20 Dec 2019

Today's sports news: what you need to know

8:43 am on 20 December 2019

Latest - The draw is out for the Hamilton leg of the World Sevens Series with the Black Ferns Sevens to debut at the tournament with pool games against Fiji, England and China.

Members of the Fiji Team celebrate their win at the 2019 Hamilton rugby sevens.

Fiji Sevens Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The two day event at the end of February is the first fully integrated tournament to be played in New Zealand.

The Ferns top the standings after three rounds following their wins in Dubai and Cape Town in recent weeks.

The All Blacks Sevens, who also top the men's standings, will play Scotland, Wales and the USA in pool play at Waikato Stadium.

In Hamilton the stakes will be raised for all teams during pool play with the tournament draw meaning successful teams will advance to the Cup semifinals, rather than contesting the traditional quarterfinals.

"With this new format, every game counts so every team has to hit the ground running on day one," All Blacks Sevens Head Coach Clark Laidlaw said. "The players can't wait to get out on the field and play in front of a big home crowd."

The Black Ferns Sevens played an abbreviated Fast Four format in hamilton last season.

"Last year was a great occasion, but to play in a world series event on our whenua for the first time, alongside the men, is something the team has been looking forward to for a long time. It's going to be incredibly special and we can't wait," Black Ferns Sevens Co-Coach Allan Bunting said.

Junior continues to lead Finn

New Zealand sailor Josh Junior continues to lead the Finn Gold Cup fleet after four days of racing in Melbourne.

Josh Junior

Josh Junior Photo: Sailing Energy

Junior banked two seconds and a fifth yesterday to sit 13 points ahead of Olympic champion Giles Scott of Great Britain.

Crucially, the New Zealander's discard for his worst race is so far a fifth, which gives him a little wriggle room heading into the final two days.

Fellow Kiwi Andy Maloney is in fifth, only one point behind defending world champion Zsombor Berecz of Hungary in third. Maloney was eighth, 17th and second in yesterday's three races to remain well in the hunt.

"We went out there and ended up with some glamour conditions, and some pretty cool waves and just got into it," Junior said. "It was shifting around a little bit and I found myself on the right side and managed a couple of good races, so I was pretty happy with the day.

Three more races are scheduled for today, while the final day will feature one more fleet race before the top 10 face off in a medal race.

Cummins goes for record price

Australia's Pat Cummins became the most expensive overseas buy ever in the Indian Premier League when the Kolkata Knight Riders paid a staggering $3.3 million for the fast bowler in the auction in Kolkata.

Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has taken both second innings wickets.

Pat Cummins Photo: Photosport

The 26-year-old, ranked number one in tests, attracted an intense bidding war between the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Delhi Capital before Kolkata joined in to bag his services for the 2020 edition of the tournament.

Cummins was part of the Kolkata squad in 2014 and 2015 and last played in the tournament for Delhi in 2017. The Mumbai Indians picked him up the following season but he was ruled out with a back injury.

Kolkata are coached by New Zealander Brendon McCullum.

Only Jimmy Neesham was picked up from the 18 current and former Black Caps who put their name forward, going for his reserve price of $106,000 to the Kings XI Punjab.

He'll join five other New Zealanders already signed by teams - Kane Williamson (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Lockie Ferguson (Kolkata Knight Riders), Trent Boult and Mitchell McClenaghan from the defending champions Mumbai Indians, and Mitchell Santner (Chennai Super Kings).

All were retained last month, with Boult traded from Delhi Capitals to Mumbai.

Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Martin Guptil, Colin Munroe and Matt Henry all went unsold.

-Reuters/RNZ

Tuatara win again

The Auckland Tuatara have beaten the Sydney Blue Sox 6-2 in the first game of their Australian Baseball League series in Auckland.

Four strong innings from Kyle Glogoski and a pair of homers from Jared Walker and Josh Morgan led Auckland to the win.

In his final outing of the season prior to being shut down by the Phillies, Glogoski tossed four innings, allowing two runs on five hits and struck out four.

The Tuatara led 5-0 after three before Sydney got on the board.

Morgan whacked his third home run of the season in the fifth to put his team up, 6-2 for good.

With the win, Auckland have now won seven of their last eight, and pull within a game of the Blue Sox in the ABL's Northeast Division.

The two teams will play of the second game of the four-game set this evening.

Sri Lanka fight back

Fast Bowler Lahiru Kumara and spinner Lasith Embuldeniya picked up four wickets each to help Sri Lanka bundle out hosts Pakistan for 191 in the first innings on the opening day of the second and final test in Karachi.

Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam struck fifties with opener Abid Ali, who made 38, the only other batsman for the hosts to reach double digits after captain Azhar Ali won the toss and chose to bat first.

In reply, Sri Lanka reached 64 for three in their first innings at the close of the day's play with Pakistan's fast bowlers doing all the damage.

The two-match series, part of the World Test Championship, marks Pakistan's first tests on home soil since the 2009 militant attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore.

The weather-hit opening test at Rawalpindi ended in a draw.

