Olympic runner Pistorius gets parole

Double-amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was granted parole on Friday, more than a decade after shooting his girlfriend through a toilet door at his home in South Africa in a killing that jolted the world. He will be released from prison on Jan. 5, but will be constantly monitored by parole officials for five years until his sentence expires, the Department of Corrections said. Pistorius’ parole will come with other conditions, Department of Corrections spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo said outside of the prison where Pistorius has been incarcerated in the South African capital, Pretoria, for killing Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius won’t be allowed to leave the area of Pretoria where he is set to live without permission from authorities. He will also attend a program to deal with anger issues and another program on violence against women. He will have to perform community service. “Parole does not mean the end of the sentence. It is still part of the sentence. It only means the inmate will complete the sentence outside a correctional facility,” Nxumalo said.

Australia reaches Davis Cup final

Alex de Miñaur and Alexei Popyrin, pictured, put Australia back into the Davis Cup final for a second straight year after winning their singles matches in a 2-0 victory over Finland on Friday. Popyrin gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the semifinal match after beating Otto Virtanen 7-6 (5), 6-2. De Miñaur then finished off Finland by beating Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-3. Novak Djokovic’s Serbia will face Jannik Sinner’s Italy on Saturday in the other semifinal match on the indoor hard court at Martin Carpena arena in Malaga, Spain. Popyrin edged Virtanen in the first set, saving a set point when trailing 6-5 and forcing a tiebreaker that he clinched when his opponent slapped a forehand long. Virtanen was Finland’s hero in its upset of defending champion Canada on Tuesday, winning both his singles and doubles matches. But his serve let him down against Popyrin in the second set when his fifth double-fault cost him a break. “(That was) probably the biggest win of my career so far,” Popyrin said. “To win a match that means so much for us is an honor and something I will never forget.”

LSU remains without star Reese

LSU star Angel Reese has not been seen with the seventh-ranked and defending national champion Tigers at the Cayman Islands Classic basketball tournament. Reese did not take the court Friday for LSU’s game against Niagara. Reese hasn’t played for the Tigers since she was benched at halftime of their fourth game of the season on Nov. 14. At the time, coach Kim Mulkey said it was a “coach’s decision.” Reese was not on the bench for LSU’s wins over Southeast Louisiana and Texas Southern over the past week. And while her teammates were traveling on Wednesday, Reese posted a video of herself on social media in which she looked at the camera while an audio clip played of Deion Sanders saying, “What about me would make you think that I care about your opinion of me?” The Tigers won the games Reese missed by wide margins, including Friday’s 99-65 win over Niagara, and have not lost since dropping their opener in Las Vegas to then-No. 20 Colorado, which has since risen to No. 3. A team spokesperson declined to comment on the players’ whereabouts Friday. —News services