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American middle distance runner Shelby Houlihan has been banned from athletics for four years after testing positive for a prohibited substance - which she blamed on a burrito. The 28-year-old says she was told in January the anabolic steroid nandrolone had been found in a doping sample. Olympian Houlihan said it may have come from eating a pork burrito, which she said could lead to a false positive for nandrolone, the night before her test. She has denied ever doping. The Athletics Integrity

Olympic long jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga has been banned for four years after failing to meet whereabouts criteria three times in 12 months. The South African missed a doping test in November 2019, and made two filing failures in April and October 2020. As it is a second violation of the anti-doping code by the 30-year-old, he has been given double the normal two-year ban for whereabouts failures. He was banned for 18 months in 2012 for testing positive for crystal meth.

Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen has been discharged from hospital following a "successful operation" six days after suffering a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020, the Danish Football Union (DBU) announced Friday. Doctors had said Thursday that Eriksen, 29, would have a heart defibrillator implanted to regulate his heart rhythm, casting doubt over whether he will be able to play again. "The operation went well, and I am doing well under the circumstances," Eriksen said in a statement. "Thank you for the massive number of greetings

US Open champion Dominic Thiem on Thursday joined Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal in withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics. World number five Thiem said he wanted to concentrate on Wimbledon and then defending his only Grand Slam title in New York. "Hi everybody, I have some sad news to share with you all. After talking with my team and analysing the situation I have taken the very difficult decision to withdraw from competing in the Tokyo Olympics," the 27-year-old Austrian wrote on Twitter. "For me, like all

Legendary Indian sprinter Milkha Singh died on Friday due to post-Covid complications. He was being treated at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research. The 91-year-old had tested positive for COVID-19 on May 19 but was in home isolation at his Chandigarh residence after revealing that he was asymptomatic. However, a few days later on May 24, the legendary athlete was admitted to the ICU of Mohali's Fortis hospital due to "COVID pneumonia". He was then moved to PGIMER in Chandigarh on

England put themselves in a strong position in the one-off Test against India despite much of the day being wiped out by rain in Bristol. India, resuming on 187-5, were bundled out for 231, trailing England by 165, with Sophie Ecclestone taking 4-88. Heather Knight asked India to bat again and England struck quickly, dismissing Smriti Mandhana to leave the tourists 29-1. However, teenager Shafali Verma once again impressed, making an unbeaten 55 to guide India to 83-1, still 108 runs behind England.

Rain wiped out the entire first day of the men's World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in Southampton. Heavy rain fell throughout Friday, preventing a ball being bowled, and play was abandoned at 14:48 BST. The weather is forecast to improve over the weekend with play set to begin at 10:30 on Saturday. A reserve, sixth day is in place for the showpiece final to allow for play lost to bad weather to be made up. Still, it was a

COPENHAGEN: Kevin de Bruyne came off the bench to inspire Belgium to a 2-1 comeback win over Denmark on Thursday and a place in the Euro 2020 knockout stages on an emotional afternoon of tributes to Christian Eriksen. Denmark got off to a dream start when Yussuf Poulsen put them ahead after 99 seconds as the team rode a wave of sentiment over playmaker Eriksen's cardiac arrest in their first game. The Danes dominated the first half but Belgium turned to a bench

Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka, with 24 Grand Slam titles between them, both withdrew from Wimbledon on Thursday (Jun 17) with the Spanish star also pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics in a bid "to prolong my career". Nadal's snub of the Olympics was later followed by world No 5 Dominic Thiem also withdrawing from Tokyo. Osaka, however, said she still intended to take part in her home Olympics. The 35-year-old Nadal, who won Olympic gold and Wimbledon in 2008, triumphing again at

Formula One will seek to avoid a scenario where a new points-paying Saturday sprint race format being trialled this season could decide the title, according to managing director Ross Brawn. The sport wants to host three sprint races in 2021, with the first at Silverstone in July and the second scheduled for Monza in September. The venue for the third has yet to be decided, with the United States in October and Brazil in November mentioned as the most likely candidates. Both have

