Reuters Sports News Summary
Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.
Golf: Rahm a champion-in-waiting no more
Thirteen years after Torrey Pines hosted one of the greatest performances of Tiger Woods' career, the city-owned course above the Pacific cliffs produced another compelling U.S. Open and a winner who has been a champion-in-waiting from the day he turned professional. Jon Rahm appropriately took over the world No. 1 position on Sunday after finally securing his first major victory at the age of 26.
U.S. Supreme Court backs college athletes in NCAA compensation fight
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out limits set by the major governing body for American intercollegiate sports on education-related benefits that schools can give players as a violation of antitrust law, handing a big victory to student-athletes fighting for greater financial compensation. The 9-0 ruling https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-512_gfbh.pdf put the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) further on the defensive as it struggles to preserve a business model - huge revenues generated by college sports and big salaries for executives and coaches while players remain unpaid - under assault on multiple fronts.
ATP roundup: No. 5 seed Casper Ruud advances at Mallorca
No. 5 seed Casper Ruud of Norway won 80 percent (40 of 50) of his first-service points in a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory on Monday in the first round of the Mallorca Championships in Spain. Ruud's next opponent at the new ATP 250 grass-court event will be American Tennys Sandgren, a 7-6 (3), 7-5 winner over Spain's Jaume Munar.
WHO to discuss Olympics COVID-19 risks with Japan, IOC
The World Health Organization said on Monday it would discuss managing COVID-19 risks with Japanese authorities and the International Olympic Committee, after organizers announced some spectators would be permitted to attend the Tokyo Games. Mike Ryan, head of WHO's emergencies program, noted that infection rates in Japan have been falling, and said they compared favorably to other countries that were hosting large scale events.
Postcards from Tokyo: light and shadow ahead of pandemic Olympics
The Tokyo Tower and other landmarks were lit in special Olympic colors in April to mark 100 days before the Summer Games opened, but were shrouded in clouds of mist when rain enveloped the Japanese capital that night. Light and shadows are the hallmarks of these Games, the second time Tokyo is the host.
Soccer-Fairytale for Denmark as rout of Russia puts them in last 16
Despair turned to exhilaration for Denmark as they claimed an astonishing 4-1 victory over Russia to scramble into the last 16 of Euro 2020 on a head-spinning night in Copenhagen on Monday. Nine days after Denmark's talisman Christian Eriksen needed life-saving treatment after suffering a cardiac arrest in front of a stunned Parken Stadium crowd, his team mates duly delivered on their promise to "do it for Christian."
Canada's Shapovalov withdraws from Tokyo Olympics
Canada's Denis Shapovalov has decided not to compete at the Tokyo Olympics due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the world number 12 said on Monday. The 22-year-old Shapovalov is the latest player to opt out of the Olympics as Spaniard Rafa Nadal and Austria's Dominic Thiem both announced last week they would not compete in the July 24-Aug. 1 men's tennis tournament in Tokyo.
Olympics-Bird, Taurasi to lead U.S. women's basketball team in Tokyo
Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi will compete in their fifth Olympics after being named on Monday in the U.S. women's basketball squad who will bid for a seventh consecutive gold medal in Tokyo. The two players headline a 12-member squad that includes six first-time Olympians and will be coached by Dawn Staley, a three-times gold medallist as a player, who helped start the U.S. gold medal run at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
German firm's air taxi aims to be operational for Paris 2024 Olympics
German company Volocopter performed on Monday a first flight of its electrical air taxi in France at a show in Le Bourget airport and said it aimed to have a service in operation for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. The flying taxi, which looks like a tiny helicopter, took off at Bourget airport near Paris and then landed vertically after a three-minute flight. It had no passengers on board.
Raiders' Nassib says he is gay
Las Vegas Raiders' defensive end Carl Nassib said on Monday he was gay, making him the first active National Football League player to come out publicly. "I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay," Nassib, 28, said in a video he posted to Instagram. "I've been meaning to do this for a while now but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest," he said.
