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Latest - New Zealand's oldest Olympian and the last surviving member of the 1948 Olympic team Ngaire Galloway has died.

New Zealand's oldest Olympian and the last surviving member of the 1948 Olympic team Ngaire Galloway has died.

She was 95.

Her only Olympic appearance was in London in 1948 when she was a member of the last team to travel to an Olympic Games by ship.

The trip took 8 weeks and there was a significant loss in form due to the lack of training facilities on board.

Galloway was the only woman in the team and the regulations of the day meant a chaperone was necessary to look after her.

Galloway did not know how to get around the city or where she could find a swimming pool suitable for training.

"The Great Britain team heard of my dilemma and invited me to join their training," Galloway recalled.

"I trained with them and their coach helped me."

Galloway competed in the 100m backstroke and became close friends with Helen Yates, who swam the same event for Great Britain.

One of the highlights for Galloway was to beat Yates and win the English title in a lead-up event. "I felt guilty beating her because she had helped me a lot," Galloway said.

-RNZ

Bucks level NBA finals

The Milwaukee Bucks have rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Phoenix Suns 109-103 in Game 4 of the NBA finals level the best-of-seven series at two games all.

Giannis Antetokounmpo did not match his plus-40 points efforts from the previous two games but still scored 26 points for the Bucks with 14 rebounds and eight assists.

Suns guard Devin Booker had 42 points but got little backup from his team mates.

The series now shifts back to Phoenix for Game 5 on Sunday.

-Reuters

Lions suffer first loss

Wing Sbu Nkosi and centre Lukhanyo Am scored first-half tries as a strong South Africa A side inflicted a first defeat of the tour on the British & Irish Lions with a 17-13 win in what was dubbed an unofficial fourth test in Cape Town.

The Lions were better in the scrums and controlled possession through the phases well, but struggled with the physicality of their opponents and were regularly beaten back in the tackle. It will only get harder against the full-strength Boks.

Prop Wyn Jones scored the only try for the tourists, who will get a much easier ride when they play the Cape Town-based Stormers on Saturday in their last game before the test series starts on July 24.

The home side's match-day squad featured 18 players who were part of the Springboks' World Cup winning team in 2019 and Gatland believes they have shown their hand in terms of the way they will play.

"The players are pretty bullish in the changeroom, they are confident they can deal with whatever they (South Africa) throw at us in the test series," Gatland said.

"There are things we can easily fix in terms of what we gave to them to keep them in the game.

South Africa will play another warm-up match ahead of the test series, after fixing a game for Saturday against the Bulls in Cape Town.

-Reuters

Maroons win game three

Queensland avoided a State of Origin sweep with a 20-18 win over New South Wales on the Gold Coast.

After leading 8-6 at half-time, Queensland held on for victory on the Gold Coast to inject some much-needed pride in the Maroons jersey with hooker Ben Hunt scoring a second-half double on his way to man of the match honours.

Latrell Mitchell had a chance to lock up the scores in the 78th minute but his bold 50-metre penalty kick fell short.

"I like what we've started. The series didn't pan out how we all hoped, but I said through the week the future for Queensland is bright. We've just got to scrap away until some of those guys get a bit of experience under their belt," Queensland coach Paul Green said.

"Particularly, our culture was questioned [but] I think you don't win Origin games like that if you don't have character and you don't stick together.

"You can talk about it all you like, but it's what you do out on the field that counts and I thought we showed that tonight."

-NRL

Messi not leaving

Lionel Messi has agreed to stay at Barcelona on a deal until 2026 that includes reducing his wages to half of his previous salary.

The announcement is dependent on player departures that will allow Barca to fund the Argentina captain's wages.

Messi, 34, was a free agent after his contract - that reportedly paid him $242 million a season - expired on 30 June.

He is on holiday after winning the Copa America and the finer details of the contract are yet to be finalised.

Barca are also looking at a swap deal involving forward Antoine Griezmann and Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez, with the idea of reducing the wage bill.

Messi is Barcelona's record scorer with 672 goals and has won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues, seven Copa del Reys as well as claiming the Ballon d'Or on a record six occasions.

-BBC

ICC changes WTC points system

The International Cricket Council has changed its points system ahead of the second edition of the World Test Championship after receiving feedback that it needed to be "simplified".

The ICC said teams will be awarded 12 points for every match victory, four for a draw and six in the event of a tie, with the percentage of points won used to determine the standings.

Previously, the same number of points were allocated to each series, divided across the number of matches played.

The change will apply for the second edition of the WTC.

