Mohamed Salah is Liverpool’s all-time top goal scorer in the Champions League (Credit: Mehdi Bolourian/Farsi News)

Athletics

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after the women’s 400 meters world champ Salwa Eid Naser was cleared on whereabouts charges in October.

Naser escaped a two-year ban, which would have kept her out of the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after a drugs tester knocked on the door of a storage cupboard instead of her apartment. The Nigerian born 22-year-old, who runs for Bahrain, had been charged with four alleged whereabouts failures in June.

The AIU has submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Disciplinary Tribunal's decision to dismiss the charges against Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) for Whereabouts failures. #AIUNews pic.twitter.com/90zRdqiyJh

— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) November 12, 2020

The Disciplinary Tribunal had acknowledged the decision in the athlete’s favour was “borderline.” The Tribunal report claimed the circumstances “would have been comical were the consequences not so serious” with regards to the April case.

Basketball

NBA: The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired centre Enes Kanter from the Boston Celtics in a three-team trade that sends forward Mario Hezonja to the Memphis Grizzlies, it was announced by President of basketball operations Neil Olshey.

Kanter, a nine-year NBA veteran, played for the Celtics during the 2019-20 season after joining the team as a free agent last summer. In 58 games (seven starts) for Boston, he averaged 8.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 16.9 minutes.

Football

Champions League: Mohamed Salah has surpassed Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s all-time top goal scorer in the Champions League on December 9. The Egyptian netted in the first minute of the clash with Midtjylland, bundling home on the run to give the Reds a perfect start.

It was a significant goal for Salah, who continues to break records in a remarkable career on Merseyside, with it being his 22nd in 39 appearances in the Champions League. That sees him move ahead of Gerrard as the club’s all-time leading scorer in the competition. Gerrard scored 21 in 73 outings, with Salah’s feat made even more impressive as he has broken the record in 34 fewer games.

Sadio Mané (17 in 37) and Roberto Firmino (15 in 38) are third and fourth, respectively, which highlights the quality of Liverpool’s current forwards.
The Champions League saw a second record break when Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko became the youngest player to feature in the competition as his side beat Zenit St Petersburg to finish top of Group F.

The German forward, aged 16 years and 18 days, came on in the second half in Russia. Dortmund fell behind to Sebastian Driussi’s finish before goals by Lukasz Piszczek and Axel Witsel, after a Jadon Sancho assist, turned it around. Lazio qualified in second place with a 2-2 draw with 10-man Club Bruges.

Mesut Özil will not play for Arsenal again as he has fallen out with the manager Mikel Arteta. According to ex-Gunners striker Kevin Campbell, the German outcast has been completely frozen out at Emirates Stadium.

Asked by Football Insider if Özil will play for Arsenal again, Campbell said, “No, he won’t, he doesn’t have a future at Arsenal. Mezut Özil is not the here and now or the future of Arsenal. Mikel Arteta did the right thing freezing him out. He gave Özil enough time to prove himself. At first, Arteta played him, I think it was 10 or so games that he played him in. After lockdown, there became an issue. They got back into training and maybe Özil’s attitude was not right.”

Football Transfer rumours

According to ESPN, Arsenal have not given up hope of keeping German international Shkodran Mustafi even though talks have stalled over a new deal. It’s claimed that Arsenal have hit an impasse in their hopes of keeping Mustafi, whose contract expires at the end of the season. He will be able to sign a pre-contract agreement with a non-English club from January 1.

Besiktas President, Ahmet Nur Cebi, has admitted he’d love to re-sign Cenk Tosun but has hinted his club would only be able to afford a loan deal. The striker signed for Everton in a £27 m deal in 2018 and has recently returned to fitness after suffering an ACL injury on loan at Crystal Palace last season.

Leicester City’s Islam Slimani could finally end his nightmare spell at the Premier League club in January after attracting interest from across the Channel. Slimani, a £30 m purchase from Sporting Lisbon in 2016, hadn’t played for City since January 2018 but had three loan spells at Newcastle United, Fenerbahçe and Moncao before unable to find a new club in the last summer transfer window.

Gymnastics

European Championships, Mersin, Turkey: Turkey’s women’s rhythmic gymnastics team won the 2020 European title on November 28; the team’s first-ever medal in the competition, defeating Ukraine to the 3 hoops, 2 pairs of clubs gold!’ Turkish Olympic Committee tweeted.

Turkey’s men also won their maiden European title, securing silver with 244.793 points, Ukraine notched 248.963 points to win the gold, while Hungary ranked third with 240.393.

Turkey’s Ferhat Arican, 27, won a gold medal on the parallel bars with a total score of 15,100, ahead of Petro Pakhniuk from Ukraine who won silver with 14,766 points, while Lithuanian Robert Tvorogal secured bronze with 14,500 points. Turkish athletes also won four medals in men’s junior competition.

Bora Tarhan won two bronze medals and secured 13,000 points to claim bronze in the rings final. He also came third with 14,016 points in the vault final. Mert Efe Kilicer also won silver and a bronze medal at the parallel bar and horizontal bar. Athletes competed in floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

Mixed Martial Arts

Reigning UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman is set to defend his title against Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 on February 13. Usman is riding a twelve fight win streak in the UFC welterweight. With a win over Burns, he will overtake Georges St-Pierre for the longest win streak in the division.

A battle between lightweight prospects is the latest addition to UFC 257. Germany Mohammad Nasrat Haqparast will face Russia’s Arman Tsarukyan on January 23. The event does not yet have a location but will be headlined by a Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier rematch.