Latest - India picked off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in their 15-man squad for next month's Twenty20 World Cup and named Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led them to the 2007 title, as the team mentor.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Ashwin last played a Twenty20 International four years ago but was one of three specialist slow bowlers selected, along with leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
The tournament, which begins next month, was scheduled to be held in India but the COVID-19 situation in the country forced organisers to shift it to the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were omitted and opener Shikhar Dhawan was also left out.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are likely to open for India while Ishan Kishan, who can also keep wicket, was picked as a third option.
India named three all-rounders in the squad -- Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
Inaugural champions India begin their bid for a second title in a Super 12 match in Dubai against arch-rivals Pakistan on Oct. 24.
Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.
-Reuters
Walsh fourth in Zurich
New Zealand shot putter Tom Walsh has finished fourth in the Diamond League Finals in Zurich.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Walsh had a best throw of 21.61 metres, just over a metre behind winner Ryan Crouser.
The American has dominated the sport this year, setting a new World Record at the US Olympic trials an then retaining his Olympic title in Tokyo.
It is Crouser's first Diamond League title, while Walsh had won three of the previous four titles.
Fellow American and Tokyo silver medalist Joe Kovacs was second, with Armin Sinancevic of Serbia third.
Crouser picks up $42,000 an a diamond trophy.
Black Caps to play England
England will host New Zealand in a three-test cricket series in June next year.
Headingley Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The series against the World Test Championship winners will begin at Lord's on June 2, before matches at Trent Bridge (June 10-14) and Headingley (June 23-27).
England will then play India in a three-match Twenty20 series starting July 1, before a three-match one-day international series against the same opposition.
The white-ball matches continue with ODI and T20 series against South Africa later in July, before a three-test series against the Proteas in August and September concludes England's summer.
"It has been a scintillating summer of cricket and so good to see crowds back packing out venues later this summer," ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said.
"For next summer, I am pleased to be able to confirm three high-quality men's international touring teams for 2022."
England are currently playing India in a five-test series, which the visitors lead 2-1. The final test will begin on Friday at Old Trafford.
-Reuters
Ryder Cup teams take shape
Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Tony Finau were among the six captain's picks named by Steve Stricker to a rookie-laden U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Xander Schauffele Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Harris English, Daniel Berger and Scottie Scheffler rounded out the 12-man team and, along with Schauffele, will make their Ryder Cup debut when the United States face holders Europe later this month at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Including FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay and British Open winner Collin Morikawa, who had both already qualified for the team, the U.S. squad will have six Ryder Cup rookies.
Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas are the other players who had already secured their spots on the team via automatic qualifying.
The Ryder Cup, a biennial team competition between the United States and Europe, was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe are defending champions after a seven-point rout at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018.
Meanwhile Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and Paul Casey are already guaranteed in the Europe team while the remaining spots will be confirmed after this week's PGA Championship at Wentworth.
-Reuters
North Korea banned
North Korea has been suspended from the International Olympic Committee until the end of 2022, meaning it will miss out on the Beijing Winter Games, after failing to send a team to the Tokyo Olympics.
"The National Olympic Committee of Democratic People's Republic of Korea is suspended until the end of the year 2022 as a result of its unilateral decision not to participate (in Tokyo)," IOC President Thomas Bach said.
Bach said the decision meant the North Korean Olympic Committee would not receive financial support during the suspension and would definitively forfeit support that had previously been withheld due to sanctions.
The IOC chief said the IOC did reserve the right to make decisions on any individual North Korean athletes who qualify for Beijing 2022 and to reconsider the duration of the country's suspension.
-Reuters
Albon returns to F1
Red Bull-backed Thai racer Alex Albon will return to Formula One next season as a Williams driver alongside Canadian Nicholas Latifi.
Photo: AFP
Albon, 25, has been test and reserve driver for Red Bull this year while also competing in the German Touring Car (DTM) championship after being dropped by the Austrian energy drink company's main team at the end of the 2020 campaign.
The Thai takes the place vacated by George Russell, who is joining seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in an all-British lineup.
Latifi will be starting his third season as a Williams race driver next year.
Meanwhile Polish driver Robert Kubica will stand in for Kimi Raikkonen again for Alfa Romeo at Monza in Italy this weekend after the Finn continued to isolate due to testing positive for COVID-19.
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion with Ferrari, also missed last weekend's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and the Swiss-based team said in a statement that the 41-year-old had not yet been cleared to return.
-Reuters
English clubs face sanctions
Premier League clubs could face sanctions from FIFA if they play South American players, who were not released for international duty, in this weekend's games.
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Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City are among clubs who did not release Brazilian players for the current international break and face a choice of not selecting those players this weekend or running the risk of sanctions.
Sources have told Reuters that the Brazilian Football Federation have triggered the 'automatic restriction period' of five days which stops clubs picking players who have not been released.
Premier League clubs Wolves, Newcastle and Watford, along with Championship team Blackburn Rovers, could also lose players this weekend after the Chilean, Mexican and Paraguayan associations also activated the restriction period.
FIFA's rules state that any club selecting a player during the restriction period could face disciplinary action.
-Reuters