Latest - Olympic keirin medallist Ellesse Andrews has come to the rescue of her endurance teammates in women's team pursuit at the Commonwealth Games.
Sprint rider Ellesse Andrews is added to the endurace team. Photo: Photosport
Andrews has been added to the women's team pursuit group who were left with one rider short after Ally Wollaston fractured her wrist in a crash in the Tour de France Femme pro road race two days ago.
Andrews is no stranger to endurance, having won three Junior World Championship medals in team and individual pursuit including a gold in Italy in 2017.
She accepted the offer to join with teammates Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond and Emily Shearman which has been ratified by the New Zealand Olympic Committee and event officials.
"For me it was simple. This is the only way my teammates would get to ride the team pursuit," Andrews said.
"I have team sprint qualifying that day but it won't effect me physically, rather it gives me a short hit-out on the track in race mode."
Singh staying in Germany
Photo: AFP
All White midfielder Sapreet Singh has re-signed with German football giants Bayern Munich but will be out on loan again next season.
Singh signed with Bayern in 2019 and he's just extended his deal until 2024.
He spent last season on loan to Bundesliga 2 club Jahn Regensburg.
He'll return there when the new season starts next month.
He ended last season with an injury which forced him out of New Zealand's World Cup qualifying campaign.
Big chase for Pakistan
Sri Lanka set Pakistan a record target of 508 and then restricted them to 89-1 to keep alive their hopes of a series-levelling victory in the second test in Galle.
The hosts declared their second innings on 360-8 but were robbed of precious time as only six overs could be played in the final session before bad light stopped play on day four.
Opener Imam-ul-Haq was batting on 46 at stumps with Pakistan 419 runs behind the improbable target.
The onus would be on Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, batting on 26, to help his team bat out the final three sessions for a draw that would also secure a 1-0 series victory for the tourists.
Pakistan won the first test by four wickets.
-Reuters
United sign defender
Manchester United have completed the signing of Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez from Ajax in a deal worth up to $109 million.
Photo: AFP
United manager Erik ten Hag was keen to be reunited with the 24-year-old, who he signed for Ajax in 2019.
He joins the club on a five-year contract which keeps him at Old Trafford until 2027, with the option of a further year.
Martinez made 120 appearances for Ajax after moving from Argentinian side Defensa y Justicia for $12m in 2019, and also played for Newell's Old Boys.
He has won seven caps for Argentina since making his senior debut in March 2019, and played once in the country's successful Copa America campaign in 2021.
Martinez played under Ten Hag at Ajax and won the Eredivisie title with the club in 2021 and 2022, as well as the Dutch Cup in 2021.
He was also Ajax's player of the year for the 2021-22 season.
-BBC
Another Cuban defects
A top Cuban athlete has defected while she was on her way back from the World Championships in Eugene, USA.
Olympic bronze medal discus thrower Yaimé Pérez abandoned the Cuban delegation while on a stopover in Miami.
Her defection comes just days after that of the 19-year-old javelin thrower, Yiselena Ballar.
Ballar had also used a stopover in Miami to escape, but had done so en route to the World Championships.
Cuban athletes have a long history of defecting from the communist-run island while competing abroad, but the worsening economic crisis in Cuba has led to a raft of departures.
This year alone Cuba has lost its Olympic wrestling champion, Ismael Borrero, its silver medallist in the long jump at the Tokyo Olympics, Juan Miguel Echevarría, and gold-medal-winning canoeist Fernando Jorge.
The departure of top athletes has had a marked effect on Cuba's position in the medal tables.
At the World Championship in Eugene, it registered its worst performance ever, leaving without a single medal.
-BBC
Safe standing in European football
UEFA is launching a safe standing observer programme in its competitions for matches in England, Germany and France this season with a view of reintroducing it on a permanent basis.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
While safe standing areas are becoming the norm at the domestic level, UEFA's current regulations do not permit it in its competitions after a ban following the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster.
The programme has been approved by the Executive Committee but the body said it would be limited to just the top five ranked associations in the UEFA rankings where standing is already authorised and implemented at the domestic level.
Although Spain and Italy are in the top five, UEFA said it would be limited only to England, Germany and France as they were compliant with national and local legislation.
In England, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Chelsea received approval to have licensed safe standing in seated areas from Jan. 1 this year, with more British clubs set to adopt safe standing areas next season.
Grounds in England's top divisions were converted to all-seater stadiums nearly 30 years ago after Liverpool supporters were crushed in overcrowded and fenced-in areas at the Hillsborough Stadium in 1989, which led to 97 deaths.
Thirty-nine people, mainly Italians, died at Heysel Stadium in Brussels when a wall collapsed after Liverpool fans charged Juventus supporters before the 1985 European Cup final, which Juve won 1-0.
-Reuters
Swiss wins stage four of Tour
Swiss rider Marlen Reusser went solo to win a hilly fourth stage of the Tour de France Femmes with Dutch great Marianne Vos retaining the yellow jersey.
SD Worx rider Reusser attacked with just over 20km remaining on the 127km route from Troyes to Bar-sur-Aube and powered home more than a minute ahead of her closest pursuers.
Vos safely negotiated several climbs and gravelled sections as she finished alongside most of the other GC contenders.
She remained 16 seconds ahead of Italy's Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) and Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM) with half the race remaining.
With a long and flattish stage on Thursday Vos looks like keeping the yellow jersey until at least Friday having negotiated a fourth stage that was earmarked as being potentially decisive.
The Tour de France Femmes is the first time in 33 years that the best female racers have been given the chance to compete in a multi-stage version of the world's greatest cycle race. -Reuters
-Reuters
LIV announces future plans
LIV Golf has announced plans for a 14-event league schedule in 2023 while also introducing promotion and relegation through its International Series along with an end-of-season qualifying tournament.
Greg Norman Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The full LIV Golf League schedule was not announced but the Saudi Arabia-funded breakaway circuit said events will be played across North and Latin Americas, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe.
Consistent with the LIV Golf Invitational Series, which launched in June, LIV Golf League will feature simultaneous team and individual play with golfers competing for an unprecedented $650 million in prize purses.
Between League events and International Series tournaments, LIV Golf will stage 25 tournaments worldwide in 2023.
According to LIV, teams will be led by one captain who will be able to build the franchise in an effort to gain the greatest fan following and sponsor interest.
-Reuters
Indian wants shooting and wrestling to return to Comm Games
The Indian Olympic Association has asked the Commonwealth Games Federation to include shooting and wrestling in the 2026 edition of the Games in the Australian state of Victoria.
India had threatened to boycott the Birmingham Games in England, which begins tomorrow, after shooting was dropped from the programme and had to be talked out of that decision.
Shooting supplied 16 of India's 66 medals at the 2018 Gold Coast Games, where they also topped the medals tally in wrestling.
Neither sport features among the initial 16 announced for the Victoria Games and IOA acting chief Anil Khanna and treasurer Anandeshwar Panday met CGF chief Louise Martin in Birmingham on Tuesday demanding both be included in the expanded list of disciplines.
The IOA was ready to make a presentation to the 2026 organisers to explain to them how including those two disciplines could "increase the stature of the event", it said.
The IOA has also asked the Indian shooting and wrestling federations to engage with their respective international governing bodies to lobby for their inclusions in the 2026 Games.
-Reuters