Sport

Today's sports news: What you need to know

12:14 pm on 17 December 2020

Latest - Defending champions Liverpool have beaten Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 to open up a three point lead over the London club at the top of English football's premier league.

Roberto Firmino headed in the 90th-minute winner with Liverpool dominating throughout the match.

Roberto Firmino Photo: AFP

Everton have moved back into the top five with a 2-nil win over fourth placed Leicester while Arsenal ended a three game losing run drawing one all draw with Southampton.

Leeds beat Newcastle 5-2 while Fulham have pulled themselves out of the bottom three with a nil all draw with Brighton while West Ham and Crystal Palace drew 1-all.

NZRL names players of the year

The Penrith prop James Fisher-Harris and Kiwi Ferns captain Krystal Rota have been named the New Zealand Rugby League Players of the Year.

Shaun Johnson tackles James Fisher-Harris. Penrith Panthers v Warriors. NRL Rugby League. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2018 www.photosport.nz

Fisher-Harris won the NRL's Dally M Prop of the year award as the Panthers made the grand final.

Passing the 100-game milestone for the Panthers, he led the competition in post-contact metres, was the top forward in terms of total run metres and played an integral role in the Panthers' drive to their first grand final in 17 years.

Captaining her country for the first time, the 10 Test veteran Rota led the Kiwi Ferns to their 28-8 win over Fetu Samoa Invitational in November.

She also captained the Māori All-Stars as well as Counties Manukau, leading them to their 11th straight women's title in the NZ Women's Premiership.

MLB gives 1920-1948 Negro Leagues 'Major League' status

Major League Baseball (MLB) is elevating the Negro Leagues of 1920 through 1948 to "Major League" status, MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred said, calling the move a correction of "a longtime oversight".

The records and statistics of the Negro Leagues, in which Black players competed after being forced out of MLB competition due to racism and "Jim Crow" segregation laws, will be incorporated into MLB history a century after the formal introduction of the Leagues.

"In the minds of baseball fans worldwide, this serves as historical validation for those who had been shunned from the Major Leagues and had the foresight and courage to create their own league that helped change the game and our country too," Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, said in a statement.

MLB said it was working with the Elias Sports Bureau to review the move's "ramifications on statistics and records".

-Reuters

COVID-19 cases at Exeter forces cancellation of two Champions Cup games

Sunday's Champions Cup pool match between defending champions Exeter Chiefs and Toulouse has been called off after a number of Exeter players and staff tested positive for COVID-19, European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) said.

Due to the public health guidelines in place, EPCR said Exeter cannot send a matchday squad to fulfil the fixture which was to be held at Stade Ernest Wallon in Toulouse.

The positive tests also had a knock on effect with Glasgow Warriors' match against Lyon on Saturday also being cancelled after the Scottish side's players went into self-isolation following their match against Exeter over the weekend.

"As per its COVID-19 protocol, EPCR will convene Match Result Resolution Committees to determine the results of the cancelled matches and the decisions of the committees will be communicated as soon as practicable," the body said in a statement.

-Reuters

Badminton-Mauritian player Foo Kune banned for two years by CAS

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has banned Mauritian badminton player Kate Jessica Foo Kune for two years for an anti-doping violation.

Foo Kune tested positive for a banned steroid during the 2019 African Badminton World Championships in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, but a Badminton World Federation (BWF) panel ruled she bore no fault or negligence.

The 27-year-old escaped sanction after contending that her positive test was the result of sabotage and that her water had been spiked by an "ill-intentioned individual".

The BWF then appealed its own panel's decision not to ban Foo Kune to CAS, the highest legal authority in sport.

As a result Foo Kune was banned for a period of two years, dated from Dec. 15, 2020, CAS added.

-Reuters

Doha wins vote to host 2030 Asian Games, Riyadh gets 2034 rights

Doha beat Riyadh to clinch the hosting rights for the 2030 Asian Games at the general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia in Muscat, the regional governing body announced.

OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah announced the winner at the conclusion of the vote, which was live streamed, adding that Riyadh would host the 2034 edition of the Games.

Bitter neighbours Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are locked in a long-running political dispute, had bid for the hosting rights to the second-biggest multi-sport event after the Olympics.

-Reuters