India win toss, elect to bowl in 1st Australia T20

Sydney, Jan 6: Nathan Lyon captured five for 50 and 10 match wickets as Australia crushed New Zealand by 279 runs on Monday, capping a golden domestic summer as they swept the three-Test series.

The off-spinner led the powerful Australian bowling attack to dismiss the Kiwis for 136 and seal another heavy win over the Black Caps after similar victories in Perth and Melbourne.

Australia have been unbeatable this season, winning all five Tests at home -- two against Pakistan and three against New Zealand -- after retaining the Ashes by drawing the series 2-2 in England.

"It's been a great summer for the Australian Test side," Lyon said.

"It's pretty special to be part of it, we have been impressive, pretty clinical, the batters have done well and given us bowlers plenty of time."

Australia declared their second innings at 217 for two with David Warner scoring an unbeaten century, leaving the Black Caps with a revised 416-run target in the fourth innings on a wearing Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.

But the Kiwis buckled under the pressure of Australia's superior bowling attack with Mitchell Starc taking three for 25 to support the wiles of spinner Lyon.

"They were clinical in all areas and after the first match they put us under pressure session after session," said skipper Kane Williamson, who missed the Test with a virus.

New Zealand were reeling early at 27-4 and never recovered after Starc and Lyon took two wickets each in the middle session to put the skids under the tourists.

Starc removed both openers, Tom Latham and Tom Blundell, in the first five overs. Blundell fell to a stunning catch by a diving Lyon at point for two and stand-in skipper Latham lost a review for leg before wicket.

Jeet Raval was out in a review to the faintest of edges on 'Snicko' in Lyon's first over for 12.

First-innings top-scorer Glenn Phillips went for a duck after technology detected a faint outside edge to wicketkeeper Paine off Lyon.

Taylor's Kiwi record

Ross Taylor became the leading all-time Kiwi batsman, going past Stephen Fleming (7,172) before he was bowled by Pat Cummins for 22 to take his Test aggregate to 7,174.

Big-hitting Colin de Grandhomme smacked Lyon for six to bring up his fifty but went next ball hoicking to Joe Burns at deep mid-wicket for 52.

Todd Astle was out to a superb diving catch by James Pattinson in the outfield for 17.

Starc yorked William Somerville's middle stump for seven and BJ Watling was the last to fall, caught at backward square leg by Pat Cummins for 19.

Earlier, Warner completed his 24th Test century and remained unbeaten when skipper Paine declared upon the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne.

"You know you're capable of doing so," Warner said, when asked about how he had bounced back from his disastrous Ashes campaign in England last year.

"I was in the nets hitting the ball well and had the skipper backing me. To be able to play with freedom helped me. It's all paying off."

Labuschagne, who was dropped on four in a regulation caught-and-bowled chance by leg-spinner Astle, was caught at long on off Matt Henry for 59 -- his seventh score over 50 in eight innings this domestic summer.

Labuschagne finished the home five-Test season with a stunning aggregate of 896 runs, made up of his 215 in the first innings, three other centuries and three half-centuries in eight innings.

There was drama late in the Australian innings when Warner was given an official warning by umpire Aleem Dar for running down the middle of the pitch in scampering a single.

It resulted in five penalty runs being added to New Zealand's first innings total meaning their target was revised down from 421 to 416.

The Test was played against the backdrop of one of Australia's most devastating bushfire seasons with at least 24 people losing their lives in blazes raging across the country, including on the outskirts of Sydney.

Jeddah, Jan 3: Spanish driver Fernando Alonso is aiming to create history as the first Formula One world champion to win the Dakar Rally when the 12-day marathon gets underway in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Alonso, who won the F1 championship with Renault in 2005 and 2006, is one of 351 starters in this year's 7,500 km race which has moved from South America to Saudi Arabia, both venues a long way from the original 1979 route between Paris and the Senegalese capital Dakar.

Among the starters will be motorbikes, quad bikes and trucks but Alonso, who will have five-time bike champion Marc Coma navigating his Toyota, will be in the car category as he bids to become one of the greatest all-round drivers of all time.

Apart from his success in F1, the 38-year-old Spaniard has also won the Le Mans 24-hour race and has singled out the Indianapolis 500 as his priority for 2020. He describes Dakar as “the biggest challenge of my career”.

Alonso is not the first F1 driver to take part in the race, however.

The Belgian Jacky Ickx, a winner of eight grand prix and six-time winner of Le Mans, won Dakar in 1983 and came second in 1986 and 1989. Frenchman Patrick Tambay, who had two wins in his 114 grand prix, came third in 1988 and 1989.

