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Motorcycling: Spaniard Dani Pedrosa plans to race in MotoGP’s Valencia season-ender this weekend, a month after the Honda rider fractured his collarbone, leg and foot in a crash in Japan. Honda said in a statement that as the injuries were healing well, Pedrosa’s doctors and team had agreed that he could return for the final round. Pedrosa has won six times at Valencia, three of those victories in the MotoGP category.
Basket, NBA: Stephen Curry led Golden State Warriors to a comfortable 116-106 victory over New Orleans Pelicans and in doing improved his own record for three-pointers in a single NBA game. Curry, last season’s MVP, nailed 13 shots from beyond the arc in his tally of 46 points as the Warriors won for the fourth time in six games. Anthony Davis had 33 points and 13 rebounds for the Pelicans, but they have lost all of their six outings.
Rugby Union: Ireland flanker Jordi Murphy, who scored the first try in Saturday’s historic triumph over New Zealand, will be sidelined for six to nine months with a knee injury, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) announced. The 25-year-old, whose try set Ireland on the way to a 40-29 scoreline in Chicago and their first success over the All Blacks in 29 tests spanning 111 years which ended the world champions’ record 18-match winning streak, will miss the Six Nations. Ireland have added six players to their original 34-man squad -– Niyi Adeolokun, Tiernan O’Halloran, Dave Kilcoyne, Jack O’Donoghue, Darren Sweetnam and Dan Leavy (Leinster) – as they prepare to host Canada on Saturday.
Chess Championship: Organisers of the World Chess Championship sued to block a trio of website operators from broadcasting chess moves at the Nov. 11-30 match in New York, which is expected to draw millions of online viewers. The lawsuit, filed by World Chess US Inc and World Chess Events Ltd in federal court in Manhattan, seeks to limit the operators from transmitting the moves from the 12-game contest between world champion Magnus Carlsen, of Norway, and challenger Sergey Karjakin, of Russia. Instead, the tournament organisers want to protect their exclusive rights and air the event run under the auspices of the International Chess Federation, or FIDE.
Rugby League: Troubled full-back Ben Barba has been released by Australia’s National Rugby League champions Cronulla Sharks after testing positive for cocaine and has headed overseas to check into a rehab facility. The 27-year-old, who won the 2012 Dally M medal as the league’s most valuable player, was tested days after playing in the Sharks’ Grand Final win over Melbourne Storm which gave the Sydney side its first NRL title. Should Barba seek to resume his NRL career, he will need to serve out a mandatory 12-week suspension, having breached the competition’s illicit drug policy twice.
Cricket: Alastair Cook has hinted he may step down as England’s test captain after their five-match series in India that begins today. “Deep down I don’t know how much longer I am going to carry on. It could be two months, it could be a year,” the 31-year-old said. “It makes me feel very satisfied that I’ve been able to do it for a long period of time and I’ve had a really good crack at it.” Cook, who will surpass Michael Atherton’s England record of 54 matches as test skipper after the first match in India, replaced Andrew Strauss as skipper in 2012.