Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The Breakers basketballers have had their round seven game against Tasmania postponed due to the NBL's Covid protocols.

Tomorrow night's game, which was set to be played in Tasmania, would be scheduled to be played at later date.

In a social media post confirming the news, the Tasmania JackJumpers said the New Zealand side had "notified the league that they are unable to field a team for the game due to Covid-19 protocols."

Neither the Breakers or the NBL mentioned that detail in their respective releases on the postponement, and the Breakers weren't willing to elaborate further on the situation.

After losing their first six games of the season, the Breakers had won two of their last three, including an 82-75 victory over the Sydney Kings on Sunday.

Lewandowski and Putellas win Fifa awards

Bayern Munich's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Best Men's Player award for 2021 with Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas winning the FIFA Best Women's Player prize.

The prolific Lewandowski won the award for the second straight year after a season in which he beat Gerd Mueller's 49-year old record of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga campaign.

The 27-year-old Putellas was at the heart of the Barcelona women's team which won the Spanish league and the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea won both the awards for best coach, with Thomas Tuchel winning the men's award and Emma Hayes named the best women's coach.

Tuchel had guided Chelsea to the Champions League title after taking over the club in January while Hayes won the Women's Super League, FA Cup and League Cup treble in England.

The West London club enjoyed further recognition with their Senegal international Edouard Mendy winning the Best Men's Goalkeeper award.

Chile and Olympique Lyonnais' Christiane Endler was named The Best Women's Goalkeeper.

The Puskas Award for best goal of the year was won by Argentine Erik Lamela, now with Spanish club Sevilla, for his goal for Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal.

- Reuters

Gauff out of Australian Open

American teenager Coco Gauff crashed out of the Australian Open in the opening round after an error-strewn performance against China's Wang Qiang as the 18th seed lost 6-4 6-2.

Gauff shot to fame as a 15-year-old when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019 on her Grand Slam debut. She also reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 2020 before making the French Open quarter-finals last year.

The 17-year-old Gauff made 38 unforced errors to lose in 73 minutes against the 110th-ranked Chinese, who knocked Serena Williams out of the Australian Open two years ago to reach the fourth round.

11th seed Sofia Kenin was beaten by fellow American Madison Keys.

Also in the women's draw there were wins for top seed Ash Barty and defending champion Naomi Osaka.

In the men's draw there were wins for third seed Alexander Zverev and sixth seed Rafael Nadal, while 12th seed Cameron Norrie was beaten.

- Reuters

Phoenix games confirmed

The Wellington Phoenix women and men have been confirmed to play on Friday

The A-Leagues have confirmed the Wellington Phoenix's upcoming fixtures, following disruptions caused by Covid-19.

The Phoenix women will head to South Australia for the first time to face Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium in the opening match of round eight of the A-League women.

The game will kick-off at 8:35pm (NZT).

The men are scheduled to return from their COVID-19-enforced mid-season break with a match against Western United at WIN Stadium in Wollongong with kick-off at 9:45pm (NZT).

It will be the Phoenix men's first match since their penalty shoot-out victory over Melbourne City in the quarter-finals of the FFA Cup on January 5.

The men's team was hit by Covid 11 days ago and only returned to full training yesterday.

Djokovic could also be forced to miss Roland Garros

Novak Djokovic could be barred from playing in the French Open as things stand now after the Sports Ministry said there would be no exemption from France's new vaccine pass law.

World number one Djokovic, who has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, was deported from Australia on Sunday before the first Grand Slam tournament of the year after losing a court case to have the cancellation of his visa overturned.

France's vaccine pass law, approved by parliament on Sunday, will require people to have a certificate of vaccination to enter public places such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long-distance trains.

"This will apply to everyone who is a spectator or a professional sportsperson. And this until further notice, the ministry said.

"Now, as far as Roland Garros is concerned, it's in May. The situation may change between now and then and we hope that it will be more favourable. So we'll see, but clearly there's no exemption."

Serbian Djokovic, who was barred from bidding to win a record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, has refused to vaccinate and was criticised for attending public events last month after testing positive for the coronavirus.

- Reuters

Jamaican skier set for Winter Olympics

Benjamin Alexander persevered to become the first Jamaican to qualify for Alpine Skiing at a Winter Olympics despite limited financing, the lack of a full-time coach and the inability to train consistently due to COVID-19.

Alexander's place at next month's Games in Beijing was provisionally confirmed on the website of the international skiing federation (FIS) at the weekend, six years after taking up the sport.

The 38-year-old British-based athlete, who qualifies for the Jamaican team through his father Keith Alexander.

The former DJ booked his ticket after placing seventh in the giant slalom on Jan. 12 at the Cape Verde National Ski Championships.

Alexander said his career was made possible by the Jamaican bobsleigh team that competed in Calgary, Canada in 1988, which inspired the "Cool Runnings" movie five years later.

Jamaican athletes have also secured automatic qualification in the four-man, two-man and female mono-bobsleigh events.

- Reuters

McLaren calls out F1 over "big teams"

McLaren boss Zak Brown has called for stronger leadership in Formula One to reduce the power of bigger teams and prevent the pinnacle of motorsport from turning into a pantomime.

In a piece on the year ahead on the McLaren website, Brown said some rivals were seeking "excuses to raise the cost cap and win world championships with chequebooks" while also gaining an advantage with B teams.

Without naming names, the American said "at times it has seemed the sport is governed by certain teams" and more leadership was needed from Liberty Media-owned Formula One and the governing FIA.

The FIA last month elected a new president, Emirati Mohammed Ben Sulayem, in place of Frenchman Jean Todt, while Italian Stefano Domenicali took over last year as Formula One chief executive.

The 2021 season ended in uproar, with Mercedes accusing race director Michael Masi of robbing Lewis Hamilton of an eighth crown with a late change to the safety car procedure that favoured Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who took the title.

McLaren finished fourth in the manufactures championship last year, while Lando Norris was sixth in the drivers championship.

- Reuters

Bumrah backs departed captain

India's Jasprit Bumrah says former captain Virat Kohli still has a big role to play for the test side following the latter's surprise resignation in the wake of the 2-1 series loss to South Africa last week.

Kohli, 33, stepped down from the test captaincy, saying the time was right for a new direction for the team, and Bumrah has seemingly put up his hand to be his replacement.

The seamer, who is vice-captain of the One-Day International side under new skipper KL Rahul, praised the contribution of Kohli, and said he remains a key figure in Indian cricket.

"He brought in energy. He brought in the fitness culture. He was driven. Everybody moved in one direction under his leadership. He has been immense, and he will still be the immense with his inputs."

Kohli resigned the captaincy of the Twenty20 side in September, citing the need to concentrate on his test and ODI leadership roles.

But just months later he no longer holds those positions either having been surprisingly axed as skipper in the 50-over format.

Bumrah conceded he would love to take on the role of test captain if asked and already saw himself as a senior figure in the side.

India take on hosts South Africa in three ODI matches, starting in Paarl on Wednesday.

- Reuters