■SOCCER
Lens crash out of cup
French first division strugglers Lens, coached by former international striker Jean-Pierre Papin, slumped to a new low on Friday when they were dumped out of the French Cup by second division Niort. Lens, third from bottom in the top flight, were undone by a 30th-minute strike from Jean-Francois Riviere in what proved to be the only goal of the game in the round of 32 clash. Riviere's goal was set-up by a right-wing cross from Benoit Leroy.
■TENNIS
Kuerten eyes French Open
Triple French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten said on Friday that he had a "99 percent" chance of playing at Roland Garros this year. "I love Roland Garros. It's where I have had the best performances of my career," the 31-year-old, who was crowned French Open champion in 1997, 2000 and 2001, told Brazilian media. Kuerten has been dogged by injuries in the last two years and hardly played at all last year being eliminated in the first round of the US Open and Miami Masters. The former world No. 1 has slumped to 680 in the current rankings.
■SOCCER
Star under investigation
A judge requested further investigation on Friday into Valencia Portuguese midfielder Manuel Fernandes' involvement in a nightclub incident in which two police officers were allegedly attacked. Fernandes appeared in court in what was expected to be a fast-track trial to answer a charge of "resisting authority" during the incident early on Friday morning. However, the judge agreed to a request from the prosecuting lawyer, who argued for a more detailed legal procedure, which included physical examination of the officers. Fernandes' club and international teammate, defender Miguel Brito, said the nightclub trouble occurred when Fernandes, Brito and his brother were accused by another customer of stealing a watch, Efe and Spanish sports newspaper Marca reported. Brito was celebrating his 28th birthday. The police were called, leading to Fernandes, Brito's brother and four others being taken to the police station.
■ CRICKET
England axe Prior
England have dropped wicketkeeper Matt Prior for next month's tour of New Zealand after he dropped a number of chances in the series against Sri Lanka. Warwickshire's Tim Ambrose has been selected in his place and the uncapped 25-year-old will compete with Durham's Phil Mustard for a place in the team. Middlesex opening batsman Andrew Strauss who was omitted from the Sri Lanka tour was recalled to the 16-man Test squad announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Friday. "Ambrose fully deserves an opportunity at this level following impressive performances for the England performance squad in India before Christmas and for Warwickshire last season," said chairman of selectors David Graveney in a statement. "We felt in this instance that, as well as Matt Prior has batted, there are areas of his wicketkeeping that he needs to work at and that's the reason why we've made that decision," he said at a later news conference. Graveney said Strauss would come back stronger from the enforced break. "He's worked very hard on his game, we need his experience for what is going to be a tough series," he said.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
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