| Kvitova withdraws from Eastbourne with injury | |||
| Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from the Eastbourne grasscourt championships with a hamstring injury, organisers said on Wednesday. The third seed was due to play to play a third-round match against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska. "I'm really disappointed to have to withdraw from Eastbourne this morning," the Czech player said. "I felt my hamstring in the Birmingham final and although I played with tape in my match here yesterday, when I woke up this morning it felt worse. "With Wimbledon around the corner I couldn't take the risk of making it worse by playing today." Kvitova won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and 2014. | |||
| Barcelona to face Bilbao in Spanish Cup quarter-finals | |||
Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup, a rematch
of the 2015 final.
The first leg will be played in Bilbao January 20 and the second leg
in Barca's Camp Nou a week later.
Barca beat Bilbao 3-1 in last season's final, and also overcame them
in the finals of 2012 and 2009. Bilbao surprisingly beat Barca in the
Spanish Super Cup in August, on a 5-1 aggregate.
The two teams will clash three times in 10 days because Bilbao are
also due to visit the Camp Nou Sunday for a league clash.
Atletico Madrid face Celta Vigo, with the first leg in Vigo; Valencia
will take on Las Palmas; while Sevilla face Mirandes in the other
ties dran by the Spanish football federation.
Mirandes are the only second division team still in the competition,
after surprisngly trouncing Deportivo La Coruna on a 4-1 aggregate.
| Cancelo to join champions Juventus after medical | |||
the Juventus medical centre ahead of his expected transfer from
Valencia to the Serie A champions, the Turin club said in a statement
on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old played the past season at Inter Milan, who declined
to purchase him after the one-year loan.
| IOC approves venues for new sports at Tokyo 2020 | |||
Baseball and softball will be held at the Yokohama Stadium, the Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo will be the site of the karate competitions, while temporary facilities in the capital will house the sports climbing and skateboarding competitions.
The Chiba province and its coastline will host surfing.
"Our proposals were confirmed and approved by the IOC," Mori said. "They appreciated our progress and gave us a very good evaluation."
The five new sports will make a one-off appearance at the Games after being chosen by the hosts under new IOC rules.
Organisers and the IOC are hoping the five sports will attract a younger generation of viewers and fans as well as sponsors and rejuvenate the Games' sports programme.
"WBSC is delighted with the decision of the IOC... to confirm Yokohama Stadium as a main venue," said World Baseball and Softball Confederation president Riccardo Fraccari.
"Yokohama Stadium with its downtown skyline will provide a spectacular backdrop for Olympic baseball and softball - this is an exciting day that takes baseball and softball one step closer on the historic road to Tokyo 2020."
Tokyo was picked by the IOC as a safe choice to host the world's biggest multi-sports event but organisers have been struggling with mounting costs.
Price tags for many venues have soared since Tokyo won the race in 2013, which organisers blame on increased construction costs after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
U.S. to play Brazil, England Italy and Mexico in friendlies
| The United States will play Brazil, England, Italy and Mexico as part of a six-game series of high-profile friendlies announced by U.S. Soccer on Monday with an eye on preparing their young team for the next World Cup qualifying cycle. The United States failed to reach the World Cup finals in Russia. The team will host five-time world champions Brazil in New Jersey on Sept. 7 followed by a match against old rivals Mexico at Nashville's Nissan Stadium on Sept. 11. The team, currently without a coach, will also play two home matches in October, with their opponents to be confirmed at a later date. They will then head to Europe for friendlies against England on Nov. 15 at London's Wembley Stadium and versus Italy on Nov. 20 at a venue yet to be determined. "We are at the beginning phase of building our identity," national team general manager Earnie Stewart said in a statement. "These games are obviously huge challenges, and for young players it's an opportunity to see the benchmark of some of the top teams in the world. "We can use these experiences to learn about ourselves and take the next steps towards developing into the team we want to become." Bruce Arena resigned as U.S. coach last October after his squad failed to qualify for the World Cup, which ended the Americans' streak of seven consecutive appearances in the global showpiece. | |||||||||||
Crotone's win was only their fifth of the season and by far the most impressive scalp for the team from Calabria who are playing in the top flight for the first time. Roma stayed six points behind Juventus who beat Chievo 2-0 on Saturday. Both teams have seven matches to play, including a meeting at the Stadio Olimpico on May 14. Napoli strengthened their grip on third place, which earns a place in the Champions League playoff round, with a 3-0 win at fourth-placed Lazio, opening up a seven point gap over their opponents and remaining four behind Roma. Federico Fazio put Roma ahead from close range in the 26th minute and Mohamed Salah added another before halftime when he latched onto Edin Dzeko's pass and cleverly lobbed the ball over Antonio Mirante. Dzeko completed the scoring in the 75th minute when he tapped in Diego Perotti's cross for his 24th goal of the season, making him the league's joint topscorer. Crotone floored Inter with two goals from forward Diego Falcinelli in four minutes midway through the first half. Falcinelli converted a penalty, awarded for handball by Gary Medel, in the 19th minute and then beat the offside trap to run onto Marcelo Trotta's pass and lob the ball over Samir Handanovic. Danilo D'Ambrosio pulled one back for Inter in the second half but Crotone held out for an historic win which increased their hopes of pulling off a great escape. They remain in the drop zone but are just three points adrift of Empoli and safety. Inter, meanwhile, dropped to seventh and outside the Europa League places, increasing the pressure on coach Stefano Pioli. AC Milan moved above their neighbours into sixth with a comfortable 4-0 win over Palermo, who are one off the bottom with 15 points and look almost certain to go down. Jose Callejon gave Napoli a first-half lead at Lazio by finishing off a typical flowing move and Lorenzo Insigne latched onto to Allan's pass to add the second six minutes after the break. Napoli saved the best for last, scoring their third in injury time with a passing move which started on the halfway line, went back to goalkeeper Pepe Reina and then all the way up the other end of the field where Insigne finished it off for his second. Fiorentina twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Sampdoria and Torino's Andrea Belotti scored his 24th goal of the season in the 3-2 win at Cagliari to stay neck-and-neck with Dzeko at the top of the scoring charts.
draw with Morocco on Monday in Kaliningrad as the 2010 world champions booked their ticket to the World Cup last 16 as Group B winners. Khalid Boutaib shocked the Spanish with the opening goal in the 14th minute for Morocco's first World Cup score since 1998. Isco equalized in the 19th minute for the Iberians before Youssef En-Nesyri struck for the North Africans in the 81st. But Aspas hit the leveller three minutes into stoppage time. Spain moved to five points and finished first to Portugal's five having scored one more goal. Morocco, who entered the game already eliminated, ended with one point. |
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