Russia deputy sports minister Yuri Nagornykh says his country's economic crisis is forcing athletes to scale back their training plans for next year's Olympics in Brazil.

Training camps abroad can be crucial in acclimatizing athletes for Rio de Janeiro's tropical conditions, but they are rapidly becoming unaffordable after the ruble lost almost half of its value against the U.S. dollar in the last 12 months.

Guinea qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Thursday after a drawing of lots was required to separate them and Mali.

They will go through to a quarter-final on Sunday in Malabo against Group C winners Ghana while Mali go home.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will decide on Friday whether striker Daniel Sturridge is ready to make his comeback after a five-month injury lay-off.

Sturridge has not played since injuring his thigh on international duty with England in early September, having sustained a calf problem and a further thigh injury during the rehabilitation process.

Britain's Andy Murray stormed into his fourth Australian Open final with a commanding four-sets win over Czech Tomas Berdych on Thursday.

The dual Grand Slam champion, seeded six, beat the seventh seed 6-7 (6/8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 and will play either Novak Djokovic or defending champion Stan Wawrinka in Sunday's decider.

Neymar scored twice to lead Barcelona past nine-man Atletico Madrid and into the Copa del Rey semifinals with a 3-2 victory in a game that went from pulsating to unseemly at Vicente Calderon Stadium on Wednesday.

Barcelona advanced 4-2 on aggregate to set up a meeting with Villarreal or Getafe after an incident-filled match that saw three beautiful goals, questionable refereeing decisions, an own goal and a sending off at halftime. Not to mention Atletico's Arda Turan losing his temper and tossing his shoe at a linesman.

Christian Eriksen added a late goal to his sublime early free kick to help Tottenham scrape a 2-2 draw with third-tier Sheffield United on Wednesday and secure a place in the League Cup final against Chelsea.

Tottenham advanced 3-2 on aggregate and will play in its first cup final in six years.

Kobe Bryant's season is officially over after having surgery to repair his torn right rotator cuff Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Lakers also made it official that their superstar doesn't believe his career is finished.

Serena Williams came up with a big service winner to close out the tiebreaker, and bounced around behind the baseline like she'd won a title.

After holding on to win the tough first set against 19-year-old Madison Keys, prompting the early celebrations, the 18-time Grand Slam champion dominated the second set in a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory to move into an Australian Open final against second-seeded Maria Sharapova.

Houston beat Dallas 99-94 on Wednesday to inflict a fourth-straight defeat on the Mavericks and widen the gap between the Rockets and their Texan rivals in the NBA Southwest Division.

The Rockets closed within 1-1/2 games of Southwest leader Memphis, and also moved 2-1/2 clear of Dallas and another state rival in San Antonio.

Lleyton Hewitt is predicting next year's Australian Open will likely be his last and, after he retires, he'll take over the country's Davis Cup captaincy.

Hewitt, who turns 34 next month, was knocked out in the second round of this year's Australian Open, his 19th, by Benjamin Becker.