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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

RIO DE JANEIRO: Argentina's Lionel Messi scored one of his trademark free-kicks in the first half but Eduardo Vargas equalized for Chile to leave honors even at 1-1 in their Copa America opener in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. Messi curled a superb free-kick into the corner of Claudio Bravo's net from 25 meters after 33 minutes. Chile equalized 13 minutes into the second half when Vargas followed up to head home the rebound after Arturo Vidal's penalty was tipped onto the bar

After Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in five gripping sets on Sunday, the World No. 1 handed his racquet to a young fan in the stands, who erupted into a fit of disbelief. Indian billionaire Harsh Mariwala was full of praises for Novak Djokovic's act for a young fan after his French Open triumph on Sunday. The chairman of Marico commended the goodwill gesture when Djokovic explained the reason he gave his winning racquet as a souvenir. "Someone just shared this with me on

Stefanos Tsitsipas has learnt the hard way over the last two months that Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will take some shifting from the top of the men's game. The Greek led world number one Djokovic by two sets in the French Open final on Sunday, but still ended up losing and it has become a familiar feeling to be so close and yet so far. Tsitsipas led Djokovic in the Rome Masters quarter-finals this year, but lost. He also pushed 13-time French

Chesson Hadley was on the cusp of his first PGA Tour win in seven years on Sunday until a disastrous finish at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree where he bogeyed the final three holes to finish one shot back. Hadley, who missed the cut in 10 of his last 12 events, started the final round with a four-shot lead but fell apart in spectacular fashion as he carded a four-over-par 75 at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina. That left Hadley, who

BRASILIA: Star forward Neymar netted a penalty and created a second as hosts Brazil eased to a 3-0 victory over a coronavirus-depleted Venezuela on Sunday (Jun 13) in the opening match of the 2021 Copa America. Centre-back Marquinhos opened the scored midway through the first half and Gabriel Barbosa sealed the Group B win a minute from time. In a tournament already delayed a year and moved from its original hosts Argentina and Colombia due to the pandemic, it was fitting that the

LONDON: Raheem Sterling finally found his tournament touch when his 61st-minute goal gave England a deserved 1-0 win over Croatia at Wembley on Sunday (Jun 13) as they began a European Championship with a victory for the first time in nine attempts. Sterling, something of a surprise starter after a flat end to the domestic season but a favourite of manager Gareth Southgate, slid home after great work by Kalvin Phillips to end an individual drought that had run through England’s three previous

The Qatari runner Ahmed Al Shahrani has created a new record in the history by becoming the first ever disabled person to ‘run’ the whole distance of the country from the south to the north in a wheelchair. Surpassing a distance of 204 km in 41 hours, 55 minutes, running through the safe track designated for the purpose, Al Shahrani has managed to become the first rider with special needs to set this new record by covering this huge distance. A French resident

For the second time in six years Novak Djokovic is halfway to a calendar year sweep of all four Grand Slam titles after winning the French Open for a second time on Sunday. The 34-year-old dug deep into his reserves of resilience to hit back from two sets down against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas to win 6-7(6) 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 and increase his Grand Slam tally to 19. That takes him only one behind the men's record 20 held by Rafa Nadal and