Given the treacherous conditions--long stretches of sand dunes--Alonso is not overly confident of challenging for victory, noting that even the nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb was unable to deliver when he raced the Dakar. Loeb won 13 stages but could only finish second in 2017 and third in 2019.

“If Loeb still hasn't won the Dakar, imagine me, who is coming from asphalt,” Alonso told RTVE. “I think the goal is more to approach the rally as an enriching experience for us.”

Fellow Toyota driver Nasser Al-Attiyah is a more likely candidate, not least because the Qatari is a three-time winner and reigning champion.

"Give me some sand and I'm happy," Al-Attiyah told dakar.com.

He will be pressed, however, by the Minis of Carlos Sainz and 'Monsieur Dakar' aka Stephane Peterhansel who has won 13 Dakars across bikes and cars in 30 races.

“We are obviously very excited about the Dakar in Saudi Arabia. It will be a new challenge for everyone,” said Peterhansel who will be partnered by Paulo Fiuza after the Frenchman's wife Andrea pulled out for health reasons.

“Unfortunately, it is not possible to contest the rally with Andrea, as was planned, however I have known Paulo Fiuza for a very long time. According to the organisers, the navigation will be very complicated and play a major role this time.”

Cyril Despres, a five-time winner on bikes, is also back with a new teammate -- explorer Mike Horn.

“I was stuck in the ice for a month, and now I'm heading to Jeddah. For the first time, the Dakar Rally is in Saudi Arabia and I'm doing it with a very good friend of mine, Cyril Despres,” tweeted Horn whose adventures include an 18-month solo journey around the equator without using any motorised transport.

Horn is also the first man to travel without dogs or transport to the North Pole during winter, in permanent darkness.

Across the dunes of Saudi Arabia that experience may come in handy.

Tokorozawa, Jul 9: Olympic boxing hopeful Arisa Tsubata is used to taking blows in the ring but it is during her work as a nurse that she faces her toughest opponent: coronavirus.

The 27-year-old juggles a brutal training regime in boxing gloves with long, irregular hours in surgical gloves at a hospital near Tokyo.

Tsubata mainly treats cancer patients but she said the virus was a constant threat, with medical experts warning at the peak of the pandemic that Japan's health system was close to collapse.

"We always face the risk of infection at medical facilities," she said.

"My colleagues and I have all worked under the stress of possibly getting infected."

Like most elite athletes, the virus played havoc with Tsubata's training schedules, meaning she welcomed the postponement of this year's Tokyo Olympics until 2021.

"It was a plus for me, giving me more time for training, although I wasn't sure if I should be so happy because the reason for the postponement was the spread of the infectious disease," she said.

Tsubata took up boxing only two years ago as a way to lose weight but quickly rose through the ranks.

"In a few years after becoming a nurse, I gained more than 10 kilos (22 pounds)," she laughed.

"I planned to go to Hawaii with my friends one summer, and I thought I wouldn't have much fun in a body like that. That is how I started boxing."

She quickly discovered a knack for the ring, winning the Japan national championship and a place on the national team.

But juggling her medical and sporting career has not always been easy and the first time she fought a foreign boxer came only in January, at an intensive training camp in Kazakhstan.

"That made me realise how inexperienced I am in my short boxing career. I was scared," she admitted.

Japanese boxing authorities decided she was not experienced enough to send her to the final qualifying tournament in Paris, which would have shattered her Tokyo 2020 dreams -- if coronavirus had not given her an extra year.

Now she is determined to gain the experience needed to qualify for the rescheduled Games, which will open on July 23, 2021.

"I want to train much more and convince the federation that I could fight in the final qualifiers," she said.

Her coach Masataka Kuroki told AFP she is a subtle boxer and a quick learner, as he put her through her paces at a training session.

She now needs to add more defensive technique and better core strength to her fighting spirit and attacking flair, said Kuroki.

"Defence! She needs more technique for defence. She needs to have a more agile, stronger lower body to fend off punches from below," he said.

Her father Joji raised Arisa and her three siblings single-handedly after separating from his Tahitian wife and encouraged his daughter into nursing to learn life-long skills.

He never expected his daughter to be fighting for a place in the Olympics but proudly keeps all her clippings from media coverage.

"She tried not to see us family directly after the coronavirus broke out," the 58-year-old told AFP. "She was worried."

Tsubata now want to compete in the Games for all her colleagues who have supported her and the patients that have cheered her on in her Olympic ambitions.

"I want to be the sort of boxer who keeps coming back no matter how many punches I take," she said.

"I want to show the people who cheer for me that I can work hard and compete in the Olympics, because of them."