hello, i'm chetan pathak and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: police say they've found no trace of the light aircraft, which was carrying former nantes striker emiliano sala, as his new club cardiff speak of their shock. qatar score a stunner as they beat iraq to reach the asian cup quarterfinals. chasing grand slam number 15, the world number one novak djokovic prepares for his australian open quarter final against japan's kei nishikori. welcome to the programme, thanks forjoining us. guernsey police say there's no trace of the light aircraft which was carrying the argentine footballer emiliano sala. it went missing on monday night whilst making it's way from nantes in france to cardiff in wales. the 28 year old had signed a deal on saturday to move from ligue un to the premier league

and was due to start training with cardiff on tuesday. he'd returned to france to say goodbye to his teammates. the search for the airplane has been suspended overnight. with the latest, here's our sports correspondentjoe wilson. he is still missing, with every passing hour, there is only grub that he and the pilot are dead. sala became cardiff's record signing — he already travelled to wales over the weekend to complete his transfer to the club, something new in his career. we walked in and around the grounds, he was absolutely ready to give it a go, and we knew him then and we really feel sad to hear of this news because we

met such a great guy. born in argentina, sala villages his football career in france, especially in not, where he had a strong reputation as a goal—scorer, a tireless forward and went back to france to say goodbye to his team—mates, this photo posted yesterday afternoon on his twitter account is captioned the last goodbye. at 7.15 last night, a light aircraft left nantes for britain and never arrived, sala was on board with the pilot. searches have continued near the channel islands, no sightings. these pictures give an indication of his reputation in french football. nantes have postponed their next game, scheduled to be played tomorrow, between the two football clubs, a young man at the peak of his career, trying to live his dream. qatar have beaten iraq i—o

to reach the afc asian cup quarter—finals in abu dhabi. they finally broke the deadlock after the hour mark, when bassam al rawi curled home a this free kick. felix sanchez‘s side held on to win 1—0 and eliminate the 2007 winners. the qataris will meet south korea in the last eight on friday. and that's after south korea needed an extra—time winner to beat bahrain. the all important goal coming from substitute kim jin—su, diving in at the far post, to win the game 2—1 and keeps alive south korea's hopes of winning the asian cup for the first time since 1960. next to melbourne where the seven time australian open champion serena

williams and the six time winner novak djokovic will both be looking to book their place in the semi finals. both those matches to come later on the rod laver arena, where currently naomi 0saka the us 0pen champion is playing elina svitolina. 0ur reporter gigi salmon is in melboure — where the us 0pen champion naomi 0saka has made quick work of reaching the semi finals? she was broken when serving for the first set but she was able to close it out and svitolina needed treatment for what looked like the right shoulder, looked to be in a lot of discomfort. from that moment on, it really was. 31 winners. naomi 0saka, the reigning us open champion, on an incredible run. 57 match wins after winning the first set, something she will be looking to do now that she is through to the australian open. serena williams

potentially awaiting naomi 0saka next. the mouthwatering rematch. i can see serena williams and her coach, this is a stage that serena williams is used to. she is taking on the seventh seeing —— the seventh seed, pliskova. but pliskova knows how important it is, having defeated her at the 2016 us open. serena williams is looking to defeat two top—10 players. this is by no means a given. she sailed through the first three rounds, barely drawing breath. a very impressive win. things have just stepped breath. a very impressive win. things havejust stepped up breath. a very impressive win. things have just stepped up a little bit more. shortly, serena williams will walk out to take on karolina

pliskova. novak djokovic and kei nishikori is another want to look forward to as well. the world anti—doping agency — wada — has decided against re—imposing sanctions on russia even though moscow missed a deadline to hand over data from the laboratory at the centre of alleged state—sponsored doping. russia's anti—doping agency turned over the requested information eighteen days late — but said that did not warrant re—imposing the suspension. experts have begun analysing the data in an attempt to identify competitors who benefitted from one of the biggest cheating scandals in sporting history. here's our sports editor dan roan. last year, russia paid a humiliating price for state—sponsored doping scandal, the country's flag and anthem banned from the pyeongchange winter olympics, to not compete. they then missed the deadline to grant access to the anti—dumping lot in moscow, the epicentre of cheating, but today wada decided

