WORLD CUP
Pro-Kosovo revelry probed
FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Swiss players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri on Saturday over their pro-Kosovo goal celebrations during the match against Serbia. FIFA is also probing Serbian national team manager Mladen Krstajic for alleged statements made after Friday’s game. Disciplinary proceedings have also been opened against the Serbian FA for crowd disturbances and the display of political and offensive messages by Serbian fans, world soccer’s governing body said in a statement.
WORLD CUP
Uruguay’s Gimenez sidelined
Uruguay defender Jose Maria Gimenez is out of his country’s World Cup game against hosts Russia, which will determine who will top Group A, because of a thigh injury, officials said on Saturday. The Atletico Madrid center-half “will not be taken into account for the match ... against Russia,” the Uruguayan Football Association said in a statement. The match takes place today in Samara. Uruguay and Russia have both won their first two matches, although the hosts have a far more impressive goal difference.
BASEBALL
Kemp grand slam routs Mets
Matt Kemp’s pinch-hit grand slam blew the game open and capped a five-run eighth inning on Saturday night for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who routed the New York Mets 8-3 at Citi Field. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who was on the disabled list all month with a back injury, started for Los Angeles and allowed two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out four over three innings. Mets ace Jacob deGrom (5-3) took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out six over six innings. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the three-game series and eight of their last 11. The Mets have lost five straight.
US OPEN
Seedings to note pregnancies
The US Open will start considering pregnancy situations when making seedings so that players are not penalized for starting families, US Tennis Association president Katrina Adams said in a New York Times report on Saturday. The change comes after criticism of French Open officials for how they handled the case of former world No. 1 Serena Williams in her Grand Slam return last month after giving birth to a daughter in September last year. “We’re a Grand Slam and we have the right and the opportunity to seed the players according to what we feel is justified,” Adams added.
NASCAR
Haley races to first truck win
Justin Haley on Saturday night won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park for his first career victory, pulling away on a wild last restart. “I’ve been dreaming about this day since I was a little kid,” Haley said. The 19-year-old Haley, from Winamac, Indiana, took the lead when Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland made contact racing for the lead on a restart with seven laps to go. Haley then held off GMS Racing teammate Johnny Sauter, a four-time winner this season, on the final restart with two laps left. “I’m about to cry,” Haley said. “I raced my heart out. That’s what I’ve worked for my whole life.”
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
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