WORLD CUP
FIFA bans ‘sexist’ close-ups
FIFA on Friday said it has issued guidance to TV producers that cameras should not linger on close-up shots of spectators at the World Cup to avoid any “suggestions of sexual connotations.” Soccer’s world governing body said it distributed a statement about its policy to the suppliers of its TV feed before the tournament. It follows questions over the broadcast of images of female fans at matches during the tournament in Russia. There is just one more game left at the World Cup — today’s final between France and Croatia. “We prefer that the coverage avoids exaggerated or extended duration close-ups that could lead to suggestions of sexual connotations or gender bias,” a FIFA spokesman said.
CRICKET
England women miss sweep
Sophie Devine on Friday struck an unbeaten 117 as New Zealand’s White Ferns won the third one-day international at Leicester by four wickets to deny England’s women a 3-0 series clean sweep. Home openers Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont shared a century stand as England threatened a huge total. However, Beaumont’s exit for 53 sparked a collapse and the world champions lost all their wickets for just another 115 runs as they were dismissed for 219, with White Ferns spinner Leigh Kasperek taking five for 39. Devine was in excellent touch as she led New Zealand’s reply, facing 117 balls and ending the match with a six off England quick Katherine Brunt as the visitors won with more than five overs to spare.
RUSSIA
Doping ban dropped for five
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which has banned Russia since 2015, on Friday announced that it had cleared five more athletes from the country to compete under a neutral flag last year. The panel that grants clean competitors neutral status has been operating since the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. With the five additions, the list for this year contains 72 names, but 68 more have been turned down this year, and the IAAF says it has received more than 200 requests since December last year.
UNITED STATES
Pizza dropped from name
The University of Louisville is removing the Papa John’s name from its football stadium. The school is taking action after pizza chain founder John Schnatter reportedly complained that Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders never faced a backlash for using a racial slur. University president Neeli Bendapudi on Friday announced the change for Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, as the pizza chain said it is removing Schnatter’s image from its marketing. Schnatter had apologized and said he would resign as company chairman after Forbes reported that he used the N-word during a media training session.
ICE HOCKEY
Knights resign goalie Fleury
Marc-Andre Fleury, the Canadian goaltender who backstopped the first-year Vegas Golden Knights on an unlikely run to the National Hockey League Final, agreed on Friday to terms on a three-year contract extention. The 33-year-old goalie, who could have become a free agent next July, will be paid $21 million under the new deal, which starts with the 2019-2010 campaign. “I’m really excited,” Fleury said. “My family and I really love Vegas, the organization, my teammates and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to keep playing in front of [Golden Knights fans] for another couple years.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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