Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko has finished the LPGA golf season as world number five.

Ko finished tied for ninth at the season-ending Tour Championship in Florida yesterday.

After recovering from a career low ranking of 55, Ko started 2021 ranked 29th.

She finishes the year one win on the LPGA Tour and one in Saudi Arabia and earnings of $2.3 million.

Ko was awarded the Vare Trophy for the year's lowest scoring average.

She also won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the world rankings just released, American Nelly Korda finished number one with Tour Championship winner Jin Young Ko of South Korea number two.

The 2022 LPGA Tour starts in January with a record $124 million dollars in prize money spread over 34 tournaments.

Devine captains Big Bash tournament team

White Ferns captain Sophie Devine has been named as skipper of the Australian Big Bash team of the tournament.

Devine has been one of the leading run scorers in this years competition and has lead the Perth Scorchers in the final of the 20-over tournament.

Devine and Scorchers team-mate Beth Mooney open the innings for the tournament team.

In 13 matches so far this seaspon, Devine has scored 407 runs at an average of 34 and a strike-rate of 131 with a highest score of 101.

As top qualifiers, Perth are straight into Saturday's final with Brisbane Heat, Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades to play-off for the other spot.

Pochettino being considered for Old Trafford job

Mauricio Pochettino is open to becoming Manchester United manager and it is not out of the question they could get the Paris St-Germain boss now.

The Argentine is held in high regard at Old Trafford but there was a feeling it might be difficult to prise him away from PSG mid-season.

United sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer yesterday and said they were looking to appoint an interim manager.

But Pochettino's potential availability could change that.

It is not thought United have made an approach yet but the 49-year-old is less than completely happy with the setup at PSG, where his role is essentially that of first-team coach, with all broader club and footballing issues handled by sporting director Leonardo.

Pochettino enjoyed more control during his five years in charge of Tottenham and is known to be keen on a return to the Premier League.

He has never made any secret of the fact he would like to manage in the English game again and while he is living in a hotel in Paris, his family remain in London. That travel element is not thought to be a hugely significant factor though, given it is as easy to get to the capital from Paris as it is from Manchester.

-BBC

Sri Lanka on top

Sri Lanka are well and truly on top of after two days of the first Test against the West Indies in Galle.

The tourists ended the day on 113/6 in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings of 386.

The West Indies got back into the game early on the second day when they took Sri Lanka's last seven wickets for 105 runs, but they then lost that ground when they lost six wickets for 54 runs.

It is a two test series.

Yorkshire hotline a success

As many as 36 people have contacted Yorkshire's new whistleblower hotline since it was launched last week following the allegations of institutional racism made by former player Azeem Rafiq.

Rafiq, a player of Pakistani descent, last week testified before a British parliamentary committee and spoke of the discrimination he faced while at Yorkshire Cricket Club, saying that the sport in England was riddled with racism.

The independent reporting service, which was initiated by new Yorkshire chairman Kamlesh Patel, is being headed by QC of Littleton Chambers Mohinderpal Sethi.

"It has been confirmed that 36 individuals have emailed the hotline since it became operational on Monday, Nov. 15," the club said in a statement.

"All communications received by the hotline are being reviewed, and Sethi's team will communicate directly with those who have made contact.

"The club is committed to transparency regarding the volume of contact to the hotline and will share updates regularly, initially weekly."

-Reuters

Cummins gets more backing

Pat Cummins should have first shot at Australia's test captaincy in the wake of Tim Paine's resignation, having won the respect of his team mates as a leader, former skipper Adam Gilchrist has said.

Australia will name a new captain in the leadup to the Ashes after Paine sensationally stepped down from the role last week over a 'sexting' scandal.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Gilchrist was a successful understudy to captains Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, leading Australia in six of his 96 tests, including a first series win in India in 35 years during the 2004 tour.

"I think Pat Cummins is the frontrunner there. I've got no problems with him having first opportunity," the 50-year-old said.

"They should have him if he's keen to do it -- and he must be reasonably happy to take the role given he's vice captain."

Like other major cricket nations, Australia has been reluctant to appoint bowlers as captains, with most coming from the batting ranks.

Cummins would be only the second specialist fast bowler in the role since Ray Lindwall led in one test against India in the mid-1950s.

-Reuters

Amnesty International has concerns about IOC involvement in Peng Shuai case

The International Olympic Committee has entered dangerous waters by taking part in a call with Peng Shuai that was meant to provide assurances over the Chinese player's safety, human rights group Amnesty International said.

Peng, a former doubles world number one, had a video call on Sunday with IOC president Thomas Bach and told him she was safe and well after Western governments and the global tennis community expressed mounting concern for her wellbeing.

The 35-year-old had not been seen for nearly three weeks since alleging on social media that former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her.

Neither Zhang nor the Chinese government have commented on Peng's allegations.

"The IOC is entering dangerous waters. They should be extremely careful not to participate in any whitewash of possible human rights violations," said Amnesty's China researcher Alkan Akad.

"In the past we have seen various similar cases where people had no option but to say what they had been told to," he said.

Akad said the video call was barely convincing and did little to alleviate fears over the player's wellbeing, echoing the Women's Tennis Association earlier on Monday.

"The Chinese government has a track record, especially the state run media outlets of fabricating statements or making people give forced and sometimes televised testimonies shortly after people go missing," said Akad.

-Reuters

New guidlines for toilet breaks

Strict new guidelines on toilet breaks during tennis matches have been sent to players by the ATP after growing calls to make lengthy visits to the bathroom a thing of the past.

The ATP guidelines, seen by Reuters, will limit bathroom breaks to one per match, lasting no longer than three minutes from the time the player enters the facility.

Players on the ATP and women's WTA tours have regularly been accused of using bathroom breaks as tactical weapons at crucial junctures in matches.

Stefanos Tsitsipas was accused of cheating at this year's U.S. Open by Andy Murray after the Greek disappeared off court at various times during their marathon first-round match.

Although toilet breaks will be limited to three minutes, players will also be allowed two minutes to change their clothing.

Players will be limited to one toilet break per match and they will only be permitted at the end of a set.

Should a player spend too long in the bathroom he will be liable to time violations.

The ATP is also looking at new rules for medical timeouts by which players will only be allowed one three-minute time out per match to be taken during a changeover or a set break only.

-Reuters

Ping Pong diplomacy to be remembered

China and the United States will team up for the mixed doubles event at the World Table Tennis Championships finals this month on the 50th anniversary of "ping-pong diplomacy".

"Ping-pong diplomacy" was triggered by a meeting between a Chinese and an American player at the 1971 world championships and helped mend relations between the two countries.

The meeting resulted in an American table tennis team being invited to China to play what the Chinese know as "ping-pong", ultimately paving the way for U.S. President Richard Nixon's trip to the country in 1972.

China's Lin Gaoyuan and Wang Manyu will partner Americans Lily Zhang and Kanak Jha, respectively, at the Nov. 23-29 event in Houston, the ITTF said in a statement.

-Reuters

RWC qualifying tournament confirmed

The qualification tournament for the last remaining place at next year's women's Rugby World Cup will be held at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai in February.

The tournament will take place on Feb. 18 and 24, with Scotland, Samoa, Colombia and the winner of the Hong Kong v Kazakhstan playoff, vying to book a place at the World Cup in New Zealand, which will be held between Oct. 8 and Nov. 12.

-Reuters