Digest

SNOOKER

Yan cruises into second round at Welsh Open

Newly crowned Masters champion Yan Bingtao of China breezed through the first round of the Welsh Open with a 4-1 victory over compatriot Xu Si in Newport on Tuesday.

Just a month ago, the 21-year-old Yan beat veteran John Higgins to clinch the prestigious Masters title as a debutant, becoming the tournament's youngest champion since Ronnie O'Sullivan won in 1995 at the age of 19.

World No 12 Yan lost the opening frame on Tuesday, but was untroubled by Xu, ranked 78th, over the remainder of the match.

Yan will meet French player Brian Ochoiski in the next round.

Chinese No 1 Ding Junhui－a Welsh Open champion in 2012-booked his second-round berth by beating compatriot Lyu Haotian 4-1 on Monday.

WINTER OLYMPICS

Cross-country skiers' Chinese New Year wish

There was barely any rest for China's cross-country skiing training team during Spring Festival.

With Russian coach Nikita Kriukov at the helm, China's Olympic hopefuls put in extra hours on the slopes at their training base in Baiyin, Gansu province.

"I can't wait to take part in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics," said Zhao Lei, who won the men's team sprint classical technique earlier this month at the Chinese national cross-country skiing championships.

The 33-year-old Sun Qinghai, who has participated in the last three Winter Olympic Games since Vancouver 2010, has been focusing on strength training following the championships.

"Cross-country skiing is a sport of physical fitness, so we can't stop training," he said.

But although the hard work never stops, coach Kriukov got into the festive spirit during the holiday by learning how to make dumplings.

The 35-year-old, who won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics and silver at the 2014 Games, said that he hopes all of his athletes can make breakthroughs at the Beijing Games.

SOCCER

Mbappe bags hat-trick as PSG routs Barcelona

Kylian Mbappe outplayed Lionel Messi as Paris Saint-Germain put Barcelona up against the ropes in the Champions League again.

And with Mbappe in such devastating scoring form, it's hard to see Barca staging another epic comeback this time.

After Messi put Barcelona ahead from the penalty spot, Mbappe netted a hat-trick at Camp Nou on Tuesday to give PSG a 4-1 win in the first leg of their last-16 matchup.

It was the teams' first meeting since Barca erased a 4-0 deficit by winning the second leg 6-1 at the same stage of the competition four years ago.

But Ronald Koeman's team was thoroughly outplayed at home this time, even with PSG missing Brazil star Neymar, and now has to attempt a comeback in Paris instead.

"It was a very important match for us," Mbappe said. "We wanted to come here and win. We did that in style. Tonight was magnificent, but we haven't won anything yet."

Guardiola fears March coronavirus spike

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is concerned players could become infected with the coronavirus if they fly away to play for their countries in World Cup qualifiers in March, potentially damaging his English Premier League leader's bid for titles in the process.

"The moment you take planes and go to other places, everything can happen," Guardiola said Tuesday.

City was one of three EPL teams－along with Fulham and Aston Villa－to have games called off across December and January because of COVID-19 outbreaks at their training grounds.

But with 135 national teams set to play World Cup qualifying games in March and 48 more playing African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Guardiola fears more postponements could be on the way.

"The reason why there were a lot of cases in the Premier League and now there are no cases is because people don't move. Home and training center, game, home. No more than this."

BASKETBALL

Five games off after positive Spurs tests

The San Antonio Spurs are dealing with a coronavirus outbreak among four players, the NBA said Tuesday, meaning the team will not play until the middle of next week at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms－whose city was picked to host the NBA All-Star Game and skills competitions on March 7－raised major concerns about the notion of fans coming to the city for the events.

"People should not travel to Atlanta to party," she said.

The NBA on Tuesday postponed five more games: the next three for the Spurs－at Cleveland on Wednesday, at New York on Saturday and at Indiana on Monday－as well as the next two for the Charlotte Hornets while contact tracing is completed.

The Hornets were scheduled to host Chicago on Wednesday and Denver on Friday. Their games were halted because they were the last team to play the Spurs. The league is reviewing data to see if any Hornets may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Harden leads Nets to record comeback win

James Harden amassed 38 points and 11 assists and Joe Harris added 22 points as the short-handed Brooklyn Nets rallied from a 24-point deficit to earn a 128-124 road victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.

The 21-point, second-half comeback was the largest for the Nets since they joined the NBA in the 1976-77 season.

Jeff Green scored 18 points off the bench for Brooklyn and Tyler Johnson added 17 in his first start of the season.

The Nets, who were playing without injured superstars Kyrie Irving (lower back) and Kevin Durant (hamstring), won their fourth straight game.

"It's the true definition of a team," Harden said. "One or two guys go down, next man up."

Xinhua - Agencies