Today's sports news: what you need to know

Latest - New Zealand's Jerome Pampellone is through to the quarter-finals of the men's amateur boxing world championships in Russia.

He's stunned the third seed in the light heavyweight division, beating Egypt's Abdelrahman Salah Orabi by way of a unanimous decision.

Pampellone will now face the sixth seed Benjamin Whittaker from England tonight for a place in the medal rounds.

Earlier, David Nyika was beaten in his latest heavyweight bout.

The double Commonwealth Games gold medallist went down 5-nil in a points decision to the Russian fifth seed.

Four of ther five judges had the Russian ahead by just one point.

New Zealand boxers will attempt to qualify for next year's Olympics at an Asia-Oceania tournament next year.

English clubs make losing start to Champions League.

Liverpool began their Champions League title defence with a 2-0 defeat away to Napoli.

Dries Mertens scored from the penalty spot with eight minutes remaining after Andy Robertson tripped Jose Callejon inside the box.

Napoli substitute Fernando Llorente added a second in stoppage time to put the result beyond doubt.

Meanwhile Valencia gatecrashed Frank Lampard's managerial bow in the Champions League by earning a morale-boosting 1-0 win at Chelsea.

Spain forward Rodrigo Moreno gave the visitors the lead against the run of play in the 74th minute of the Group H game, getting the slightest of touches on a free kick from Dani Parejo to send the ball into the roof of the net.

Chelsea continued to threaten and were awarded a penalty after a VAR review spotted a handball by Valencia defender Daniel Wass, but Ross Barkley sent the resulting spot kick on to the crossbar and over.

Silver Ferns to play in new competition

The World Cup champion Silver Ferns will play England, Jamaica and South Africa in a new international series in England next year.

The four-day tournament in January will be played across three cities, Nottingham, Birmingham and London.

Australia aren't taking part as they want to give their players time away from the game after completing an intense four year cycle.

The northern edition of the Netball Quad Series will return to the UK in January 2021.

The Silver Ferns meet Australia in the Constellation Cup in October.

Unchanged Warriors womens side

Warriors women's head coach Luisa Avaiki has named an unchanged starting line-up for Sunday's second-round NRLW game against St George Illawarra at Mount Smart Stadium.

The club's first home game and the competition's first standalone fixture - follows an impressive 16-12 first-up triumph over the Sydney Roosters at the SCG last Saturday.

While the Warriors again take winning form into the contest, the Dragons fell 4-14 to defending champions the Brisbane Broncos last Sunday.

Broncos players in trouble

A late night pokies session before Brisbane's humiliating NRL finals exit may cost some senior Broncos dearly.

In a bad look for the embattled club, it has emerged that six Broncos left the team hotel to play the pokies at a Sydney pub without coach Anthony Seibold's knowledge the night before their record 58-0 elimination final loss to Parramatta.

Some Broncos may pay a huge price with club officials saying they would consider the players' behaviour when they carry out an end of season review which will help determine their roster in the wake of the Eels' rout.

The players were believed to be Matt Gillett, Anthony Milford, Corey Oates, Andrew McCullough, Payne Haas and David Fifita.

-AAP

Birmingham City fined

Birmingham City have been fined $84,000 and warned by the Football Association after one of their fans ran onto the pitch and punched Aston Villa's Jack Grealish during a Championship (second tier) match in March.

Paul Mitchell, 27, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates' Court to charges of assault and encroachment and was jailed for 14 weeks.

Mitchell was also banned from attending any football matches in the UK for 10 years and banned for life by Birmingham.

Grealish was punched in the side of the face by Mitchell during Villa's 1-0 win at St Andrew's. The 24-year-old fell to the turf as a steward and Villa players caught Mitchell and dragged him away.

-Reuters

Neymar ban reduced

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has reduced Paris St Germain striker Neymar's suspension from three to two UEFA games for insulting match officials.

PSG and the Brazilian had appealed against the three-game ban imposed by European governing body UEFA in June, and CAS partially upheld the appeal.

Neymar labelled the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system "a disgrace" after PSG were eliminated from the Champions League last 16 by Manchester United after the Premier League side were awarded a decisive last-gasp penalty in a 3-1 win at the Parc des Princes.

Neymar will be eligible to play in the Champions League in the third round of matches, when PSG travel to Club Brugge on Oct. 22.

-Reuters

Swimmer completes quadruple crossing of channel

US endurance swimmer Sarah Thomas has become the first person to swim across the English Channel four times without stopping, refuelling only on a liquid formula during her 54-hour feat.

The 37-year-old woman from Colorado performed her record-breaking swim a year after receiving treatment for breast cancer, and dedicated her achievement to fellow cancer survivors.

Previously, four swimmers had crossed the water between England and France three times without stopping.

-Reuters