Palestine short for Japan match

Football: Despite Israel banning five of their players from travelling to Australia, Palestine will play their opening game in the Asian Cup against holders and tournament favourites Japan today.

Having qualified as champions of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup, where they beat the Philippines 1-0 in the final, it will be Palestine’s first appearance in the tournament. They are very much the underdogs in a group rounded out by Jordan and Iraq.

Eagles’ streak ended by stellar Worcester

Basketball: Worcester’s 99-91 win over Newcastle Eagles on Friday night ended the league leaders’ 20-match unbeaten run, stretching back to the opening day of the season, and breathed some life into the title race.

Leicester thumped Bristol 82-59 to move third and Cheshire also kept up the pressure in fourth after beating Sheffield 95-82.

Plymouth won 93-80 at Leeds and Surrey moved off the bottom of the table after their buzzer-beating 80-78 win against Durham.

Irish Cup offers no surprises

Irish football: There were no real shocks in the Irish Cup fifth round at the weekend but holders Glenavon had to fight back from two down to win 3-2 at Championship Two club Moyola Park and Portadown needed extra time to overcome the PSNI 2-1.

Premiership bottom club Warrenpoint won 3-1 at Coleraine and Dungannon beat Ballinamallard 4-2 after extra time. Glenavon will now travel to East Belfast’s Harland and Wolff Welders in the sixth round.

Federer earns place in 1,000-win club

Tennis: Roger Federer joined an elite club by claiming his 1,000th career win with a hard-fought victory over Milos Raonic yesterday in the final of the Brisbane International.

Only Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl had previously achieved the feat in the Open era, with Federer reaching the landmark after seeing off a resilient Raonic 6-4 6-7 (2/7) 6-4.