Sport in brief
Football
England and Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho has described the German FA as “an absolute joke” after he and club team-mate Manuel Akanji were fined for getting haircuts at their respective homes, in breach of the country’s lockdown restrictions. Neither the players nor the hairdresser wore any personal protective equipment. Meanwhile, Juanma Lillo is set to become Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager at Manchester City. The 54-year-old is currently coaching Qingdao Huanghai in China. Guardiola has been without an assistant since Mikel Arteta left to become Arsenal manager last December.
Athletics
Salwa Eid Naser, the Nigerian-born Bahraini, has been provisionally suspended for doping whereabouts failures eight months after clocking the third-fastest 400metres time in history to win the world title. Naser’s 48.14-second run in Doha last October was one of the most astonishing performances of the World Championships, taking almost a second off the personal best she had set a year earlier. It was also the fastest time in the world since 1985, catapulting her to third on the all-time list behind East German world record-holder Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvilova, of Czechoslovakia.
Olympics
Next March has been set by former Olympic minister Toshikai Endo as a possible deadline for deciding whether the postponed Tokyo Games can go ahead. “We have to make a judgment in various ways depending on the situation then,” he said. The Olympics are due to open on July 23, 2021, followed by the Paralympics on Aug 24.
Rugby Union
Worcester lock Michael Fatialofa has been discharged from hospital less than six months after a serious spinal injury. The 27-year-old has been in hospital since Jan 4 when he suffered a severe contusion of the spinal cord during a Gallagher Premiership match at Saracens. He has spent the past four months in the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital in Aylesbury and Warriors will support the next stage of his recovery.
Snooker
Ronnie O’sullivan returned to action with a century break in the Championship League. The five-time world champion, who was sporting a moustache, posted a 112 clearance in the first frame of a 3-0 victory against Kishan Hirani in the opening match of Group 10 behind closed doors in Milton Keynes.