Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Winston Reid will take his place in the New Zealand men's Olympic football team for the Tokyo Games.

The veteran West Ham defender had been bracketed with Tim Payne as one of three over-age players in the New Zealand squad last week.

But New Zealand Football have announced Reid has now confirmed to join the men's Olympic team at the Games.

"It is great to now be able to confirm Winston is coming to Japan with us," head coach Danny Hay said.

"In addition to him obviously being a brilliant player, he brings a wealth of experience to the side, and his leadership will prove invaluable at the Games."

New Zealand have been drawn in group B for the Olympics with South Korea, Honduras and Romania.

Willis qualifies for fifth Olympics

Two time Olympic medalist Nick Willis has grabbed the 45th and last qualifying spot for the 1500 metres at the Tokyo Olympics.

Willis hadn't achieved the qualifying time, but was in line for his fifth Olympics on his world ranking.

It had been touch and go for a few weeks, but with the qualifying period now finished, Willis has officially been ranked as 45th.

He will join fellow New Zealander Sam Tanner in the 1500 metre field in Tokyo.

Willis was named in an initial 15-strong team in April, but needed the ranking to make sure of his selection.

His place will officially be ratified in the next couple of days.

Willis and team-mate Dame Valerie Adams will be competing at their fifth Olympics.

Meanwhile Tokyo-bound Camille Buscomb ran a season best in finishing 11th in the 5000m at the Oslo Diamond League meeting.

Storm thump Roosters

The Melbourne Storm have taken a major step towards a sixth straight top-two finish in the NRL.

The Storm have thumped the fifth-placed Roosters 46-0 on neutral turf in Newcastle to climb to the top of the ladder.

It's Melbourne's 13th straight win since dropping two of their first three games.

"I like winning minor premierships - well, we all do I suppose - because I think it's a real reward," Storm coach Craig Bellamy said at the post-match media conference.

"Sometimes you can win a grand final and be the best team for a month but you win a minor premiership, you're the best team for six months.

"Having said that, before, I think we've probably made some mistakes by going for the minor premiership where it might affect what we do in the finals."

Barty not at her best

World number one Ash Barty moved into the third round at Wimbledon but not without a battle as she overcame spirited Russian Anna Blinkova and her own inconsistency in a 6-4 6-3 win.

The top seed never looked in danger against the 89th-ranked Blinkova, but it was still not plain sailing for the Australian scrapper.

Her serve, so often a dependable weapon, was at times wayward, as she hit nine double faults and was broken three times, while her 33 unforced errors suggest she has some way to go to get fully sharp on the grass.

Barty, whose sole Grand Slam title came at the 2019 French Open, has never gone beyond the last 16 at Wimbledon.

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina admitted she was struggling mentally with the demands of trying to win her first Grand Slam title as she joined the exodus of top seeds at Wimbledon.

The world number five, seeded three, was beaten 6-3 6-4 in the second round by Poland's Magda Linette, meaning that six of the top 10 seeds have already departed in the women's draw.

In the men's draw there have been wins for second seed Daniil Medvedev, fourth seed Alexander Zverev, sixth seed Roger Federer and eighth seed Matteo Berrettini.

And New Zealander Marcus Daniel has won his opening round doubles match with Philipp Oswald of Austria, however fellow New Zealander Michael Venus and his partner Tim Puetz of Germany were beaten.

-Reuters

Another win for Cavendish

Mark Cavendish's stunning comeback on the Tour de France continued when the Briton claimed his second victory in this year's race with a perfectly-executed sprint on stage six.

The Deceuninck-Quick Step rider now has 32 stage wins on the Tour and is two short of the all-time record of Belgian great Eddy Merck as he takes part in the world's greatest race for the first time since 2018.

With four more stages potentially ending in a bunch sprint, Cavendish is well placed to at least match Merckx's record of 34 stage wins.

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel retained the race leader's yellow jersey as the top positions in the general classification remained unchanged.

Meanwhile organisers have withdrawn a lawsuit against a spectator who caused a massive pile-up during the first stage of the race in northwest French region of Brittany but French police continue to investigate the incident.

The spectator, a 30-year-old Frenchwoman, was arrested and placed into custody yesterday after presenting herself at a police station in Brittany.

