Defending champion Novak Djokovic has been handed an early showdown with Roger Federer as the world number one launches his bid for a fourth successive ATP Tour Finals title.

Djokovic arrives in south London hoping to win the prestigious season-ending event for a fifth time to cap another remarkable year that saw him win three Grand Slam crowns and cement his position on top of the world rankings.

Stephen Curry scored 28 points as the unbeaten Golden State Warriors defeat the Memphis Grizzlies 100-84, equaling a 55-year-old franchise record for the best start to a season in history.

The Warriors victory took the reigning NBA Champions to 9-0, emulating the feat of the 1960-1961 side featuring the legendary Wilt Chamberlain when the franchise was based in Philadelphia.

Bangladeshi village football coach Mofiz Uddin only decided to form a girls' team in 2011 out of frustration at the local boys' failure to bring home any trophies.

Less than five years on, his young female players have won every national tournament going, becoming minor celebrities in the conservative, Muslim-majority nation.

England and defending champions Spain's preparations for next year's European championships step up a notch when Roy Hodgson's men travel to Alicante on Friday defending a proud unbeaten run.

Fifteen games and 17 months have passed since England last tasted defeat when their World Cup in Brazil was brought to an early end after just two games by a Luis Suarez-inspired Uruguay in Sao Paulo.

A rising power in European football meets a fading force this Friday as Wales begin their Euro 2016 preparations against a Netherlands team still reeling from their failure to qualify.

While Wales are looking forward to their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup, the Netherlands will spend next summer kicking their heels after missing out on a place in France just 15 months on from a stunning third-place finish at last year's World Cup in Brazil.

The sex tape blackmail affair involving Mathieu Valbuena and which has led to star striker Karim Benzema being charged completely overshadows the build-up to France's friendly with Germany on Friday.

The sides meet at the Stade de France just under a month before the final draw takes place in Paris for Euro 2016, a tournament in which both nations will be among the favorites.

Lewis Hamilton intends to climb off his sick bed to realize a childhood dream with a first victory on the native soil of his hero Ayrton Senna in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.

The three-time drivers world champion delayed his arrival in Brazil by 24 hours on Wednesday on doctors' orders after falling ill, but his Mercedes team made clear he has every intention of racing for his first win in Brazil at the ninth attempt.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant faces between seven and 10 days on the sidelines after sustaining a hamstring injury, his team said Wednesday.

Durant limped out late in the second quarter of the Thunder's 125-101 mauling of the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, failing to reappear for the second half.

Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia must "do everything" to eradicate doping, ordering an inquiry into allegations of major drug abuse in athletics that have left the country facing international isolation.

Moscow is scrambling to respond to the bombshell World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report, which outlined systematic doping in Russian athletics, declaring that a foreign specialist could take over its discredited testing laboratory.

Spanish top-flight side Rayo Vallecano have launched an American franchise, Rayo Oklahoma City, who will play in the North American Soccer League, in the first such move by a club from La Liga into the U.S. market.

Rayo, from the Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas, confirmed the franchise will compete in the NASL, the second tier in the United States behind Major League Soccer, from 2016.