New Zealand claimed the inaugural WTC title with an eight-wicket victory over India in the final last month.

The second WTC commences with the England-India series in Nottingham next month. The nine participating teams will play six series each, three home and three away, with the cut-off date being March 31, 2023.

-Reuters

Jones heads to South Africa

British & Irish Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones is to join up with the tour party after recovering from a shoulder injury suffered in their warm-up game before departure for South Africa.

He will arrive Thursday after what coach Warren Gatland described as a "miraculous" recovery, having originally withdrawn after dislocating his shoulder early on in the test against Japan in Edinburgh on June 26.

His return puts the 35-year-old Jones into contention for a place in the first test, also in Cape Town on July 24.

Jones is competing in his fourth Lions tour, having first been picked to tour South Africa 12 years ago. He was named captain for this tour, a job that Irish scrumhalf Conor Murray then took on when Jones did not flyout to Johannesburg with the squad at the end of last month.

Last year Jones set a world record for the most number of test appearances and now has 148 caps for Wales and nine Lions tests.

-Reuters

Winners to hang their own medals

Olympic champions at the Tokyo Games starting next week can forget about having their medals hung around their necks as they stand on the podium, shaking hands with dignitaries and soaking up their success.

Instead, the three medals will be presented on a tray to the athletes on the podium and they then have to hang them around their own neck in front of the empty stands. There will also be no handshakes or hugs.

The host city, where a state of emergency has been imposed until after the Games end on Aug.8, recorded 1,149 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the most in nearly six months.

The Olympics have lost much public support in Japan because of fears they will trigger a surge of infections even though no spectators will be allowed into sports venues and there are strict health measures in place for all Games participants.

-Reuters

Pogacar extends Tour lead

Tadej Pogacar controlled his rivals and extended his overall lead in the Tour de France as the final podium took shape in a gruelling 17th stage won by the defending champion.

The Slovenian outsprinted Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard and Ecuador's Richard Carapaz at the top of the lung-busting Col du Portet (16km at 8.7%) for his first mountain-stage win in this year's Tour after being the first attacker in the final climb.

He now leads Vingegaard by five minutes, 39 seconds with Carapaz in third place, a further four seconds back while Colombian Rigoberto Uran slipped down to fourth, 7:17 off the pace, after cracking in the mist of the Col du Portet.

Pogacar burst away 8.4km from the top of the Pyrenean pass and only Vingegaard, Carapaz and Uran could follow at first. A second acceleration was fatal to Uran, who will need a spectacular recovery in Thursday's 18th stage to Luz Ardiden, the last mountain effort of the Tour.

Barring a major meltdown on Thursday, Pogacar looks set to retain his title and while he was not as dominant as in the Alps, the 22-year-old never seemed bothered in what was regarded as the toughest stage.

-Reuters

Wimbledon matches being investigated

The International Tennis Integrity Agency is investigating two matches from this month's Wimbledon Grand Slam after bookmakers flagged "possible irregular betting patterns".

"Two alerts (were) provided to us during the Championships from the betting industry indicating possible irregular betting patterns," an ITIA spokesperson said.

The ITIA said any alerts reported to the agency will be "recorded, assessed and followed up as an indicator that something inappropriate may have happened".

"It is important to note that an alert on its own is not evidence of match fixing. Where analysis of a match alert does suggest corrupt activity, the ITIA conducts a full and confidential investigation," it added.

The ITIA was established in January by the governing bodies of tennis (ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam Board) as a fully independent body to safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide.

-Reuters

CDG to play The Hundred

Black Caps all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme has signed up to play this month's inaugural The Hundred cricket tournament in England.

De Grandhomme has signed for Southern Brave in place of Andre Russell who will not take part due to international commitments and Guyana's status on the UK red list.

New Zealander Glenn Phillips will now play the entirety of the tournament for the Welsh Fire in place of Kieron Pollard due to injury.

Colin de Grandhomme, who has been playing County cricket said, "When I got the call to join Southern Brave it was an easy decision. I've settled in really well at Hampshire and I'm hoping to create some more fantastic memories at the Ageas Bowl. I'm really looking forward to linking up with Devon Conway again and all of the guys can't wait to get going."

Man arrested after racist messages

A man has been arrested after racist messages aimed at England players were posted on social media following the European Championship final.

A 37-year-old man from Ashton upon Mersey in Trafford, Greater Manchester, handed himself in to police.

He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of causing an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act and remains in custody for questioning.

The social media post was sent on Sunday evening, after England's defeat by Italy in the Euro final, and was flagged to GMP.

-Reuters