-Reuters

Warriors sign front rower

Front rower Matt Lodge is joining the Warriors immediately after agreeing terms on a deal to the end of the 2022 NRL season.

The 1.91m, 117kg prop will join his new team in Terrigal this weekend after being released from the last year and a half of his contract with the Brisbane Broncos.

"Matt will add more experience and real size to further boost our front row resources," said Warriors head coach Nathan Brown.

After starting his NRL career with the Wests Tigers, the former Junior Kangaroo has made 65 appearances for the Broncos since 2018.

Lodge becomes the Warriors' third midseason signing in a matter of days after winger-fullback Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and halfback Chad Townsend were secured last week.

Last Friday the club announced fan favourite Shaun Johnson had been signed on a two-year deal from next season while Melbourne Storm prop Aaron Pene is also joining the club next year.

After earlier acquiring rookie fullback Reece Walsh from the Broncos, the Vodafone Warriors have also extended contracts for Tohu Harris, Jazz Tevaga, Adam Pompey, Rocco Berry, Bunty Afoa, Josh Curran and Taniela Otukolo during the course of the season.

Dortmund and United confirm Sancho deal

Borussia Dortmund have reached an agreement for the transfer of England winger Jadon Sancho to Manchester United.

Bundesliga side Dortmund said United will pay $144 million for the 21-year-old.

Sancho emerged as United's No. 1 transfer target last year but the clubs could not agree on a fee.

He scored 16 goals and made 20 assists in 38 games for Dortmund in all competitions in the 2020-21 season, forming a lethal partnership with Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.

Sancho has 20 caps for England since making his debut in 2018, but has barely featured in the team's run to the Euro 2020 quarter-finals, playing only six minutes as a substitute in their 1-0 Group D win over Czech Republic.

Sancho's addition will strengthen United's right wing as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team look to challenge for the Premier League title after finishing second last season, 12 points behind champions Manchester City.

-Reuters

Hogg to captain Lions

Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg will to captain the British and Irish Lions in the opening match of their South African tour, when they take on the Gauteng Lions at Ellis Park this weekend.

Welsh winger Josh Adams is the only player retained in the starting line-up from the side that beat Japan 28-10 in Edinburgh last weekend in a warm-up game before their departure for Johannesburg.

Louis Rees-Zammit, Chris Harris and Jonny Hill will all be debuting for the Lions from the start and it is likely that Luke Cowan-Dickie, Zander Fagerson, Sam Simmonds and Gareth Davies will get a first taste of Lions action off the replacement's bench.

The side includes four players from the Exeter Chiefs team that lost last Saturday's Premiership final at Twickenham and who had not been part of the Lions' training camp in Jersey.

Team:

15-Stuart Hogg (capt), 14-Louis Rees-Zammit, 13- Chris Harris, 12-Owen Farrell, 11-Josh Adams, 10-Finn Russell, 9-Ali Price, 8-Taulupe Faletau, 7- Hamish Watson, 6- Courtney Lawes, 5-Jonny Hill, 4-Maro Itoje, 3-Kyle Sinckler, 2-Jamie George, 1-Wyn Jones

Replacements: 16-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17-Mako Vunipola, 18-Zander Fagerson, 19 Iain Henderson, 20-Sam Simmonds, 21-Gareth Davies, 22-Bundee Aki, 23-Elliot Daly.

-Reuters

Coleman named Waratahs coach

The New South Wales Waratahs have appointed Darren Coleman as head coach on a three-year deal after slumping to their worst-ever season in 2021.

Coleman, coach of U.S. Major League Rugby side LA Giltinis, replaces Waratahs' interim coaches Jason Gilmore and Chris Whitaker, who were unable to arrest the Super Rugby team's slide following the sacking of New Zealander Rob Penney in March.

The Waratahs job is Coleman's first as head coach of a major professional team and he brings a modest CV featuring success at amateur and lower tier competitions.

However, he is well regarded in New South Wales state after turning underperforming teams into champions in Sydney's top club competition, the Shute Shield.

Though based in Australia's most well-resourced rugby state, the 2014 champions Waratahs have suffered an exodus of experienced players to other teams in recent years while also failing to bring in quality recruits.

The result was 13 consecutive losses in a winless season in 2021 after finishing fourth in the five-team Super Rugby AU last year.

-Reuters