Today's sports news: What you need to know

All Whites striker Chris Wood made his 100th English Premier League football appearance as Burnley beat West Ham 1-0 in London.

Woods came off the bench in the second half with his side already ahead and had two good goal scoring opportunities incuding having one ruled out for off-side.

The result moves Burnley up to ninth, while West Ham remain just four points above the relegation zone.

Mohamed Salah scored twice as champions Liverpool moved on to 92 points with a 3-1 win at Brighton and Hove Albion.

Liverpool need nine points from their remaining four games to secure the highest points total in a Premier League season, with the current record set by Manchester City, who amassed 100 points in 2018.

Captain David Silva scored one goal and made two more as second placed Manchester City put on a passing masterclass to overwhelm Newcastle United with a 5-0.

Seventh placed Sheffield United moved within a point of Wolves after beating them 1-0.

Homesick Warriors players may stay in Australia

The Warriors coach Todd Payten says a couple of players may back track on wanting to return to New Zealand.

The NRL is no closer to getting the Warriors players' families into New South Wales, with several players planning on heading home should the issue not be sorted by July the 19th.

Wingers David Fusitu'a and Ken Maumalo, along with prop Agnatius Paasi have indicated they'd return home, quite possibly ending their seasons.

Peyton says one player still wants to go home, but the other two are reconsidering their situation.

"Two have probably wavered a little and one of the guys is still pretty firm on getting home," he said.

"It's not as black and white as people think in terms of homesickness. It's other extenuating family circumstances that are pulling them back, which I totally understand."

"We've got 12 days. We just need the government and NRL to give us the answer that we're looking for."

The Warriors play the Titans on the Gold Coast tomorrow night.

A-League remains in doubt

The A-League's hopes of resuming its season next week remained in the balance after another failed attempt to get Melbourne-based clubs out of the city amid tightening COVID-19 restrictions.

Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United travelled to the airport on Tuesday for a second successive night hoping to reach a "hub" in New South Wales state to prepare for the top flight's restart.

But the trip, which would have had them transit in Canberra, was aborted late in the evening due to government quarantine requirements in the Australian Capital Territory.

After NSW authorities closed the border to Victoria for an indefinite period from midnight on Tuesday in the wake of a COVID-19 spike in Melbourne, the FFA is pinning its hopes on the three teams being granted exemptions to enter the state.

A Melbourne City spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday that a "provisional" exemption had been approved by NSW but they were waiting for final confirmation.

-Reuters

Henry to play in Turkey

American guard Sek Henry won't be returning to the New Zealand Breakers for the next Australian National Basketball League season.

Henry has signed to play in Turkey for Pinar Karsiyaka.

Henry joined the Breakers last season, playing in 26 games and averaging 13.6 points and 3.5 assists per game.

Henry returns to Turkey where he previously played with Pinar Karsiyaka in the 2018/19 season.

Since the NBL season concluded, Henry has been playing in Israel with Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Meanwhile the Breakers have all but secured the services of Tall Black guard Tai Webster, while they're confident American Scotty Hopson will return.

-NBL

Ryder Cup off

This year's Ryder Cup golf event, which was scheduled to be held in late September in Wisconsin, has been postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The hotly-contested biennial team competition between the United States and Europe, known for its raucous, partisan crowds, was originally scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits. It will now be held Sept. 24-26, 2021.

The Presidents Cup, which pits a 12-man team from the U.S. against international players from outside Europe, was also postponed a year and will played Sept. 22-25, 2022 at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, organisers said.

Organisers said medical experts and public authorities in Wisconsin were not able to provide certainty that conducting an event responsibly with thousands of spectators in September would be possible.

-Reuters

Bulls remain on top

The Franklin Bulls have strenghtened their position at the top of the National Basketball League ladder with a 102-77 win over Canterbury.

Dom Kelman-Poto (22 points), Isaac Davidson (20 points and six assists) and Sam Timmins (18 points) were in good form for the Bulls.

Canterbury started the competition with three straight wins, but have now suffered four straight losses.

The Manawatu Jets stay second in the standings after a comfortable 102-72 win over the Nelson Giants.

A woeful shooting display from the Giants made life easy for Manawatu, with all five of their starters hitting double-figures in points.

Age not a concern for Alonso

Two-times Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso said age was not the issue after securing a comeback deal with Renault to race into his 40s.

The Spaniard turns 39 this month and, after two seasons out, will be returning next year with the team that took him to his titles in 2005 and 2006.

"In Formula One for many years the time watch (stopwatch) is the only thing that matters, not the age," Alonso said.

"I never had a race classification based on the passport, date of birth. Always on the time watch."

Alonso will be the oldest driver next year if his former Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen, already 40 and now with Alfa Romeo, decides to stop.

Alonso's future team mate Esteban Ocon is 23 and said last week that the Spaniard's success "gave me the love for the sport".

Team principal Cyril Abiteboul recognised some would question Renault's choice of a veteran over an emerging young talent.

Abiteboul said the COVID-19 pandemic that delayed the season had made it hard to evaluate China's Guanyu Zhou and Denmark's Christian Lundgaard, the leading academy candidates.

-Reuters

Dier cops ban

Tottenham Hotspur's Eric Dier has been banned for four games and fined by the FA over a confrontation with a fan after the London side's defeat on penalties by Norwich City in the FA Cup fifth round in March.

Following the penalty shootout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, video footage showed England international Dier climbing over seats and confronting a home supporter before he was restrained by security guards and other fans.

The FA said Dier admitted that his actions were improper but denied that they were also threatening. However an independent regulatory commission subsequently found them to be threatening.

Dier was also fined $76,000.

-Reuters

Kyrgios continues to slam players

Australia's Nick Kyrgios has slammed Dominic Thiem for defending tennis players who competed at the ill-fated Adria Tour and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

Kyrgios has repeatedly criticised organisers and players at the abandoned event in the Balkans, where Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki all tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Thiem, who also played in the charity event but did not contract the virus, told Austrian media that Kyrgios had "made a lot of mistakes" and should not criticise others.

The comment triggered a rebuke from Kyrgios on social media.

"What are you talking about @ThiemDomi? Mistakes like smashing rackets? Swearing? Tanking a few matches here or there? Which everyone does?" Kyrgios wrote on Twitter.

"None of you have the intellectual level to even understand where I'm coming from. I'm trying to hold them accountable."

Kyrgios said that players who were seen partying while the pandemic raged proved they thought it was a "joke".

"People losing lives, loved ones and friends, and then Thiem standing up for the 'mistake,'" he added.

-Reuters

Australian snowboarder dies

Australia's double world champion snowboarder Alex Pullin drowned while spear fishing off a Gold Coast beach, plunging the country's winter sports community into mourning.

Pullin, Australia's flagbearer at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was found by a snorkeller on an artificial reef yesterday.

Pullin, nicknamed "Chumpy", won world championship titles in snowboard cross in 2011 and 2013, competed at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and placed sixth in his event at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea two years ago.

-Reuters