A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has extended his contract until 2020, the Premier League club said on Thursday.
Mourinho joined United at the start of last season and led them to the League Cup and Europa League titles in his first year in charge.
"I am really honoured and proud to be Manchester United manager," the Portuguese said in a statement on the club's website. (www.manutd.com)
"I am delighted they feel and trust that I am the right manager for this great club for the foreseeable future."
United, who are second in the league table behind local rivals ManchesterCity, have the option to extend Mourinho's contract by a further year.
Vijender rises to 6th in WBO rankings
Indian boxing star Vijender Singh has risen four rungs to sixth in the latest WBO rankings for the super middleweight category.
Vijender, who successfully defended his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental super middleweight belts against Ernest Amuzu of Ghana last month, could next be seen in action in April next.
He is likely to challenge for the Commonwealth title to add to his belts.
The WBO super middleweight rankings are topped by Jesse Hart, the American super middleweight champion, followed by Brit Callum Smith.
Smith, a 2010 Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, held the European, British, and WBC Silver super-middleweight titles from 2015 until last year.
Following him in the fourth place is another Brit in Rocky Fielding.
Fielding is the reigning British and commonwealth champion and former WBA Inter-Continental super middleweight champion.
He is also a former Commonwealth and English super middleweight champion.
Sindhu, Axelsen top seeds for India Open 2018
India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal could be pitted against each other in the US$350,000 India Open 2018 Badminton Championship, to be held in New Delhi from January 30-February 4.
The men's section could see a repeat of last edition's summit clash with world champion and holder Viktor Axelsen and Kidambi Srikanth seeded first and second.
In the women's event, two Indian stars can well run into each other in the summit clash if Sindhu lives up her billing as top seed and Saina pulls off an upset in the semi-final.
Defending champion Sindhu has received top billing for the tournament. The World Championship silver medallist will begin her campaign against Denmark's Natalia Rohde and barring any surprises her real challenge will come in the form of former world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the semi-finals.
In the bottom half, fourth seed Nehwal will face another Dane, Sofie Dahl in the opening round and fifth seed Beiwen Zhang will be her likely opponent in the quarterfinals.
There is a realistic possibility of an all-Indian final, with either Spain's Carolina Marin or China's Gao Fangjie standing in the 27-year-old London Olympic bronze medallist's path.
Coming to the men's event, Srikanth will open his campaign against Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu while world number 10 HS Prannoy will face a qualifier in his opening match.
Among the other Indians, Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth will face Rajiv Ouseph of England in the opening round while Commonwealth Games' gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap will begin his campaign against Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark and Ajay Jayaram against Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto.
In the men's doubles, Indonesia Masters quarter-finalist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will meet Hong Kong's Chang Tak Ching and Hee Chun Mak while national champions B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Atri will challenge sixth seeds Ong Yew Sing and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia.
Lazio fined 50,000 euros for anti-semitic Anne Frank stickers
The Italian FA's federal tribunal has fined Lazio 50,000 euros ($62,090), saying it was "objectively" responsible for the distribution by fans of anti-semitic stickers showing Holocaust victim Anne Frank wearing the jersey of city rivals AS Roma.
The stickers were found in their stadium, Rome's Olympic Stadium, which they share with AS Roma, during a match against Cagliari in October
Following the incident, Italian soccer authorities ordered stadiums to hold a minute of silence at their next matches while a passage from Anne Frank's diary is read out.
Investigations showed that 13 Lazio supporters were found guilty of applying the stickers. The 13 have been banned from going to sports events.
Anne Frank was born in Germany but her family fled to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi takeover. They lived in hidden rooms in Amsterdam before they were discovered by German occupiers and deported to concentration camps.
She died in the Bergen-Belsen camp aged 15 and her diary recounting the family’s time in hiding became a centerpiece of Holocaust literature.
The tribunal said Lazio did everything in its power to prevent discriminatory material being introduced in the stadium, noting the stickers were too small to be detected.
However, Lazio was still held "objectively" responsible for the incident as the supporters' representative, the Italian FA said on Thursday (www.figc.it).
The tribunal opted not to ask Lazio to play two matches behind closed doors as the Italian FA prosecutor requested, as this would also punish fans who did not play a part in what happened.
