADA," said WADA president Witold Banka in a statement.

"It is a clear demonstration of support by the United States Government for WADA's global collaborative mission for doping-free sport."

The threat to withhold funding sparked tension between the U.S. and WADA with the world governing body saying it would consider introducing rules to punish nations which do not pay up by finding them non-compliant.

-Reuters

Drama continues in Dakar Rally

South African Henk Lategan won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, despite his driver's door flapping open, as Sebastien Loeb trimmed Nasser Al Attiyah's overall lead to 35 minutes.

Frenchman Loeb, a nine times world rally champion, was second fastest over the 611km loop near Riyadh to claw back nearly three minutes from his Qatari rival.

Triple Dakar winner Al Attiyah was eighth fastest in his Toyota.

Lategan, who is out of contention for overall victory, hit problems soon after the start.

"I was driving until the first control point with the door flapping open. Then I managed to solve that, I strapped myself in and couldn't open the door," he said.

"Then we had a puncture, so I had to climb out of the navigator's door and change the puncture. So we've had just the craziest day. I can't actually believe that we have won the stage. It doesn't make sense," he said.

-Reuters