Sports News Roundup: NFL-Long-time Steelers QB Roethlisberger announces retirement; Rugby league-Kiwis great Filipaina on ventilator due to kidney failure and more

The 2019 World Cup winner was named Most Valuable Player of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2018 and brought home the championship in the top-flight American league in 2017. Amid pandemic and protest, Olympics return to a changed China The Beijing Winter Olympics kick off in a week, putting sports at centre-stage following preparations that have been clouded by diplomatic boycotts and the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced the Games into a tightly sealed bubble.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

NFL-Long-time Steelers QB Roethlisberger announces retirement

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger announced his retirement on Thursday after a decorated 18-season NFL career during which he won two Super Bowl championships. The 39-year-old Roethlisberger, a tough-as-nails competitor who was the heart and soul of the Steelers offense, retires as the longest-tenured player in franchise history.

Rugby league-Kiwis great Filipaina on ventilator due to kidney failure

New Zealand rugby league great Olsen Filipaina is on a ventilator in intensive care due to kidney failure, his brother said on Thursday. Filipaina, 64, was admitted to a Sydney hospital with a stomach infection on Jan. 13, Alf Filipaina wrote on Facebook.

Tennis-Collins crushes Swiatek to set up Barty final

American Danielle Collins showed she will provide a formidable obstacle to home favourite Ash Barty's hopes of winning the Australian Open with a crushing 6-4 6-1 defeat of Poland's Iga Swiatek to reach her first Grand Slam final on Thursday. After Barty's demolition of American Madison Keys earlier, the 30th ranked Collins produced an equally dominant display to give former French Open champion Swiatek no chance.

For athletes, boarding the plane to Beijing is already a win

With just over a week until the Winter Games begin, teams are frantically trying to ensure that athletes stay virus-free to get past Beijing's strict checks and make it to the start line as the highly infectious Omicron variant threatens to dash Olympic dreams. Several teams have reported positive cases of COVID-19 amongst their athletes and coaching staff this week just days before their scheduled departures for China, throwing careful preparations into disarray.

Soccer-Top U.S. player Horan sent on loan to Lyon

United States Female Player of the Year nL1N2T203S Lindsey Horan will join Olympique Lyonnais on loan through June 2023, the Portland Thorns said on Thursday. The 2019 World Cup winner was named Most Valuable Player of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2018 and brought home the championship in the top-flight American league in 2017.

Amid pandemic and protest, Olympics return to a changed China

The Beijing Winter Olympics kick off in a week, putting sports at center-stage following preparations that have been clouded by diplomatic boycotts and the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced the Games into a tightly sealed bubble. Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games, and some venues from 2008 will be re-used, including the Bird's Nest stadium, where the opening ceremony will again be overseen by famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

Tennis-Mladenovic and Dodig cruise to Australian Open mixed doubles title

France's Kristina Mladenovic and Croatian Ivan Dodig swept to a 6-3 6-4 victory against local duo Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler to claim the Australian Open mixed doubles crown at Melbourne Park on Friday. Playing under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena due to rain, Mladenovic and Dodig got off to a solid start, securing a vital break at 4-3 before closing out the set after some big serving from the Frenchwoman.

Olympics-Shell starts China green hydrogen plant at Winter Games host city

Shell said on Friday it has started production at its 20 megawatt (MW) zero-carbon hydrogen project in Zhangjiakou, a northern Chinese city co-hosting what President Xi Jinping has vowed will be the "green" 2022 Winter Olympics. The project, which will produce green hydrogen by splitting water molecules with electricity from onshore wind farms, will provide about half of the total green hydrogen supply for fuel cell vehicles at the Zhangjiakou competition zone during the Game, set to kick off on Feb 4.

Soccer-Brazil held by Ecuador in action-packed World Cup qualifier

Brazil had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Ecuador in a remarkable World Cup qualifier on Thursday after Felix Torres' header 15 minutes from time canceled out an early Casemiro strike. The incident-packed clash saw both sides have a player sent off inside the first 20 minutes and Brazil goalkeeper Alisson shown a red card on two occasions only for both to be rescinded after consultation with the Video Assistant referee (VAR).

Soccer-Canada return to top spot with win over Honduras

Canada reclaimed top spot in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 win over Honduras on Thursday, after the United States briefly led the standings thanks to their 1-0 win over El Salvador. Mexico trailed 1-0 to Jamaica with less than 10 minutes left before Henry Martin and Alexis Vega scored from close range to snatch victory in Kingston.

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