Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Wales moved to within one step of a Six Nations Grand Slam after scoring seven tries in a 48-7 thrashing of Italy in Rome.

Wayne Pivac's side, fresh from sealing the Triple Crown against England, made short work of the error-plagued Azzurri and will clinch a stunning Grand Slam if they beat France in Paris next weekend.

Wales sit top of the table with 19 points, while second placed France lost 23-20 to England at Twickenham.

France and England have 10 points with the French having a game in hand against Scotland.

The French will need to win both of their remaining games to have any chance of winning the title.

Italy, who suffered their 31st consecutive Six Nations defeat, are rooted to the bottom of the table with zero points, having conceded 187 points in their four defeats so far.

-Reuters

City close in on EPL title

Sergio Aguero scored his first Premier League goal for 14 months as Manchester City cruised to a 3-0 victory at Fulham to continue their countdown to the title.

The Argentine, who had made only 14 appearances in the last 12 months before getting the nod at Craven Cottage, tucked in penalty to complete a straightforward win that left leaders City 17 points clear of their nearest challengers.

Fulham remain in the relegation zone.

Burnley claimed a massive three points in their quest to stay clear of the English Premier League relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Everton which at the same time put a dent in the host's top-four aspirations.

New Zealander Chris Wood scored one of Burnley's goals to move them up to 15th, while Everton remain sixth.

Thomas Tuchel remains unbeaten as Chelsea manager, but his side's lack of firepower meant they had to settle for a goalless draw at Leeds United.

Chelsea remain in fourth place, and are two points off third-placed Leicester City who have a game in hand.

Leeds are 12th.

Strugglers West Bromwich Albion's hopes of getting out of the relegation zone suffered a blow when they lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace.

Palace forward Wilfried Zaha became the first Premier League player not to take a knee in protest against racism when he stayed standing with his hands behind his back before kickoff, saying he believes the meaning of the gesture, which he called "degrading", has been lost.

-Reuters

Murray Walker dies

Legendary Formula 1 commentator Murray Walker has died at the age of 97.

Walker commentated on his first grand prix race for the BBC at Silverstone in 1949 and became a full-time F1 commentator in 1978.

He became synonymous with F1 through his commentary, before retiring in 2001.

A statement from the British Racing Drivers' Club said: "It's with great sadness we share the news of the passing of BRDC associate member Murray Walker OBE.

"A friend, a true motorsport legend, the nation's favourite commentator and a contagious smile.

Walker's co-commentators included the late James Hunt and Martin Brundle, who paid tribute to his former colleague on social media.

"Wonderful man in every respect," said Brundle. "National treasure, communication genius, Formula 1 legend."There is some sad news I have to bring you during this half-time break."

-BBC

Webster sidelined with injury

Breakers shooting guard Corey Webster will be out for four weeks with a knee injury, but coach Dan Shamir is confident he'll be back to his best before the season ends.

It is a shock setback for Webster, who has been dominating the NBL alongside his brother Tai following his successful return from a hand injury at the start of the season.

Even with limited feeling in his left hand's ring finger, the 32-year-old has been playing nearly 29 minutes a game, averaging 18.1 points, shooting 50 percent from the field, in his nine outings this campaign.

Australian guard William McDowell-White, who has just completed two seasons playing for the Houston Rockets in the NBA's G-League, has signed to cover for Webster.

The 22-year-old is expected to leave Los Angeles in the next 24 hours and will complete the two-week quarantine in Australia before joining the Breakers.

Former Adelaide 36ers guard Jeremy Kendle has joined the Breakers as temporary cover for Lamar Patterson while the All-Star works his way back to full fitness.

Panthers and Roosters impress in NRL

The Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters both showed they're going to be a force in the National Rugby League this season with impressive first round wins.

The Panthers, last year's beaten Grand Finalists, showed enough to suggest they're going to remain a team to beat in 2021 after opening their account with a 24-0 win over the Cowboys.

It was Penrith's 10th consecutive victory at Panthers Stadium.

Meanwhile the Roosters scored nine tries in a record 46-4 win over manly at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

James Tedesco and Brett Morris both helped themselves to hat-tricks as the Tricolours had a field day at the SCG, the latter's treble his 11th in 275 NRL games.

The Warriors beat Gold Coast 19-6.

-NRL.com

First up win for King

New Zealand squash player Joelle King made a solid start at the Black Ball Squash Open in Cairo with a 3-nil victory over Canadian Danielle Letourneau.

King, the world number eight, had a bye in the first round and then found herself tested by world number 26 Letourneau, who has relocated to Cairo for her squash.

For King the match wasn't as straightforward as the 11-7, 11-9, 11-4 scoreline suggested.

"It was far from easy. "Danielle has made a big move coming to Cairo for her squash career. She's been putting in some hard work and I knew it was going to be tough. I had to be on my toes and that second one could have gone either way," said 32-year-old King.

The Black Ball Open is the first tournament of the year on the PSA calendar after Covid-19 has struck the world squash tour hard. The men's tournament at the same location in Cairo featuring Paul Coll follows the women's event.

Roglic on track for win

The Slovenian cyclist Primoz Roglic strengthened his overall lead in the Paris-Nice race by powering to victory on the penultimate seventh stage.

The Vuelta a Espana champion took his third stage win in this year's edition with a late acceleration on the final climb to La Colmiane to beat Swiss Gino Mader by two seconds.

Germany's Maximilian Schachmann finished third, five seconds off the pace.

Roglic now holds a 52-second lead over Schachmann, with Russia's Aleksandr Vlasov in third place, 1:11 off the pace.

The eighth and final stage is a 93km ride from Le-plan-du-Var to Levens, after the initial course, a ride around Nice, was changed amid a weekend lockdown in some Cote d'Azur cities because of Covid-19.

Roglic's team-mate, the New Zealander George Bennett, is 29th overall.

-Reuters

No folk songs for Russian athletes

A Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to stop Russian athletes from playing patriotic folk song "Katyusha" at international sporting events is stupid, the former head of Russia's Olympic Committee said.

Russian athletes in January proposed playing "Katyusha", a song that gained huge popularity during World War II, while the national anthem and flag are banned for the next two years over widespread doping violations. "Katyusha" is short for the girl's name "Ekaterina".

"The CAS panel considers that 'any anthem linked to Russia' extends to any song associated with, or with links to, Russia, which would include 'Katyusha'," CAS said.

"I can call this CAS decision stupid. I have nothing more to add," TASS cited Alexander Zhukov, now a member of the lower house of parliament, as saying.

CAS, which is based in Switzerland, in December upheld a ruling which barred Russian athletes from competing at major international events, including the Olympics, under the country's flag until 2022.

-Reuters

Reds remain unbeaten

Centre Jordan Petaia scored a try two minutes from time as the Queensland Reds came from behind to seal a 40-38 victory over the previously unbeaten ACT Brumbies in their Super Rugby AU clash in Canberra.

Petaia ran onto a grubber kick to score under the posts and snatch victory for the visitors, who held onto their 100 percent start to the new campaign as they closed the gap on the table-topping Brumbies to two points with a game in hand.

-Reuters