-Reuters

Kiwi golfers start well

Ryan Chisnall is the best placed of the New Zealanders, in a tie for third, after the first round of the Australian PGA golf championship on the Gold Coast.

Australians Lucas Herbert and Brett Rankin are five under par and have a one shot lead over a grup of players that includes Chisnall.

Ryan Fox, Nick Voke, Harry Bateman and David Smail are in a group another shot back in a tie for eighth.

Russia to appeal ban

Russia's anti-doping agency RUSADA said it will appeal sanctions barring the country's athletes from competing under its flag at top international sporting events within 10 to 15 days.

Russia flag

Russia flag Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The World Anti-Doping Agency earlier in December banned the country's colours and anthem from events, including the Olympics, for four years as punishment for having provided it with doctored laboratory data.

It also barred Russia from hosting or bidding for major sporting events during that period.

The country's top officials had branded the sanctions unfair, saying it was part of broader attempts by the West to punish Russia, and had pledged to appeal.

"RUSADA will appeal against the WADA decision within 10 to 15 days," Alexander Ivlev, chair of RUSADA's supervisory board, was quoted as saying by TASS.

The case will now be referred to the Court or Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Russia, which has traditionally been a powerhouse in many sports, has been embroiled in doping scandals since a 2015 WADA report found evidence of mass doping in Russian athletics.

-Reuters

Australian rugby needs more coaches

A panel reviewing the Wallabies' 2019 season has highlighted the nation's dearth of elite coaches and called for better alignment between the team and Rugby Australia after a year of off-field friction and one of their worst performances at a World Cup.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.

Michael Cheika Photo: PHOTOSPORT

A three-man panel interviewed Wallabies players and staff in the wake of the quarterfinal exit in Japan and submitted more than 40 suggestions in a report to Rugby Australia.

The governing body offered little detail about the report, citing a need for "confidentiality", but distilled it into a number of "high-level recommendations" focused on high performance, coaching and culture.

RA's appointment of New Zealander Dave Rennie to succeed Michael Cheika as Wallabies coach last month was met with criticism and accusations that the governing body had failed to develop local coaching talent for a number of years.

The recommendations also included a call for greater alignment between the Wallabies and RA "so that each could be more aware of team and organisational priorities".

Former coach Cheika made no secret of his fractured relationship with RA after his prompt resignation following the Wallabies' World Cup exit, saying he had "pretty much got no relationship with the CEO and not much with chairman".

-Reuters

Laidlaw retires

Scotland rugby captain Greig Laidlaw has announced his international retirement.

Clermont Auvergne scrumhalf Laidlaw, 34, has led Scotland 39 times, more than any other player, and has won 76 caps. He is second on the all-time points list for the country with 714.

"To say I will never again stand in the tunnel, filled with nerves, alongside my rugby family and lead my teammates out on to the pitch at Murrayfield, is incredibly hard," Laidlaw said in a statement.

"In terms of where Scotland is now, they are in a position to spring forward and I cannot wait to give them my full support from the stands."

Laidlaw follows winger Tommy Seymour and former captain John Barclay in retiring after the Rugby World Cup in Japan, where Scotland crashed out at the pool stage.

-Reuters

Belgium on top of football world

Belgium have been crowned FIFA's Team of the Year for the second straight time after retaining top spot ahead of world champions France in the latest world rankings.

Belgium, who finished third in the World Cup in Russia last year, won all 10 of their competitive matches in 2019.

England moved up a spot to fourth place below Brazil, while Uruguay are fifth.

Argentina (ninth) and Colombia (10th) entered the top 10 this year displacing Switzerland (12th) and Denmark (16th).

Qatar, who will host the 2022 World Cup, were the biggest movers in a year in which they won the AFC Asian Cup, moving 38 places to sit 55th after gaining 138 points.

New Zealand is ranked 122.

-Reuters

IOC approves change of route

Olympics organisers have approved the new route for the Tokyo 2020 marathon, after the race was moved to the northern Japanese city of Sapporo earlier this year due to heat concerns.

The International Olympic Committee made the surprise decision in October to move the marathon and race walk events 800 kilometres north to Sapporo to avoid the worst of Tokyo's summer heat.

Temperatures in the Japanese capital in July and August, when the Olympics will be held, regularly exceed 30 degrees with high humidity adding to the discomfort.

On Thursday, the IOC, World Athletics and Tokyo 2020 organisers agreed on the new route in Sapporo.

All the marathon and race walk events are scheduled to be held on four consecutive days, from Aug. 6 to 9, with the men's marathon remaining on the final day of the Games, as per tradition.

Both marathons will start at 7.00 am local time.

-Reuters

Liverpool sign Japanese player

Liverpool have reached an agreement with Salzburg for the transfer of Japan playmaker Takumi Minamino.

The English Premier League club did not disclose the fee but British media have reported that his release clause was $14 million and that the 24-year-old would officially join from the Austrian club on Jan. 1.

Minamino, who has scored 11 goals in 22 matches for Japan, previously played for Cerezo Osaka in the Japanese top flight.

-Reuters