Formula One's Alpine team said on Wednesday physical ability is no barrier for women to compete in their sport as they launched a program to have a female driver in the next eight years.

Althea Gibson's journey from poverty to becoming the first black person to win Wimbledon is the fulfillment of the American Dream but she remains shamefully unknown, the English playwright and actor who is playing her on stage told AFP.

England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan retired from international cricket with immediate effect on Tuesday, saying he recently woke up and knew now was the time to stand down.

Canadian 15-year-old Summer McIntosh headlined a crop of golden teenagers too young to drive who caught the eye at the World Swimming Championships, but a number of former prodigies showed they are still driven to win too.

The PGA Tour and European Tour announced a 13-year operational joint venture on Tuesday, uniting in a tighter alliance to combat the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

Egyptian squash player Mohamed el-Shorbagy was called a traitor and a sellout when he announced this month he had joined the English national team.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon third round for the 16th time on Wednesday as career-long rival Andy Murray suffered his earliest-ever exit from the All England Club.

One year on from a painful crash, Max Verstappen returns to Silverstone as clear favorite to register his first British Grand Prix win and increase his lead in the title race.

Former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney has resigned as manager of troubled Derby as the club prepare for their first season in the third tier for 36 years.

Romelu Lukaku returned to Inter Milan on Wednesday after completing a season-long loan move from Chelsea just a year after his flop transfer from Italy to the Premier League club.

Chinese diver Wang Zongyuan claimed his second gold medal at the FINA World Championships after beating fellow Chinese Cao Yuan in the men's 3-meter springboard final on Tuesday.

Lewis Hamilton said the "time has come for action" after being the subject of a racially offensive term used by three-time Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet.

UEFA's head of women's football Nadine Kessler has dismissed claims European football's governing body lacked ambition in the selection of venues for Euro 2022, with attendance records for the tournament in England set to be smashed.

US 2023 Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson gave the most definite sign yet that his squad will not include players from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series on Tuesday.

Serena Williams tasted bitter defeat on her return to singles tennis at Wimbledon on Tuesday as Rafael Nadal overcame a huge scare to progress to the second round.

China's Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan finished one-two in the women's 10-meter platform final on the 10th competition day of the 19th FINA World Championships on Monday.

Britain's Mark Cavendish and France's Julian Alaphilippe have both missed out on a place in the upcoming Tour de France, their Quick-Step team announced Monday.

Swedish twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin and NHL rivals Roberto Luongo and Daniel Alfredsson were among six people named Monday to the Hockey Hall of Fame's class of 2022.

Wales captain Gareth Bale has signed a 12-month contract with Los Angeles FC that features options through 2024, the Major League Soccer squad announced Monday.

Since the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) actively promoted the founding of the Chinese version of Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021, the innovative new feature of the domestic sport has achieved phased results, the association said on Tuesday, with experts and officials saying that the initiative will help promote basketball culture in China, and inspire and attract more young people to the sport, and make Chinese basketball mark globally.

Novak Djokovic became the first player to win 80 matches at all four Grand Slams as he made a successful start to his Wimbledon title defense on Monday while teenage star Carlos Alcaraz battled over five sets to make the second round.

When Emma Raducanu competes at Wimbledon this week, she will return to the venue of not only one of her most cherished moments last year when she made her Grand Slam debut but also one of her most harrowing.

The Colorado Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup Final in 21 years on Sunday when Nathan MacKinnon scored one goal and set up another to spark a 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay.

Francesco Bagnaia of Italy and Ducati led from start to finish to win the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday for his third victory of the season as world championship leader Fabio Quartararo crashed twice and was forced to retire from the race.

Chinese Cao Yuan and Wang Zongyuan won the men's 3-meter synchronized final on the ninth competition day of the 19th FINA World Championships on Sunday.

Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele birdied the final hole on Sunday to win the Travelers Championship, holding off Sahith Theegala for his sixth career US PGA Tour title.

Ten months after almost quitting golf, China's golfer Li Haotong sank a massive birdie putt to complete a playoff victory at the BMW International Open on Sunday and clinch his first win in over four years.

Sydney McLaughlin punched her ticket to the athletics World Championships with a world record 51.41 seconds victory in the 400 meters hurdles at the US trials on Saturday.

The eighth competition day of the 19th FINA World Championships bade farewell to two disciplines: swimming and artistic swimming, with nine finals contested on Saturday.

Allyson Felix admitted to a “little bit of sadness” in the wake of her final US athletics championship race on Saturday, but was in no doubt her decision to retire in August is the right one.

Xander Schauffele produced a late birdie spree to hold onto a slender lead at the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship Saturday with a three-under-par 67.

New Zealand's attempts to rattle Ireland before the first Test may backfire, with the tourists' coach Andy Farrell saying his side have been made stronger by “backhanded compliments.”

Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova geared up for this year's tournament in style as she sailed past former Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 to capture the WTA 500 Eastbourne International crown on Saturday.

Artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez was dramatically rescued from the bottom of the pool by Team USA's head coach after fainting in a distressing scene at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced a sweeping overhaul of the circuit on Wednesday in a move designed to dissuade players from defecting to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.

Eight medical personnel will stand trial for alleged criminal neglect causing Argentine football legend Diego Maradona to die in bed while receiving post-surgery care.

Rafael Nadal's hopes of winning Wimbledon for the first time in over a decade and staying on track for the calendar year Grand Slam will meet a familiar adversary in Novak Djokovic who is bidding to extend his domination at the grass-court major.