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Nine months after finishing runner-up at the U.S. Open, Matthew Wolff returned in style from a mental health break, shooting one-under-par 70 in the opening round at the national championship at Torrey Pines on Thursday. Wolff has already won more than $5 million in two years as a professional, but the money was of little consolation as he found himself in a bad place while plying his trade on the PGA Tour earlier this year. Suddenly bereft of form

RIO DE JANEIRO - With Neymar in fine form and scoring a goal that took him past Ronaldo on the country's all-time goals list, Brazil scored early in the game and then got three more in a commanding second half to defeat Peru 4-0 in their Copa America clash on Thursday. The result means Brazil are the first team in the tournament to win both their first games, and immediately go to the top of Group B, two points ahead of Colombia, who

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James slammed the NBA on Wednesday (Jun 16) as Clippers star Kawhi Leonard became the latest player forced out of the playoffs by injury. James took to Twitter to offer an angry "I Told You So" to the league, blaming the increase in injuries on the shortest off-season ever, which has been followed by a compressed schedule for the 2020-21 campaign. "They all didn't wanna listen to me about the start of the season," James tweeted.

LE CASTELLET, France: Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team hope to find a positive sense of "deja vu" and a return to winning form at this weekend's French Grand Prix following two shattering street circuit defeats. The seven-time champion and the defending champion team were well beaten in both Monte Carlo and Baku, losing their long consecutive points-scoring records of 54 and 55 races respectively as Red Bull took command with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez claiming victories. Dutchman Verstappen, deprived of victory

England Women vs India Women, Only Test Day 1: Heather Knight's 95 and Tammy Beaumont's 66 took England to 269 for 6 even as India made a comeback with wickets late on the first day. Spinners Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma fashioned India's comeback by triggering a batting collapse in the final session but England Women still managed a decent 269 for 6 on the opening day of the one-off Test in Bristol on Wednesday. Playing a Test match after nearly seven years,

Captain Gareth Bale inspired a scintillating 2-0 victory for Wales over Turkey on Wednesday (Jun 16), giving the Dragons a big leap towards the European Championship knockout stages and reviving memories of their 2016 run to the semi-finals. Midfielder Aaron Ramsey missed two early chances, but made no mistake just before halftime when he chested down Bale's perfect ball over the defence to slot past the goalkeeper. Wales could have doubled the lead at the hour mark when Bale was tripped by Zeki

TOKYO: Japan is set to outline how it will lift its "state of emergency" curbs while keeping some restrictions, including spectator numbers at big events, amid fears that next month's Olympics could trigger a new wave of COVID-19 infections. Media reports say the government is considering allowing up to 10,000 spectators into stadiums during the Games, in line with a plan endorsed by health experts on Wednesday (Jun 16) for local events. Later on Thursday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is due to announce

LONDON: Former champions Venus Williams and Andy Murray were named in Wimbledon's initial list of wild cards on Wednesday (Jun 16) for this month's grass court Grand Slam. American Williams, who will turn 41 on Thursday, won five out of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon, but has slipped to 103rd in the women's world rankings. She has not made it past the opening round at any tournament since reaching the second round of the Australian Open in February. Britain's Murray

LONDON: Premier League champions Manchester City will start the defence of their title away to Tottenham after the fixtures for the 2021-22 season were unveiled on Wednesday (Jun 16). City are among the sides heavily linked with Spurs striker Harry Kane, throwing up the tantalising possibility that the England captain could line up against his boyhood club on the opening weekend. Pep Guardiola's side won the league by 12 points last season ahead of rivals Manchester United, who open their campaign against old

Trust Christiano Ronaldo to thrill the world even without a football at his disposal. He stunned all by dribbling past two Coca-Cola bottles at a press conference in a bold statement against carbonated drinks. He may have raised a few hackles in the process, Coca-Cola being one of the sponsors of Euro 2020. Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo set off a flurry of excitement even before his team could take the pitch for their Euro 2020 opener versus Hungary. The setting was an otherwise