Sports News Roundup: Australian firm identifies employee who leaked news anchors' rant on Djokovic; NHL roundup: David Pastrnak's hat trick boosts Bruins and more

The expletive-laden video, leaked this week, showed anchors at Seven West Media's 7NEWS discussing Djokovic's COVID-19 status and visa application in an off-air conversation, condemning him as being deceptive. NHL roundup: David Pastrnak's hat trick boosts Bruins David Pastrnak recorded his 11th career hat trick to punctuate the highly anticipated return of goaltender Tuukka Rask as the Boston Bruins held off the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Thursday night.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Australian firm identifies employee who leaked news anchors' rant on Djokovic

Australia's Ai-Media Technologies, which provides captioning and transcription services, said on Friday it had identified the employee who leaked a video of two news anchors privately criticizing tennis star Novak Djokovic. The expletive-laden video, leaked this week, showed anchors at Seven West Media's 7NEWS discussing Djokovic's COVID-19 status and visa application in an off-air conversation, condemning him as being deceptive.

NHL roundup: David Pastrnak's hat trick boosts Bruins

David Pastrnak recorded his 11th career hat trick to punctuate the highly anticipated return of goaltender Tuukka Rask as the Boston Bruins held off the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Thursday night. Rask made 25 saves in his first game since Game 6 of the Bruins' second-round playoff series against the New York Islanders on June 9, 2021. The 34-year-old goaltender underwent offseason hip surgery and signed a one-year, $1 million deal to rejoin the Bruins on Tuesday.

Texans fire head coach David Culley

The Houston Texans fired first-year head coach David Culley, he confirmed Thursday. "I'm disappointed, but it's part of the business," Culley told SportsTalk 790 in a radio interview. "I understand and I move on."

NBA roundup: Grizzlies get by Wolves for 11th straight win

Desmond Bane scored 21 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 20 points and five blocks to lift the surging Memphis Grizzlies to a 116-108 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday. John Konchar collected 15 points and 17 rebounds and Brandon Clarke added 14 and eight as the Grizzlies extended their franchise-best winning streak to 11 games. Memphis, which has won 21 of its last 25 games, also avenged a 138-95 shellacking at the hands of Minnesota on Nov. 20.

Motorcycling-Former world champion Marquez cleared to return to training

Six-times MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez was given an all-clear to return to training following an off-road accident in November, Repsol Honda said. Marquez had been suffering from vision problems since the training accident, which forced him to miss the Algarve and Valencia Grands Prix towards the end of the 2021 season.

Australia cancels Djokovic's visa citing health risk

Australia cancelled Novak Djokovic's visa for a second time on Friday saying the world tennis number one who has not been vaccinated for COVID-19 may pose a health risk, effectively ending his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used discretionary powers to again cancel Djokovic's visa, after a court quashed an earlier revocation and released him from immigration detention on Monday.

Olympics-U.S. turns to college ranks to fill out men's ice hockey roster

With the National Hockey League having pulled out of the Beijing Olympics, the United States turned to the college ranks to fill out its men's ice hockey roster on Thursday, calling up 15 university players for next month's Winter Games. The U.S. squad that was expected to be packed with high-profile NHLers instead included a mostly anonymous group cobbled together from colleges, European professional, and North American minor leagues.

Gymnastics-Competition may be over for 'King Kohei' Uchimura but gymnastics goes on

Japanese two-time Olympic all-around champion Kohei Uchimura, one of the best male gymnasts of all time, said on Friday that while he's retiring from competition, he hopes to keep on with gymnastics for as long as his body will let him. Dubbed "King Kohei" for his outstanding success, Uchimura won a total of seven Olympic medals, including three golds, at Beijing, London and Rio, but came away empty-handed from the Tokyo Games last year after deciding to concentrate on horizontal bar and crashing out in the qualifying rounds.

First-timers dominate NHL All-Star Game rosters

The NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 5 will be a celebration of the next generation after 18 of the 36 players named to represent their respective divisions by the league's hockey operations department were chosen for the showcase contest for the first time. The midseason game at Las Vegas still will have its fair share of star power among the four captains selected by fan vote. Selected to head their squads were the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (Metropolitan Division), the Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (Atlantic), the Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon (Central) and the Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (Pacific).

Tennis-Krejcikova rallies to see off Kontaveit and book final spot

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova showed her resilience to overcome a poor opening set and hand Anett Kontaveit a 0-6 6-4 7-6 (12) defeat on Friday to advance to the final of the Sydney Tennis Classic. Krejcikova lost the opener to love but bounced back to see off the world number seven and set up a meeting with either Paula Badosa or Daria Kasatkina in the final of the Australian Open warm-up event.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)