Sport

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini has expressed an interest in signing Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure this summer.

Mancini, who managed Toure at City, is a big admirer of the Ivory Coast international and believes the 31-year-old would be a great addition to his squad.

"Yaya is one of the strongest players in the world," Mancini told Italian newspaper Il Giornale. "He still is.

"He has played in so many teams. He has been in leagues in Belgium, Russia, Spain and England. Italy is the one missing. This could be the right opportunity for him to come and try.

"We are building a team. There are players that change the look of a team, and Yaya is one of them.

"Next year we could try. We need to bring three champions, and we will see that we will be ready to fight for the Scudetto."

Toure is under contract with City until June 2017 and has scored seven goals in 18 Premier League appearances this season.

Roma striker Mattia Destro is considering making a loan move to AC Milan.

The 23-year-old Italy international has started just eight Serie A games for Roma this season and could be tempted to move to Milan in search of more playing time.

The Rossoneri lost striker Stephan El Shaarawy to a foot injury this week and are looking to reinforce their forward line before the end of the transfer window.

"Roma and Milan have already signed the loan deal with an option to acquire Destro at the end of the season," Milan club administrator Adriano Galliani told the Italian press.

"He (Destro) will decide in the next 24 hours. We really want this deal to go through."

Two sets into the Australian Open Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych are tied at one set-all.

The first set was just the second set Murray had lost in the championship, but he quickly set about ensuring Berdych would lose his first one of the fortnight in return.

Two breaks of serve in the first four games, aided by a run of 10 straight points, helped Murray charge into a 5-0 lead and there was nothing Berdych could do to stem the tide.

Murray broke for a third time in the set to take it 6-0 - known as a bagel - and after a first set lasting 77 minutes, it had taken the Scot just 30 minutes to get back on level terms and leave Berdych looking for a plan B.

Barcelona fought back strongly to win 3-2 at Atletico Madrid after Fernando Torres had scored a goal within a minute.

The result sent the Catalans through to the Copa del Rey semi-finals 4-2 on aggregate.

Barcelona levelled on 10 minutes when Lionel Messi linked up with Luis Suarez to put Neymar through to cancel out Torres' strike.

Raul Garcia edged Atletico back in front with with a 30th minute penalty before an own goal by Miranda and a second for Neymar.

Atletico midfielder Gabi was sent off in the 45th minute, and following the restart Arda Turan was booked after throwing his boot in the direction on an official after not winning a foul ..

Mario Suarez also saw red six minutes before the final whistle after his second bookable offence.

Despite being the country's most popular sport, swimming in England has seen a huge fall in participation numbers over the last year with 245,000 fewer people taking part.

Funding body Sport England says it is 'disappointed and concerned' at swimming's eight per cent drop which has significantly affected overall participation numbers in sport.

There's also been a drop off in participation across all sports. In the year ending October 2014, 125,100 fewer people did some kind of sport once a week for 30 minutes - bringing the overall number down from 15.7million to 15.6million.

Sports minister Helen Grant, said: "I am very concerned by the overall dip in participation over the last 12 months. Sports governing bodies have long argued that they can bring new people to their sport and funding should go via them but some are simply not delivering and it's not good enough."

Swimming remains the country's most popular sport with over 2.6million people taking part weekly despite the drop, which is certain to lead to a funding cut.

Guinea and Mali will find out which side progresses to the Africa Cup of Nations knockout phases through drawing lots after fought out a 1-1 draw.

Both teams have played out 1-1 draws in their previous Group D matches, meaning lots will be required to decide who finishes second and will face Ghana.

It is a remarkable set of circumstances and one not seen at the African Nations Cup since 1988, when the drawing of lots sent Algeria through to the knockout stage at the expense of the Ivory Coast.

The draw will be made at 3pm on Thursday.

The circumstances arose after neither Guinea and Mali were able to find a winner in a match which the latter ended on top.

A 'Super Over' will be used to determine the winner of this year's World Cup if the final ends in a tie, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Thursday.

The tiebreaker, in which a team nominates three batsmen to face six deliveries from a rival bowler, was in place in the 2011 final but was scrapped in the lead-up to next month's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

"The ICC Board reinstated the use of a Super Over in the event of a tie in the World Cup final," cricket's governing body said in a statement on Thursday.

The ICC is also allowing captains to enter the Feb. 14-March 29 tournament with a clean slate regarding minor over-rate offences.

"All captains will enter World Cup with no over-rate 'strikes' against their names and they will only be suspended from playing in a match if over-rate offences are committed during the event," it added.

Serena Williams overcame a spirited challenge from fellow American Madison Keys to become the oldest Australian Open finalist in the open era on Thursday.

Williams recovered from a break down in the opening set and saw teenager Keys save seven match points before eventually securing a 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 win in an hour and 24 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

The world number one will face second seed Maria Sharapova in Saturday's final after Sharapova had earlier defeated fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets.