AP Sports

Mother of beleaguered Spanish football federation chief starts hunger strike in church to defend him

MADRID (AP) — The mother of the Spanish football federation president under fire for kissing a player during the Women’s World Cup awards ceremony has started a hunger strike in a church in southern Spain in defense of her son. Ángeles Béjar, mother of suspended federation president Luis Rubiales, told the Spanish state news agency EFE on Monday she would remain on hunger strike until a solution is found to the treatment of her son. Speaking to reporters outside the church in the southern town of Motril, Rubiales’ cousin, Vanessa Ruiz, joined the mother in calling on the player, Jenni Hermoso, to rectify and tell the truth. The kiss was interpreted by many as sexual abuse. FIFA provisionally suspended Rubiales on Saturday after he gave a defiant speech and refused to resign.

US eases past Greece 109-81 at Basketball World Cup to advance to the second round

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States is going to the second round of the Basketball World Cup. Austin Reaves scored 15 points and the Americans beat Greece 109-81 on Monday night to ensure that they’ll have one of 16 spots in the second round. The Americans improved to 2-0 in the tournament and 7-0 overall this summer. Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards each scored 13 for the U.S. Georgios Papagiannis led Greece with 17 points.

Black offensive coordinators remain rare even as major college football coaching staffs diversify

The dearth of Black coaches leading major college football programs routinely draws scrutiny. This season 14 of 133 major college programs and seven of 69 Power Five conference teams will have Black head coaches. Just as notable is how drastically under-represented African-Americans are among offensive coordinators, the job mostly likely to lead to a head-coaching gig. Only seven Black coaches will be offensive coordinators at Power Five schools this season, and only nine across all of the top tier of Division I.

The US Open is filled with players making comebacks from retirement, pregnancy or injury

NEW YORK (AP) — The 2023 U.S. Open features several players who have made comebacks to tennis after being away for a while. It’s a group that includes Grand Slam champions or runners-up such as Caroline Wozniacki, Milos Raonic and Jennifer Brady. Wozniacki, Raonic and Brady are on the Day 1 schedule Monday at Flushing Meadows. The list of players coming back also includes Ajla Tomljanovic. She is the woman who beat Serena Williams in the 23-time Grand Slam title winner’s last match a year ago at Flushing Meadows. Comebacks are nothing new in tennis. The reasons players leave before deciding to return include pregnancy, retirement and long-term injuries.

Commanders’ Robinson feels ‘night and day’ a year since being shot in an attempted robbery

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Brian Robinson Jr. was shot twice in the right leg a year ago in an attempted robbery/carjacking in Washington. He made his NFL debut for the Commanders six weeks later and ran for nearly 800 yards in his first 12 professional games. That was an impressive rookie season for the third-round pick out of Alabama. But now Robinson says he feels a night and day difference from where he was last year. That and his role as Washington’s top running back in new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s system make Robinson look primed for a breakout performance.

A historic day for African basketball, with South Sudan, Cape Verde getting World Cup wins

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation, only gaining its independence 12 years ago. Cape Verde is one of the world’s least-populated nations, with fewer residents than any country that qualified for the Basketball World Cup. They stood tall on Monday at the World Cup. Both nations won games at FIBA’s biggest tournament for the first time. South Sudan beat China 89-69 at Manila and Cape Verde beat Venezuela 81-75 at Okinawa, Japan. The wins kept both teams in contention for berths in the second round of the World Cup, and they remain very much in the race to be Africa’s automatic qualifier for next summer’s Paris Olympics.

Lyles, Richardson and lots of unknowns as track gets ready for Paris Olympics

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — In some ways, track and field served up a tantalizing preview of what’s to come next year at the Paris Olympics. In others, the sport left the nine-day world championships with as many questions as answers. For every Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, athletes who won championships and declared themselves the sprinters to beat, there was a Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone or Elaine Thompson-Herah, defending Olympic champions who either didn’t show up or barely showed up at all. There were a handful of champion track and field athletes who were not heard from or far from top form in Budapest but should be competing for titles starting in 340 days when the Olympic track meet starts in the Stade de France.

Simone Biles wins a record 8th US Gymnastics title a full decade after her first

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A decade later, Simone Biles is still on top. The gymnastics star has won her record eighth U.S. Championship, a full 10 years after she first ascended to the top of her sport as a teenage prodigy. Biles, now a 26-year-old newlywed considered perhaps the greatest of all time, posted an all-around two-day total of 118.40, well clear of Shilese Jones in second and Leanne Wong in third. Biles will next compete at the world championships in Belgium this fall, where she will look to add to her record total of 25 medals at the meet.

Ukraine’s best high jumper wins gold for her country at world championships

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh won a gold medal to bring an emotional close to the track and field world championships. The very last person competing in the final event of the nine-day meet, Mahuchikh cleared 2.01 meters to win her first major outdoor title and set herself up as a favorite at the Olympics next year. Her evening came to a close moments after Femke Bol of the Netherlands, whose fall cost her team a medal in the mixed 4×400 relay on opening night, made up some 20 meters down the homestretch to win the women’s version of the race.

California wins Little League World Series 6-5 over Curacao on walk-off homer

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Louis Lappe hit a walk-off homer and California beat Curacao 6-5 in the Little League World Series championship on Sunday, despite giving up a four-run lead. Louis flipped his bat and threw his arms in the air as he trotted around the bases, leaping onto home plate before he was greeted by his teammates surrounding the batter’s box. The leadoff hitter in the sixth inning, Louis lofted the second pitch he saw just beyond the left field fence. Curacao tied the game in the fifth on Nasir El-Ossais’s grand slam to center. Nasir also drove in a run in the third. Jaxon Kalish and Lucas Keldorf drove in two runs each for California.