Digest

SOCCER

Li Jinyu appointed Wuhan FC head coach

Li Jinyu has been appointed the new head coach of Chinese Super League side Wuhan FC, the club announced on Saturday.

He replaces Li Xiaopeng, who last week left Wuhan to succeed Li Tie as Team China head coach.

Li Jinyu joined Wuhan in January as Li Xiaopeng's assistant, and has "matured into an outstanding coach thanks to his many years of coaching and managerial experience", according to a club statement.

The 44-year-old former striker's first game in charge will be against Cangzhou Mighty Lions on Dec 12, when the CSL season resumes following a four-month hiatus taken to accommodate Team China's World Cup qualification bid.

Lewandowski double downs Dortmund

Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Bayern Munich opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a 3-2 win at second-place Borussia Dort－mund on Saturday.

Julian Brandt and Erling Haaland scored Dortmund's goals at Signal Iduna Park, but Lewandowski netted and converted the winning penalty, either side of a Kingsley Coman goal. Dortmund coach Marco Rose was shown a red card for arguing with the referee after a Mats Hummels handball led to Lewandowski converting the key spot-kick 12 minutes from time.

"In the first half, we should have led by more and in terms of how we played, I'm not sure we deserved to win," said Bayern forward Thomas Mueller. "But in terms of fighting, we were there."

Madrid triumph marred by Benzema injury

Real Madrid stretched its lead at the top of La Liga to eight points on Saturday with a slick 2-0 win over Real Sociedad but the victory was tarnished by an injury to Karim Benzema.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Benzema is now likely to miss Tuesday's Champions League game at home to Inter Milan, although was hopeful the striker could return to face Atletico Madrid this weekend.

Madrid's eighth consecutive win proved even more valuable after both Atletico and Barcelona lost, with Atleti undone by Mallorca and Barca succumbing 1-0 to Real Betis for its first defeat under new coach Xavi Hernandez.

Barcelona remained seventh, a hefty 16 points behind Madrid, while Atletico dropped to fourth, six points in front of Barca, but 10 points off the top.

CYCLING

Archibald, Lavreysen crowned track champs

Katie Archibald

Double Olympic champion Katie Archibald delighted a packed London velodrome crowd to take the endurance title as the inaugural UCI Track Champions League reached a frantic conclusion on Saturday.

With the Israel round of the competition canceled because of COVID-19 restrictions, London's sell-out double header brought the curtain down on what organizers the UCI and Discover Sports Events hope will mark a new era in track cycling.

British rider Archibald had consolidated her lead in the standings on Friday with victory in the elimination race and second place in Saturday's 5-kilometer scratch race behind Yumi Kajihara to guarantee the 25,000-euro ($28,280) winner's check. Flying Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen, the Olympic and world sprint champion, won the men's sprint league after going unbeaten across the four rounds.

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Roethlisberger ready to retire at end of season

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has confided in friends, teammates and other people within the organization that he expects this season to be his final one in Pittsburgh, according to a report from ESPN.

Roethlisberger's public stance has been that he wouldn't want to play anywhere else, and one source told ESPN that this stance is still the case: his appearance in another NFL city is "highly unlikely".

That would indicate retirement for the future Hall-of-Famer once the NFL season comes to a conclusion, which is how he and members of the team are approaching the final five games of the season.

Roethlisberger, 39, has played his entire 18-year career in Pittsburgh, and he owns most of the franchise's passing records, including completions (5,298), yards (62,870) and touchdowns (410).

The six-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champion has had one of his least productive seasons as a pro in 2021, throwing for 2,522 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions.

TENNIS

Swiatek parts ways with longtime coach

Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, announced Saturday that she is splitting from coach Piotr Sierzputowski after nearly six years working together.

"This change is really challenging for me and this decision wasn't easy, either," Swiatek wrote in an Instagram post that was accompanied by a photo of the pair touching index fingers during a break in a match.

Swiatek, who is from Poland, hired Sierzputowski as her coach in January 2016, when she was 15 and still playing in junior tournaments.

Now 20, she has won a Grand Slam championship and reached a career high of No 4 in the WTA rankings.

"I would like to thank you Coach for everything that you did for me. We gave each other so much and I hope that we'll continue to grow and develop with this experience we've gained together," Swiatek wrote.

BASKETBALL

DeRozan inspires Bulls to victory over Nets

DeMar DeRozan put together another impressive fourth quarter by scoring 13 of his 29 points in the final period as the Chicago Bulls earned a 111-107 victory over the host Brooklyn Nets Saturday night.

Zach LaVine led all scorers with 31 points but DeRozan willed the Bulls to their latest win. He made 6 of 11 shots in the fourth quarter and raised his league-leading total to 178 points in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant collected 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets. James Harden shot just 5-of-21 overall before finishing with 14 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.

"Blame this one on me. I had a lot of opportunities at the rim that I didn't convert that could have settled this game down," said Harden, who recently admitted he is finding it difficult being more of a playmaker as opposed to a scorer with Kyrie Irving not playing due to COVID-19 rules.

Durant also accepted some blame for the loss, saying he should have made more shots. "That would've taken pressure off him (Harden)," Durant said.

Xinhua - Agencies