Messi heads to France after negative COVID test result
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 5: Lionel Messi departed Argentina at the early hours of Wednesday towards France after getting a negative COVID test. He was isolating at his home in Rosario after being among four Paris Saint-Germain players announced Sunday as testing positive for the coronavirus ahead of the team’s return to playing after a brief winter break. PSG resumed training earlier this week, raising the prospect of further infections in the squad. (AP)
Klopp’s assistant at Liverpool tests positive for virus
LIVERPOOL, Jan 5: The coach filling in for Jurgen Klopp while the Liverpool manager is in isolation with the coronavirus has also returned a suspected positive test for COVID-19, the club said Wednesday. Pepijn Lijnders also is now self-isolating, placing into further doubt the likelihood of Liverpool’s first-leg match against Arsenal in the English League Cup semifinals taking place on Thursday. Liverpool has requested that the match be postponed, with COVID-19 cases, injuries and absences because of the African Cup of Nations affecting player availability. The English Football League is assessing the matter. (AP)
Eriksen looks to comeback from cardiac arrest, eyes WC
COPENHAGEN, Jan 5: Christian Eriksen is targeting a comeback from his cardiac arrest to play for Denmark in the World Cup in November. The 29-year-old Eriksen has not played since collapsing during Denmark’s opening match at the European Championship against Finland in June. Unable to play in Italy due to being fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, the playmaker’s contract with Inter Milan was terminated by mutual agreement last month. “My goal is to play in the World Cup in Qatar,” Eriksen told Danish broadcaster DR1 in an interviewed aired Tuesday. Eriksen has resumed some training in recent weeks but is without a club. (AP)
Lukaku apologises, looks to restore trust at Chelsea
LONDON, Jan 5: Romelu Lukaku apologised for going public with his unhappiness at Chelsea and promised to restore trust with fans, teammates and manager Thomas Tuchel. The Belgium striker had said in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky he was ‘not happy with the situation’ at Chelsea and that he had issues with Tuchel’s style of play. Tuchel reacted by leaving Lukaku out of the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Sunday. “To the fans, I’m sorry for the upset that I caused,” Lukaku said. “It’s up to me now to restore your trust and I’ll do my best to show commitment every day on the training ground and in the games, trying to make sure that we win games. “To the manager, I apologize and also to my teammates and the board because I think it was not the right moment also,” he continued. (AP)
Serie A to resume despite Covid-19 surge
ROME, Jan 5: Italy’s Serie A is set to resume from its winter break on January 6 despite a surge in COVID-19 cases. Notably, one out of every ten players in Serie A are COVID-19 positive but the Italian league will go ahead with their key fixtures including the third-placed Napoli taking on No. 5 Juventus, while AC Milan will face AS Roma on Thursday. Serie A has decided to go full steam ahead, prioritising the games completed rather than postponing them and risking fixture congestion later on. Bottom-placed Salernitana have been affected the worst as their nine players sidelined because of the virus, making their clash against Venezia on Thursday doubtful. The Juve-Napoli clash also faces the risk of being cancelled as the visitors have had an outbreak, with six players and their coach Luciano Spalletti being quarantined. (IANS)
Tennis star Sloane Stephens, footballer Jozy Altidore wed
New York, Jan 5: Tennis star Sloane Stephens and soccer player Jozy Altidore have gotten married. Stephens and Altidore posted a wedding photo Tuesday on their Instagram accounts. The wedding took place Saturday at the St. Regis Bal Harbour in Miami Beach, Florida, according to People magazine. The couple announced their engagement on Twitter in April 2019 with a photo showing her wearing a diamond ring. Stephens, 28, won the 2017 U.S. Open and was a finalist in the 2018 French Open, a semifinalist at the 2013 Australian Open and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 2013. Altidore, 32, has been with Toronto FC of Major League Soccer since 2015. (AP)
Ramkumar-Bopanna reach Adelaide ATP quarterfinals
Adelaide, Jan 5: India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rohan Bopanna entered the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the Adelaide International 1 ATP tournament with a hard fought win over their rivals here on Wednesday. In the ATP 250 men’s event, the Indian combination of Ramkumar and veteran Bopanna, pairing up together for the first time on the ATP tour, had to dig deep to stun the eighth seed American duo of Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 10-4 in a super tie-breaker in the second round. The Indians had earlier trounced American Jamie Cerretani and Brazilian Fernando Romboli 6-2 6-1 in the opening round on Tuesday. (PTI)
Second-ranked Sabalenka loses season-opening match
Adelaide, Jan 5: Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka had an upset 7-6 (6), 6-1 loss to No. 100-ranked Kaja Juvan on Wednesday in her first match of the season at the Adelaide International, one of the main tune-up tournaments for the Australian Open. Sabalenka, a semifinalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, wasted a set point as she struggled with her serve in the tiebreaker. She then had 11 double-faults in the second set to give her 18 in total for the match. The win was Juvan’s first against a Top 10 player and earned her a spot in the quarterfinals. (AP)