28 Feb 2020

Today's sports news: What you need to know

12:49 pm on 28 February 2020

Latest - The New Zealand men's pursuit team has finished second at the Track World Championships in Berlin.

Campbell Stewart, Regan Gouch, Jordan Kerby and Corbin Strong of New Zealand during the Men's Team Pursuit.

Men's pursuit team Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Danish team won the gold after breaking the world record for the third time at the meeting.

The Danes led throughout with New Zealand unable to stay in touch.

The New Zealanders were two seconds slower than what they were in qualifying yesterday.

Italy beat Australia for the bronze medal.

Earlier the New Zealand women's pursuit team finished outside the medals.

Warriors sign new prop

The Warriors have signed Melbourne prop Jamayne Taunoa-Brown on a two year deal for the upcoming NRL season as they seek to fill their depleted front rower stocks.

The Warriors have signed Melbourne prop Jamayne Taunoa-Brown on a two year deal for the upcoming NRL season as they seek to fill their depleted front rower stocks.

The Warriors latest signing Jamayne Taunoa-Brown.

The Warriors latest signing Jamayne Taunoa-Brown. Photo: Photosport

With Bunty Afoa and Jackson Frei suffering season ending knee injuries and Sam Lisone released from his contract to play at Gold Coast, the Warriors desperately needed to boost their forward pack.

The 23 year old 1.94m, 114kg Taunoa-Brown has previously played at the Melbourne Storm and Newcastle in their age grade sides and spent last season playing in the second tier Queensland Cup.

He was also a member of the Australian Indigenous All-Stars side which last weekend lost to the Māori Kiwis.

"Jamayne had a terrific year with Norths in the Queensland Cup last year and he has really impressed our coaches and football staff since coming here," said Warriors recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan.

"He's exactly the sort of player we're after."

Warriors coach Steve Kearney said "I can't fault him since he has arrived and that's why we were adamant we wanted to keep him at our footy club," he said.

"He has ticked a lot of boxes. He's a big body and very skilful."

Boxers get into Jordan

The New Zealand boxing team has managed to get out of Italy early and have arrived in Jordan to prepare for next week's Olympic qualifying tournament.

The nine-strong team had been training in Italy but because of the spread of the Coronavirus there, had been trying to leave the country before Jordan closed its borders.

A Boxing New Zealand spokesperson says the team arrived in Amman this morning.

Kim leads NZ Open

Korean teenager Joohyung Kim will take a one shot lead into the second round of the New Zealand Open golf championship in Queenstown.

South Korean golfer Joohyung Kim at the NZ Open.

Joohyung Kim Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Kim overcame strong winds to fire an opening round seven under par 64 at the Millbrook course... his round included an eagle and six birdies.

The Asian Tour prodigy, already ranked inside the top 150 players in the world at just 17, is one shot ahead of a group of Australians, Brad Kennedy, Ben Eccles and Wade Ormsby.

"The wind was swirling all day and it was tough. But I managed myself really well and gave myself lots of good chances and made some good putts too," Kim said.

Harry Bateman is the leading New Zealander in a tie for ninth, three shots from Kim, while Ryan Fox is another two shots back.

The event is played over two courses with Kim playing at The Hills today.

Ioane back for the Blues

The Blues have combined TJ Faiane and Rieko Ioane in the midfield for Sunday morning's Super Rugby game against the unbeaten Stormers in Cape Town.

Blues winger  Rieko Ioane.

Rieko Ioane Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The pair has 85 caps for the Blues between them, with Faiane returning to the starting line-up after coming off the bench in last week's win over the Bulls, while Ioane has made a speedy recovery from a fractured hand to form an exciting midfield combination.

It is the only significant change from the team that played strongly in Pretoria last weekend, with England international Joe Marchant making his fifth straight start, but moving to the right wing, while halfback Sam Nock gets his first start with Jonathan Ruru to come off the bench.

The only change in the pack sees Kurt Eklund get his second start at hooker with James Parsons returning to New Zealand with a shoulder injury, with North Harbour prospect, Luteru Tolai coming into the reserves as a replacement.

Blues coach Leon MacDonald said the side, largely unchanged from last week, need to produce another 80-minute performance against the strong Stormers combination.

"They are unbeaten this season and pose threats across the park. We need to concentrate on our core roles, securing set phase and winning the battle at the breakdown," said MacDonald.

"We were patient last week and stuck to our game plan which was crucial. Clearly we need to be more disciplined because we can't play for 20 minutes with one player short like last week.

"We have had a good week in preparation at altitude and hope we can reap some rewards for that coming backdown to sea-level at Cape Town."

Warner takes over Sunrisers captaincy

Sunrisers Hyderabad have named Australia batsman David Warner as captain for the 2020 IPL cricket season, taking over from Kane Williamson.

David Warner of Sunrisers Hyderabad  and Kane Williamson captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad  after the match 8 of the Indian Premier League Season 12.

Warner and Williamson Photo: © Sandeep Shetty /SPORTZPICS for BCCI 2019

Warner returns as skipper after a two-year absence, taking over from Williamson, who led Sunrisers in the 2018 and 2019 editions of the popular Twenty20 league.

Warner was Sunrisers captain between 2015 and 2017 and won the IPL title with them in 2016, but he was banned for a year in 2018 for his part in a ball-tampering scandal.

Williamson led Sunrisers to a runners-up finish in the 2018 IPL and to fourth place last year.

The IPL season begins on March 29.

-Reuters

Tonga to play at Twickenham

Tonga have been added to England's schedule for the November rugby internationals and will face Eddie Jones' side on Nov. 21 at Twickenham Stadium.

The Pacific islanders take on England after the hosts face New Zealand on Nov. 7 and Argentina a week later. England wrap up the schedule against Australia on Nov. 28.

It will be the first time England have played Tonga outside of a Rugby World Cup.

The RFU also said England would also host the Barbarians on June 21.

-Reuters

CAS set to announce Sun Yang finding

The Court of Arbitration of Sport will announce today whether multiple Chinese swimming champion Sun Yang has been found guilty of a doping offence.

CAS has to decide whether to accept an appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency against a decision by world swimming's ruling body FINA to clear Sun of wrongdoing for his conduct during an out-of-competition test in September 2018.

A public hearing in November heard that Sun questioned the credentials of the testers before members of his entourage smashed the vials containing his blood samples with a hammer.

Sun said the testers failed to show their identity and behaved in an unprofessional manner.

-Reuters

Reds profits up

English Premier League leaders Liverpool have announced a pre-tax profit of $86 million and increased turnover of $1.09 billion for last season's Champions League-winning campaign.

The club, who also finished as Premier League runners-up, said turnover rose by $159 million for the year ended May 31, 2019, and that it had invested a club record $475 million in players.

Liverpool signed goalkeeper Alisson and midfielders Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri during the accounting period and offered new deals to 11 players, including Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Media, commercial and match revenue all increased as a result of the club winning their sixth European Cup in the same season that a new Champions League broadcasting deal commenced.

The Merseyside club are 38 points above fifth-placed Manchester United who reported this week a 19% fall in revenue and 31% fall in core earnings for the second quarter, due mainly to their absence from the Champions League.

-Reuters