Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been named Confederation of African Football Player of the Year (Photo: Dmitriy Golubovic/WikiCommons)

Athletics
 
Mo Farah has admitted for the first time that he is tempted by an unprecedented third Olympic 10,000m gold medal in Tokyo – despite giving up the track for good in 2017 The 35-year-old confirmed that he will run in next April’s London marathon and that running over 262 miles remains his priority-  now But he left the door open-  a sensational return to 10,000m by saying his choice of an event at the 2020 Olympics would be determined by which gave him the best chance of a medal.

Athletics International Merit rankings 2018 published December 29:
The criteria are the traditional ones of honours won, win-loss records and sequence of marks

Muslim Women’s Athletes in Top 3
400m:  2 Salwa Eid Naser ^BRN
1500m: 3  Sifan Hassan  ^NED
5000m:  2 Sifan Hassan  ^NED
400m hurdles:  3  Dalilah Muhammad ^USA
Heptathlon: 1 Nafissatou Thiam ^BEL

Muslim Men’s Athletes in Top 3
200m: 2 Ramil Guliyev ^TUR
400m: 1 Abdelilah Haroun ^QAT
1500m:  3 Ayanleh Souleiman ^DJI
10,000m:  3 Mohammed Ahmed ^CAN
Marathon:  2 Mo Farah  ^GBR
3000m steeplechase: 2 Soufiane El Bakkali ^MAR
400m hurdles:  1 Abderrahman Samba ^QAT
High jump:  1 Mutaz Essa Barshim ^QAT

Boxing

Amir Khan has passed up on the opportunity to face off against Kell Brook by agreeing a deal to take on American world welterweight champion Terence Crawford, the BBC reported on January 12. The 32-year-old, who like Brook is promoted by Eddie Hearn, was expected to face off against the Sheffield-born fighter this year in an all-British showdown. However, the Bolton-born boxer, who returned to the ring last April after 23 months away from the sport, has agreed a deal to face Crawford in the US on April 20.

Cricket

A special temporary courthouse at Dhaka’s main cricket stadium expelled 20 punters-  placing illegal bets during the first three days of the Bangladesh Premier League, an official said on January 9 Betting is illegal in Bangladesh but uncontrolled during cricket matches, where gamblers exploit a brief delay between live play and the official broadcast of results to place frantic bets

Those caught are tried on the spot by judges stationed at stadiums during international matches and Twenty20 BPL tournament The temporary court at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium fined 20 gamblers and barred them (the grounds in the first three days of the BPL, which started on January 6

Football

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is the 2018 Confederation of African Football Player of the Year – the second consecutive year he has won the award Egypt- ward Salah, 26, beat Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane of Senegal and Arsenal and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the title He received the award at a ceremony in Senegal on January 8 Salah was voted the BBC African Footballer of the Year-  the second time in December.

 Zinedine Zidane is “contemplating an offer” to take the vacant Manchester United job in the summer The Frenchman has been out of work since he left Real Madrid after winning a third Champions League title in a row at the Bernabeu Zidane has been constantly linked with the Old Trafford job and is now one of the favourites to succeed Jose Mourinho, who was sacked last month According to AS, Zidane is strongly considering whether or not to take the vacancy in Manchester- mer United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was named interim manager on December 19 to see the club through to the end of the season

Transfers (Nov 3, 2018 – Jan 10, 2019)
Premiership: Samir Nasri FRA (unattached to West Ham)
International: Fousseni Diabaté MAL (Leicester to Sivasspor on loan)
International:Idrissa Sylla GUI (QPR to Zulte Waregem – undisclosed sum)
Championship: Ali Koiki ENG (Burnley to Swindon on loan)
Championship: Karim Ansarifard IRN (Olympiakos to Nottingham- est- free)
Championship: Mohamed Sylla FRA (Entente SSG to Oldham – undisclosed sum)
Championship: Omar Mussa BEL (KV Mechelen to Walsall – undisclosed sum)
Championship: Ramadan Sobhi EGY (Huddersfield to Al Ahly on loan)

Squash

Dunlop British Junior Open, Birmingham, England January 6, 2019
Final results

Girls under 13s: Amina Orfi ^EGY 3-0 Fayrouz Abouelkheir ^EGY
Boys under 13s: Abdallah Eissa ^ENG 3-2 Harith Danial Jefri ^MAS
Girls under 15s: Salma El Tayeb ^EGY 3-2 Aira Azman ^MAS
Boys under 17s: Yehia Elnawasany ^EGY 3-2 Sam Todd ^ENG
Girls under 19s: Hania El Hammamy ^EGY 3-0 Jana Shiha ^EGY
Boys under 19s: Mostafa Asal ^EGY 3-1 Nick Wall ^ENG

Tennis

Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, preparation-  the Australian Open took in a down note when he and his Mexican doubles partner Santiago González lost Round 16 of the Sydney International January 4–12  The new pair lost in straight sets to Britain’s Jamie Murray and brazil’s Bruno Soares in straight sets 4-6, 4-6