against a suspension because the data has been since been handed over, the head of the organisation telling me it was a key breakthrough. it's major step forward in the direction of what we are trying to achieve, which is actually to get to the bottom of this russian saga, to be able to identify those who have really cheated, and to be able to prosecute those cases and wait until we have all the certification and analysts work, but i think a realistic number could be a few hundred cases, yes. they are alleged to have sabotaged its own games in sochi in 2014, a bombshell what a report including up in sochi in 2014, a bombshell wada report including up to a thousand athletes across many sprites may have benefited from a conspiracy that was under way for years. london 2012 was hailed as the cleanest olympics in history, but now we know it since then, it's officially become the dirtiest with almost 100 athletes having been disqualified for doping, thanks to the retesting of samples

with a third of those being russian, and while will hope now with armed with this data, or any other russian cheats can be brought tojustice. but some western athletes are dismayed that russia is going unpunished. i'm personally disappointed on behalf of the community, we have been left out by this, i'm welcoming the data has been received, but there are many athletes questioning the integrity of wada. the decision today means russia can continue to be hosting sporting events, but the corruption that took place in this moscow lab ensures that fallout from sport's greatest scandal will continue. it's a big year for english cricket. the first test with west indies begins on wednesday — it's the last series england will play before the ashes with a cricket world cup on home soil sandwiched in between. and this follows off the back of an impressive series win in sri lanka, their first in 17 years. it's a science.

for many of us, a huge amount but it's been a really strong message within the dressing room, but we are here to do a job and make sure our full focus for this tour is to make sure we are doing everything we can individually, collectively, to win this series and who know that if we can do that, that will help our case when the ashes come. and south africa beat pakistan by 5 wickets in the second one day international in durban. a superb all—round display from andile philuk—wayo was the main reason why. he claimed 4 for 22 as pakistan were bowled out for 203. he then hit and unbeaten 69 to lead the hosts to victory

and level the series. you can get all the latest australian open news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. serena williams to play soon, and naomi 0saka has booked her place. but from me chetan pathak and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. some of us got to see some sleet and snow during tuesday, particularly during the second half of the day. some of the snow was pretty heavy like this weather watcher picture suggests. across some of the chilterns, we saw a good covering of snow on into the evening. that has left a legacy of ice and further wintry showers to take us into wednesday. disruption could be likely on some untreated surfaces. keep tuned to your bbc local radio and take extra care if you're heading out.

it is a cold start to this morning, widespread subzero temperatures with some ice and we could be looking at temperatures below minus five celsius in northern areas. also a few wintry showers across the far south—east of england which could amount to another couple of centimetres in places, something to bear in mind. there will also be freezing fog patches around. widespread ice and further wintry showers pushing through the cheshire gap in towards the midlands. could see further ice as well across northern ireland and into scotland with some sunshiny showers from the word go across western areas. could be looking at temperatures down to —12 celsius in one or two sheltered glens of eastern scotland. but, on the plus side, there could be plenty of sunshine around once the mist and fog tend to clear away. we should start to see showers easing away from the south—east corner and just a few others dotted around western areas. temperatures really will struggle after that — very cold start. no higher than 3—5 degrees. as we look into thursday, a weather front approaches this north—west corner.

ahead of it, some showery bursts of rain which will continue to move southwards. it might turn into sleet and snow in cold air into the south—east, something to keep an eye on. further west, the clouds will build up with outbreaks of showery rain and more of a breeze. much of the country except for a few showery burst of rain, should be dry with some good spells of sunshine but still on the chilly side. 0n into friday, the warm front, as the name suggests, will introduce something a little less cold to many parts of the country. we start to pick up some milder air off the atlantic but it will be short—lived because on into the weekend, it turns colder once again. but this front will bring quite a lot of cloud around through friday, showery bursts of rain which should tend to clear

off into the north sea although further showers will pile into scotland and northern ireland. more breeze so less sunshine around but 11 milder temperatures in upper single digits, maybe 10, 11 across western areas. short—lived, turns cold again on into the weekend. looks like a sunday will be the drier and brighter day. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: zimba bwe's brutal crackdown in protesters continues. —— on protesters continues. the president promises to investigate claims protesters were systematically tortured. the us government shutdown enters its second month. with no end in sight, some unpaid federal workers are forced to turn to food banks. sir david attenborough takes to the stage in davos with a plea to businesses and the wider world. every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food that we take comes from the natural world, and that if we damage the natural world, we

damage ourselves. how dare you? close your eyes! and the favourite and roma lead the charge for this year's oscars