Sports News Roundup: Tennis-Emotional Nadal stands one win away from record 21st major; China reports 36 new COVID-19 cases among Olympics-related personnel and more

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs. Tennis-Emotional Nadal stands one win away from record 21st major A teary-eyed Rafa Nadal felt his tennis career was "alive" again after Friday's victory over Italian Matteo Berrettini took him to the Australian Open final and left him one win away from a men's record 21st Grand Slam title.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Tennis-Emotional Nadal stands one win away from record 21st major

A teary-eyed Rafa Nadal felt his tennis career was "alive" again after Friday's victory over Italian Matteo Berrettini took him to the Australian Open final and left him one win away from a men's record 21st Grand Slam title. A couple of months ago, the 35-year-old Spaniard was worried that he might never return to the court again after missing chunks of the 2021 season, including Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open, due to a long-standing foot problem.

China reports 36 new COVID-19 cases among Olympics-related personnel

A total of 36 new COVID-19 infected were detected among Olympic Games-related personnel on Jan 28, the organising committee of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games said on Saturday. Nineteen were either athletes or team officials who tested positive after arriving at the airport on Friday.

Olympic-Team Taiwan won't be at Winter Games opening ceremony

Taiwan's small team for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing will not take part in the opening or closing ceremonies, the government said on Friday, blaming delayed flights, tough anti-COVID-19 rules and an early departure. Chinese-claimed Taiwan had feared Beijing could "downgrade https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/taiwan-says-no-officials-will-go-beijing-winter-games-2022-01-25 " Taiwan's status by putting its athletes alongside those from Chinese-run Hong Kong at the opening ceremony, a senior Taiwan official familiar with the matter told Reuters this week.

Golf-Former No. 1 Jason Day pain free at last

Former world number one Jason Day says he is pain free at last after several stressful years and hopes to end a nearly three-year victory drought at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Equal leader with Will Zalatoris after Friday's third round at Torrey Pines, Day spoke of the difficultly of coping mentally when injury knocked him from not only the top perch in world golf but outside the top 100 in the rankings.

Tennis-Medvedev revels dream-wrecker role after booking Nadal date

Daniil Medvedev will once again be ready to play the role of dream wrecker when he takes on Rafa Nadal in Sunday's Australian Open final. The Russian became the newest member of the Grand Slam winners' club when he triumphed at the U.S. Open last September, in the process dashing Novak Djokovic's hopes of winning a men's record 21st major.

Motor racing-De Vries denies team mate Vandoorne to win Formula E opener

Formula E world champion Nyck de Vries started the new season in dominant fashion as he clinched victory in the opening race at the Diriyah E-Prix in Saudi Arabia on Friday, with team mate Stoffel Vandoorne making it a one-two for Mercedes. Dutchman De Vries trailed pole-sitter Vandoorne for the initial stages but moved into the lead after the Belgian missed an attack mode activation loop following a safety-car restart.

Tennis-Collins stands between Barty and the end of Australia's title drought

Ash Barty will carry the weight of a nation on her shoulders when she faces big-hitting American Danielle Collins in Saturday's Australian Open final, as she seeks to end her country's 44-year wait for a home champion. The world number one has lost just 21 games to reach her maiden final at Melbourne Park and is primed to become the first local since Chris O'Neil in 1978 to win the Australian Open.

China's Weibo warns users about posting Winter Olympics content

Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, sent out messages to its users on Friday warning them against posting any content from the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics that belonged to broadcast rights holders or risk being blocked. The platform, which has over 570 million monthly active users, posted a notice on its official account and sent direct messages to its users, irrespective of whether they had posted any Olympics content in the past.

NFL-Chiefs host Bengals, Rams face 49ers; Super Bowl trip at stake

The Kansas City Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend in a showdown of elite quarterbacks while the Los Angeles Rams hope to reverse their fortunes against the San Francisco 49ers in two games that will determine the Super Bowl matchup. The Chiefs' offense, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, has looked virtually unstoppable in reaching a fourth consecutive AFC Championship Game and they could be in for yet another high-scoring affair on Sunday.

Cycling-Bernal says horror crash almost left him paraplegic

Ineos Grenadiers rider Egan Bernal said he had a 95% chance of becoming a paraplegic following a serious crash during training in Colombia earlier this week that required multiple surgeries. The former Tour de France winner slammed into a stationary bus on the outskirts of Bogota on Monday, sustaining injuries to his spine, legs and chest. He was rushed to hospital where doctors performed successful neurosurgery.

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