RUGBY UNION
Harlequins beat Newcastle
Harlequins on Friday surged to the top of the English Premiership with a 24-3 thrashing of lowly Newcastle at Kingston Park. Nick David set the tone for a one-sided encounter when he started the Harlequins scoring spree with a try after 67 seconds. The Falcons were backed by their biggest crowd of the season as they went in search of their first league win since March last year. However, further tries from Andre Esterhuizen, Jack Walker and George Hammond took the game away from the beleaguered hosts, who are struggling in the top-flight amid financial cutbacks. The victory elevated Harlequins from sixth place to the top of the Premiership table ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games. Newcastle remain rooted to the bottom, 12 points adrift of Gloucester. Sale missed the chance to return to the top of the Premiership after a 22-14 defeat against Bristol. Sale drop to fourth place, while Bristol remained eighth.
CRICKET
Warner retires a winner
David Warner yesterday scored 57 runs to help lead Australia to an eight-wicket victory over Pakistan in his final Test match, ending a 112-Test career as a winner on his home ground. With Australia needing only 11 runs to claim their third consecutive victory in the three-match series, Warner was out LBW off the bowling of Sajid Khan. He walked off the Sydney Cricket Ground to a standing ovation as he waved to the crowd. Warner handed his Australia batting helmet and gloves to a young fan at the players’ gate and walked off into Test retirement. “It’s pretty much a dream come true,” Warner said in a post-game TV interview, after walking back onto the field, with a pink stump in his hand and a tattered original baggy green cap on his head, along a line of teammates and Pakistan players shaking hands and hugging. “Win 3-0 and cap off what’s been a great 18 months for the Australian cricket team: World Test Championship win, Ashes series, the [ODI] World Cup and then we come here and win 3-0. I’m just proud to be here with a bunch of great cricketers.” Pakistan captain Shan Masood presented Warner with one of Babar Azam’s shirts signed by the touring team as a gesture of congratulations.
BOXING
Joshua to fight Ngannou
Two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia, organizers said on Friday. Joshua had announced plans to face ex-WBC champion Deontay Wilder if they had both won while fighting on the same card in Riyadh on Dec. 23. However, Wilder was handed a stunning upset defeat by New Zealand’s Joseph Parker last month, before Joshua clinched a knockout win over Otto Wallin later that night. “Tonight we confirm it’s a Done Deal,” Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn wrote on X. “Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou collide on a huge night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - press conference Jan 15 in London with full details dropping soon!” ESPN reported that the fight would be held in early March, weeks after WBC world champion Tyson Fury faces WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. Ngannou made his pro boxing debut against Fury in October.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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