Tennis: Romanian Alexandru-Daniel Carpen has been banned from playing professional tennis for life after admitting to match-fixing, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said. The 30-year-old, who reached a career-high singles ranking of 1,088 in November 2007, admitted the charge in 2015 but the TIU said the sanction was decided only after consideration of all circumstances in the case.
Basketball: New York Knicks fined guard Derrick Rose an undisclosed amount, a day after he left the team unannounced due to a ‘family issue’. Rose did not show for the Knicks’ 110-96 loss to New York Pelicans on Monday and the team was unsure of his whereabouts. The former MVP was back for training on Tuesday. “It had nothing to do with the team or basketball,” Rose told reporters, declining to elaborate. “That’s the first time I ever felt like that emotionally and I had to be with family.”
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Golf: Rory McIlroy (picture) will be keeping a promise to fellow major champion Ernie Els when he lines up in the South African Open this week as the European Tour begins a new calendar year. Els is player-host of the second oldest national Open championship in world golf and extracted the commitment when he played in the 2014 Irish Open, which is hosted by McIlroy’s Foundation. “Rory was very serious about coming to South Africa when I told him he ‘owed me one’ at the Irish Open,” said Els as golfers tested out the course at Glendower Country Club before today’s start.
Rugby Union: England prop Joe Marler is set to miss the start of Six Nations next month after injuring his leg playing for Harlequins, the Premiership club said. Marler fractured his leg in the warm-up of Harlequins’ win over Sale on Saturday, according to British media reports. England head coach Eddie Jones, who is scheduled to name his England squad on January 20, faces a growing list of injury concerns as he mulls squad for the Six Nations opener against France on February 4 at Twickenham. With Marler and Mako Vunipola on the sidelines, Jones is likely to hand a first test start to rookie prop Ellis Genge.
Rallying: A massive landslide caused by thunderstorms forced the cancellation of yesterday’s ninth stage of the Dakar Rally in Argentina, organisers said. They said the road to Tuesday’s overnight bivouac had been blocked 40km north of Jujuy. The landslide hit the village of Volcan and caused considerable damage. The competitors instead spent the day yesterday travelling to Chilecito for today’s 10th stage. France’s Sebastien Loeb leads the car category for Peugeot with British rider Sam Sunderland top of the motorcycle standings.
Athletics: Athletics Kenya (AK) has drawn up a list of accredited doctors who will be responsible for examining samples from elite athletes and ensure they are not tempted to use banned drugs, AK’s chairman said this week. The initiative is part of Kenya’s effort to clean up its image after a series of doping cases brought the nation to the brink of being barred from the 2016 Rio Olympics. After last-gasp measures to reassure the international authorities, Kenyan athletes were allowed to participate in Brazil and secured the biggest haul of medals by a nation renowned for middle and long distance runners.