Latest - The Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio will miss the second Constellation Cup netball test against Australia in Christchurch tonight after suffering a calf injury in last night's first test win.
Ameliaranne Ekenasio of the Silver Ferns during the 1st Constellation Cup netball match, New Zealand Silver Ferns Vs Australian Diamonds at Horncastle Arena, Christchurch Photo: PHOTOSPORT
It'll mean a reshuffling of the attacking circle and a likely start for rookie Monica Falkner who has played just two tests previously.
Coach Dame Noeline Taurua's other option is to start the more experienced Bailey Mes at goal attack with Maia Wilson at goal shoot but Taurua has indicated previously she wants to manage Mes's return from a long term knee injury.
New Zealand leads the best of four test series one nil following a first up 49-44 win.
The Silver Ferns last won the Constellation Cup in 2012.
-RNZ
All Black Aaron Smith starts on the bench against the Chiefs.
All Black Aaron Smith will start on the bench for the Highlanders in their match against the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday.
Highlanders vs Crusaders 26 Feb 2021 Photo: Photosport
Folau Fakatava will make his first start of the season as he looks to challenge Smith for the halfback jersey.
The other key change will be All Black Josh Ioane getting a start at first-five while Mitch Hunt slots in at fullback, pushing Solomon Alaimalo to the bench.
Man of the match against the Crusaders, Connor Garden-Bachop, retains his starting position at right-wing with Jona Nareki joining him on the opposite wing.
The Chiefs will lineup with four debutants in their first game of the season.
The starting lineup includes Bryn Gatland who will make his Chiefs debut in the number 10 jersey with Jonah Lowe, Sione Mafileo and Samipeni Finau will also making their first appearance.
Six All Blacks feature in the starting XV with Sam Cane and Brad Weber playing their first game as co-captains.
Meanwhile in the forwards, the Chiefs start with a relatively inexperienced front three of Reuben O'Neill, Samisoni Taukei'aho and Sione Mafileo, a trio that boasts only 46 Super Rugby appearances between them.
The Chiefs will allow 700 spectators into the Waikato stadium despite COVID-19 alert level 2 prohibiting gatherings of over 100 people.
The Hamilton franchise will split the stadium into seperate viewing zones each with their own dedicated entry and exit points.
-RNZ
Ex-Barca president released after being arrested on allegations of corruption.
Former FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu was released on Wednesday, a Barcelona court said, a day after he was arrested in a probe related to allegations of improper management and business corruption.
The statement said Bartomeu, president between 2014 and 2020, and his former adviser Jaume Masferrer, had made use of their right not to give a statement in court and the judge had agreed to their provisional release.
Bartomeu was among four people connected with the club arrested on Tuesday in what Catalan police called "an investigation into alleged crimes related to property and the socio-economic order".
Barcelona CEO Oscar Grau and legal services director Roman Gomez Ponti were detained and later released while Bartomeu and Masferrer spent the night in a Barcelona police station.
The club's offices at their Camp Nou stadium were one of five properties searched by police during the operation.
Barca coach Ronald Koeman said he was "devastated" by the news of Bartomeu's arrest and called the former President, who hired him as coach in August, "an exceptional person".
La Liga President Javier Tebas said Bartomeu's arrest risked damaging the reputation of the Spanish league and Barcelona but did not think it would have any lasting effect.
Former vice-president Emili Rousaud, who resigned alongside five other directors last April over the affair, accused the club of paying over the odds for the services.
Barca denied "any action that could be described as corruption" and sued Rousaud.
-Reuters
Jepkosgei banned after giving fake evidence for missed test
Kenyan middle distance runner Nelly Jepkosgei has been banned for three years after accepting a charge of tampering with evidence, a violation of World Athletics' anti-doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said.
Jepkosgei, who is ranked 27th in the world in the women's 800m, missed a doping test on March 18 and offered fake evidence in the form of a forged document to explain the whereabouts failure, the AIU said in a statement.
The 29-year-old had informed the AIU that she missed the test because she had been at Kapsabet County Referral Hospital, where her sister had been admitted after being involved in a serious car accident.
Jepkosgei is the latest in a long line of Kenyan runners to run foul of anti-doping rules in the past few years.
Last year, former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang of Kenya was banned for four years ban for ADRVs, including using a fake photo of a traffic accident to justify a missed whereabouts appointments, in a case that has similar echoes.
-Reuters
Iran's only female Olympic medallist to compete under white flag in Tokyo
Iranian female Olympic medal winner Kimia Alizadeh has been granted refugee status in Germany and aims to compete in the Olympic Refugee Team under a white flag in Tokyo this summer.
Alizadeh, who won taekwondo bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics, fled to Germany last year after several offers to compete for the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Bulgaria.
She said she had left her homeland because she was fed up with being used as a propaganda tool.
"Taekwondo changed my life," Alizadeh told Reuters. "When I got a medal, I was the first athlete in Iran and, after that, all the people knew me and ... that was hard."
The 22-year-old, who now lives in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg, is training with her husband and can compete for a ticket to the Olympics at the European qualifying tournament in Sofia in May.
The young athlete plans to join the Olympic Refugee Team, which will be picked in June from a group of 55 athletes in 12 sports.
Germany's Taekwondo Union said its president had contacted the interior minister over Alizadeh's refugee status last summer, adding that Alizadeh was Germany's third refugee athlete.
"Now, everything is okay. The important thing is that I can have my personal life and my sport life together," Alizadeh said.
-Reuters
Kvyat joins Alpine F1 as reserve driver
Russian Daniil Kvyat will be Alpine F1 reserve driver this season, the Renault-owned team said at the online launch of its 2021 Formula One car.
Kvyat lost his race seat at Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri to Japan's Yuki Tsunoda at the end of last season. The 26-year-old also served as Ferrari reserve in 2018 when he was also dropped by Red Bull.
He has made 110 race starts to date, with three podium finishes.
"In a year of pandemic, it is important for us to have a strong back up, and Daniil has proven that he's a very quick and reliable driver under very difficult conditions," said Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.
"He has already scored three podiums at the age of 26, so we are very, very happy to have someone who is going to be able to step up if the need arises and score the points, take the car where it should be at the end of the line."
Alpine have Frenchman Esteban Ocon, 24, and Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, 39, as their race lineup.
Their reserve last year, as the Renault team, was Russian Sergey Sirotkin. Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou will be the test driver.
Six of the 20 Formula One drivers have contracted COVID-19 so far, with three including Mercedes' seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton missing races last season and requiring a replacement.
The 2021 season starts in Bahrain on March 28.
-Reuters