Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Exclusive: WTA looks to start 2021 season on January 4 outside Australia

The WTA is planning to start the 2021 season in the first week of January outside Australia before the players travel to Melbourne for quarantine ahead of the Grand Slam, women's tour chief Steve Simon told Reuters. "We're looking right now at hopefully close to finalising in the next week or so the ability to stage some events in the week of Jan. 4 to start the year," he said by telephone from the United States.

League suspends marijuana tests for 2020-21 season, cites pandemic challenges

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and its NBPA players' association have agreed to suspend random testing for marijuana during the 2020-21 season, a league spokesman said on Friday. Players have already arrived in their home cities for the 72-game season, which starts on Dec. 22, two months after the NBA concluded last season inside a controlled quarantine "bubble" at Walt Disney World due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NHL aiming for mid-January start to new season, reports say

The National Hockey League (NHL) is targeting a mid-January start to its season that would wrap up the Stanley Cup Final in July, according to multiple media reports on Friday. According to TSN, the league and NHL Players' Association have shared multiple draft schedules, including a 56-game and 52-game regular-season scenario instead of the usual 82 games.

Jordan, Obama, Kaepernick jerseys set records at sports auction

Historic jerseys from the careers of Michael Jordan, Colin Kaepernick and former U.S. President Barack Obama set sales records at an auction of sports memorabilia this week, Julien's Auctions said on Friday. The official National Basketball Association jersey given to Jordan on the day he signed with the Chicago Bulls in 1984 sold for $320,000, the highest price ever paid for a Jordan jersey.

Top 25 roundup: No. 3 Iowa rolls behind Garza's big half

All-American Luka Garza scored 30 of his 35 points in the first half to lead No. 3 Iowa to a 99-58 nonconference victory over Western Illinois on Thursday night at Iowa City. Garza made 13 of 21 field-goal attempts and collected 10 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (3-0). The point total was the fourth best of his career.

Albon faces a year on the F1 bench if no Red Bull seat

Thai Formula One driver Alexander Albon faces "a year on the bench" if Red Bull drop him for next season, team boss Christian Horner said on Friday. The 24-year-old's future is uncertain with Red Bull yet to decide on who partners in-form Dutch driver Max Verstappen after this season.

Japanese organisers say 2020 Games delay to cost them $2.8 billion

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games until next year because of the novel coronavirus pandemic will cost Japanese organisers an additional 294 billion yen ($2.8 billion), the organising committee said on Friday. Organisers have been assessing the financial impact of the delay since the Japanese government and International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided in March to postpone the Games until 2021.

NFL puts restriction on in-person meetings amid COVID-19

The NFL will prohibit in-person meetings at team facilities for two days after games as part of its evolving COVID-19 protocols designed to mitigate the risk of exposure and transmission of the virus. Effective on Monday, all meetings during the two-day period may only be done virtually, according to a memo sent to teams on Thursday and obtained by Reuters on Friday.

Hamilton contract talks delayed after COVID-19 diagnosis, says Wolff

Lewis Hamilton's contract talks with Mercedes will have to wait until the seven-times world champion recovers from COVID-19, his team boss Toto Wolff said on Friday. The Briton, who is sitting out this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix after testing positive for the new coronavirus earlier this week, has already wrapped up a seventh world title but is out of contract at the end of the year.

Former 800m world champion Arzamasova gets four-year doping ban

Former 800 metres world champion Marina Arzamasova of Belarus has been banned for four years for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday. Arzamasova, who won gold at the 2015 worlds, was tested out of competition in 2019 and a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory reported an adverse finding after discovering the presence of an anabolic agent on the Prohibited List.