Sport

Today's sport news: what you need to know

12:56 pm on 3 October 2019

Latest - Mohamed Salah has rescued Liverpool to secure the reigning European football champions their first win of the new Champions League season.

Mo Salah Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Egyptian pounced in the 69th minute to score the match-winner in Liverpool's 4-3 victory over Salzburg at Anfield, after the Austrian champions came back from three-nil down to level the scores.

Chelsea's also registered its first win of the competition, winning 2-1 at Lille.

Brazilian Willian volleyed home with 12 minutes left on his 300th Chelsea in an otherwise unimpressive effort by the London club.

In other results, Barcelona beat Inter Milan 2-1, Ajax won 3-0 at Valencia, Zenit St Petersburg beat Benfica 3-1, Lyon's won 2-0 at Leipzig, Genk and Napoli played out a 0-0 draw and Borussia Dortmund won 2-0 at Slavia Prague.

NZ runner makes final at World Champs

New Zealand runner Camille Buscomb ran a personal best as she qualified for the final of the 5,000 metres at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Camille Buscomb Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Buscomb finished fifth in her heat in a time of 15:02.19 to gain one of the automatic qualifying spots.

She bettered her previous best time by almost 17 seconds.

Camille said she wasn't sure if she was going to make it through, but thought there was a chance. "As the race went on I just tried to keep controlled the whole way. It matters what happens on the line, not two laps out."

Buscomb has now qualified for both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at next year's Olympics.

Meanwhile Madison-Lee Wesche failed to make the final of the shot put.

The 20 year old managed a best of just 17.22 metres to finish 25th overall.

"It was intense out there, exciting, I felt really good coming into it. Wasn't my best throws and not what I was after but we've got some things to learn from today."

Tedesco takes top NRL award

Sydney Roosters fullback James Tedesco can lay claim to the best individual NRL season in more than a decade after he claimed his maiden Dally M Medal last night.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

With Sunday's grand final still ahead of him, Tedesco charged home with 18 out of a possible 21 points in the final eight rounds to finish three clear of Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith.

Tedesco was also named fulback of the year ahead of last year's winner, the Warriors Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

The Warriors Ken Maumalo was named winger of the year.

-AAP

France labour past USA

France made heavy work of it at times but finished strongly to secure their second win of the Rugby World Cup with a bonus-point 33-9 victory over the United States.

Tries from wingers Yoann Huget and Alivereti Raka in the first 24 minutes looked like setting the three-times World Cup finalists on their way to a handsome Pool C victory at Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium.

The Americans were much better than in their 45-7 opening loss to England, however, and three AJ MacGinty penalties had them within three points at 12-9 after 64 minutes as the French succumbed to errors and ill-discipline.

France, much changed from the side that beat Argentina in their first match, finally got their third try through centre Gael Fickou 13 minutes from time and replacements Baptiste Serin and Jefferson Poirot added two more in the last 10 minutes.

The bonus win put France second just behind England in Pool C ahead of Les Bleus' third match against Tonga in Kumamoto on Sunday, but Eddie Jones's side may have few concerns after this French performance.

-Reuters

Sharma hits ton for India

Rohit Sharma scored a century as India made an impressive start to their Test series against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

Sharma scored an unbeaten 115 as he and Mayank Agarwal put on a double century opening stand before rain forced the players from the field.

After winning the toss India finished the day on 202 without loss.

Liverpool fined for ineligible player

Liverpool have been fined almost $400,000 for fielding an ineligible player in their League Cup third-round victory over MK Dons last week but avoided expulsion from the competition.

Spaniard Pedro Chirivella, who was a second-half substitute in the 2-0 win, did not have international clearance, following the expiry of his loan agreement last season with Spanish club Extremadura.

Half the fine will be suspended until the end of the 2020/21 season and the club will be liable for the suspended amount if they field an ineligible player in the competition again before the end of the next season.

The EFL said Liverpool had asked the Football Association for assistance in securing international clearance before the season and the 22-year-old midfielder was also included on team sheets for Premier League Two matches and an EFL Trophy game.

The breach was not identified until the Anfield club reported it to the EFL and the Premier League after the 2-0 victory over MK Dons, leading to a misconduct charge.

-Reuters

No apologies from Waratahs after picking another Kiwi

NSW Waratahs bosses aren't apologising for appointing another Kiwi as their head coach, believing Rob Penney is the man to revive the ailing state of Australian coaching depth.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Penney won a global process to replace New Zealander Daryl Gibson, the 55-year- old signing a three-season deal which will begin when his Japanese club coaching commitments finish in late November.

Penney and chief executive Andrew Hore were both acutely aware of the sentiment that an Australian should have been chosen, particularly after Gibson failed to get the best out of a Wallabies-laden group during his four seasons in charge.

Under Gibson, the Waratahs reached the finals only once and their 12th placing this year prompted his resignation in June.

Hore confirmed Chris Whitaker and Steve Tandy would be retained as assistant coaches while the other coaching positions would be filled by Australians.

However, he wanted the best and most experienced candidate possible for the head role and Penney fitted the bill not only for his success with Canterbury, Munster and Japanese club NTT Communications Shining Arcs.

-AAP

Tiny Hill dies

One of the longest living All Blacks, Stan 'Tiny' Hill, All Black 574 passed away yesterday, aged 92.

Tiny played lock or flanker and occasionally No. 8.

Tiny's first class rugby career started with the NZ Army in 1949, Canterbury in 1951 and NZ Services in 1952. His All Black debut came in Auckland in 1955 against the Wallabies. He played 19 matches for the All Blacks, two of which were as captain, including 11 Tests.

Tiny was a selector for the NZ Army, Canterbury and latterly for the All Blacks from 1981-1986. His services to the game were recognised when he was appointed as a member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours in 1996.

City player charged

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over a Twitter post concerning teammate Benjamin Mendy last month.

Portugal's Silva came under fire from anti-racism body Kick It Out after posting a message comparing Mendy to a character used in the logo for Conguitos, a confectionary brand popular in Spain and Portugal, before deleting it.

-Reuters