Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Cycling-Lambie wins men’s pursuit gold as Ganna fails to make final

Ashton Lambie of the United States won men’s pursuit gold at the track cycling world championships on Friday with Italy’s four-times champion Filippo Ganna having to settle for bronze after failing to qualify for the final. World record holder Lambie, the first male American individual pursuit world champion since Taylor Phinney in 2010, twizzled his moustache for the cameras after beating Italian Jonathan Milan.

Tennis-Raducanu’s Romania run to be in front of empty stands

There will be no fans to cheer Emma Raducanu when she plays in Romania, the home country of her father, next week after a government decision forced the organisers to host the WTA 250 tournament without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Oct. 25-31 Transylvania Open in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca will showcase a host of major champions including local hope Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza of Spain and U.S. Open winner Raducanu.

Soccer-Koeman says Barca need to make fans proud in Clasico against Real

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said his side will need to be fearless to beat rivals Real Madrid on Sunday as he called on the club’s fans to get behind the team following a challenging start to the season. Barca’s imposing Camp Nou stadium will be back to its old self on Sunday for ‘El Clasico’ with 99,000 hardcore supporters packed into the ground, following the end to restrictions on capacity imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slain Kenyan Olympian Agnes Tirop buried in her home village

Slain long-distance Olympic runner Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya’s highly competitive athletics scene, was buried on Saturday at a funeral attended by over 1,000 mourners. Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home in the Rift Valley town of Iten on Oct. 13, in an incident that has shone the spotlight on violence against women https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/two-deaths-shine-spotlight-violence-against-women-kenya-2021-10-15 in Kenya.

Alpine skiing-Shiffrin starts the season with her 70th World Cup win

Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States started the Alpine ski season with the 70th World Cup victory of her career on Saturday after a storming second run in a giant slalom in Soelden. The reigning Olympic champion was 0.02 of a second slower than Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami in the first run down the Rettenbach glacier but was then faster than anyone to beat the world champion by 0.14.

Tennis-Barty pulls out of WTA Finals to focus on Australian Open preparations

World number one Ash Barty will not defend her WTA Finals title in Mexico next month after the Wimbledon champion decided to bring an early end to her 2021 season. Barty won the season-ending tournament when it was last held in Shenzhen in November 2019 but the Australian will not travel to Guadalajara to participate in this year’s event running Nov. 10-17.

NHL roundup: Oilers outcore Knights, improve to 5-0-0

Leon Draisaitl scored twice in a three-point game and Zack Kassian netted a third-period game-winner to give the Edmonton Oilers a 5-3 victory over the slumping Vegas Golden Knights on Friday in Las Vegas. Zach Hyman scored twice and goaltender Mikko Koskinen made 36 saves for the Oilers, who have won their first five games of the season.

Soccer-Spectacular Wilson strike rescues point for Newcastle at Palace

Newcastle United held Crystal Palace to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday in their first game since the departure of manager Steve Bruce after Callum Wilson’s acrobatic strike cancelled out Christian Benteke’s opener for the home side. Newcastle, under interim manager Graeme Jones, were second best for the majority of the game but battled for a share of the spoils as Patrick Vieira’s Palace side were unable to capitalise on their chances despite dominating nearly 75% of possession.

Golf-Matsuyama retains one-shot lead ahead of Zozo Championship final round

Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama maintained his single-shot advantage at the top of the Zozo Championship leaderboard at the end of the third round on Saturday. The 29-year-old hit a second consecutive two-under-par round to move to 10-under and retain his one-shot lead over American Cameron Tringale ahead of Sunday’s final around at the Narashino Country Club in Chiba.

NBA roundup: Suns send in-fighting Lakers to 0-2 start

A historic night for Chris Paul was marred by two incidents, one an altercation between Lakers teammates Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard, during the visiting Phoenix Suns’ 115-105 triumph over Los Angeles on Friday night. Paul led Phoenix with 23 points and a game-high 14 assists. When he made a free throw in the second quarter, he scored his 20,000th point, the 47th player to do so, and he became the first in NBA history with 20,000 points and 10,000 assists.

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