McLaren Racing's head of commercial technology told Xinhua at the Collision ­technology conference on Wednesday that he hopes ­Formula 1 returns to China soon and that the country is “often the leaders” in innovation.

Nazem Kadri lashed in an overtime winner as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lighting 3-2 in overtime to move within one win of the Stanley Cup crown on Wednesday.

Japan is the home of judo but a brutal win-at-all-costs mentality, corporal punishment and pressure to lose weight are driving large numbers of children to quit, raising fears for the sport's future in its traditional powerhouse.

The packed stands at Epsom and Royal Ascot are just the images a sport wants beamed worldwide but away from the prestigious meetings racing faces a challenging time in attracting new spectators.

Missing from the Formula One calendar since 2019, the Canadian Grand Prix was back in race mode last weekend to the delight of drivers, fans and business owners who had missed the fast-paced action at the circuit during its forced ­COVID-19 hiatus.

Will Zalatoris battled for a major victory to the final green on Sunday at the US Open before settling for his third career major runner-up finish without winning a title.

Swimming will set up an "open category" to allow transgender athletes to compete as part of a new policy which will effectively ban them from women's races.

Katinka Hosszu, Krisztina Egerszegi, Tamas Darnyi, Hungarian water-polo team, all names that were synonymous with gold medals, an incredible feat from a small landlocked central European country with a population of barely 10 million, but little Hungary had better be taken seriously in any international swimming event.

Chinese swimmers grabbed their chances on the fourth day of the 19th FINA World Championships, winning a historic gold in artistic swimming, another gold and a bronze medal in the women's 200 meters freestyle on Tuesday.

Transgender cyclist Veronica Ivy questioned the move by swimming's governing body FINA to restrict the participation of trans athletes in elite women's competitions, telling Reuters that there had not been enough research to guide such decisions.

Brooks Koepka is expected to join the LIV Golf Series and participate in the first event in the United States on June 30, according to multiple reports.

Serena Williams admitted Tuesday that she feared her storied career was over after a leg injury at last year's Wimbledon forced her off tour for a year and saw her ranking plummet to 1,204 in the world.

A senior UEFA representative said on Tuesday he did not believe French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin's claims about the number of fake tickets in circulation during the chaotic scenes before last month's Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku will rejoin Inter Milan on a one-year loan deal after a disappointing spell with the Premier League club, according to reports on Tuesday.

Charles Leclerc left the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in defiant mood after Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix and insisted that he can overhaul Max Verstappen to win this year's world championship.

Garbine Muguruza kick-started a difficult season as the former Wimbledon champion beat Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) to reach the last 16 of the Eastbourne International on Monday.

Ryan Giggs resigned from his role as manager of Wales on Monday as the former Manchester United great awaits trial on an accusation of domestic violence. Giggs has been on leave since November 2020 when he was arrested.

The Tampa Bay Lightning showed their mettle when they rode a four-goal second period to a resounding 6-2 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Monday in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

World football's governing body FIFA and World Athletics said on Monday that they are reviewing their transgender eligibility policies after ­swimming passed new rules that restrict transgender ­participation in women's events.

American Katie Ledecky continued to pile up her gold medal collection on Monday after earning a record extending 17th world championship title with victory in the 1,500 meters freestyle.

China's twin sisters Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi won the gold medal in the artistic swimming women's technical duet at the 19th FINA World Championships on Sunday. The 25-year-olds scored 93.7536 points for the title.

Alfa Romeo's Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu scored his best-ever finish in F1 with eighth place in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, as Red Bull's Max Verstappen held off a late charge from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to take his sixth win of the 2022 Formula 1 season.

France international Kylian Mbappe on Sunday accused the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) of ignoring racist abuse after his penalty miss at Euro 2020.

England's Matt Fitzpatrick captured his first major title on Sunday by winning the US Open in dramatic fashion, making spectacular shots as rivals crumbled under final-round pressure.

Reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo extended his lead in the overall standings with a commanding performance despite feeling unwell to win the German MotoGP on Sunday.

Poland's Hubert Hurkacz showed his Wimbledon credentials on Sunday, hammering world No.1 Daniil Medvedev 6-1 6-4 to win the ATP 500 grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany.

More than half of all players at the finals of last year's European Championship and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) were subjected to some form of discriminatory abuse online, a report published by global football governing body FIFA has revealed.

Olympic silver medalist Katie Ledecky powered to victory in the women's 400 meters freestyle event on the opening day of the swimming world championships in Budapest on Saturday to capture a record-extending 16th gold medal in the competition.

Defending champion Jon Rahm, Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy - the world's three top-ranked players - ground out rounds Saturday to stay in contention at the US Open.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce hammered home her status as world championship favorite on Saturday by equaling her world best time this year to win the 100 meters at the Paris Diamond League meeting.

The Colorado Avalanche made good on their vow to avoid a letdown in Game 2, and now they're two wins away from winning it all.

Former world No.1 Naomi Osaka pulled out of Wimbledon for the second successive year on Saturday, blaming an Achilles injury.

The first-ever China Golf Association (CGA) International Junior Masters, a world-level competition for young golf talents, wrapped up in Boao, Hainan Province on Sunday.

Highflying skipper Babar Azam hopes that his extraordinary run-scoring can fire Pakistan to World Cup glory - and in the process fulfill a childhood dream.

Gareth Southgate was a national hero less than a year ago as he led England to a first major tournament final for 55 years but is now in the firing line after a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Hungary.

Yorkshire and a “number of individuals” have been charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board following the governing body's investigation into how the county dealt with racism allegations made by former player Azeem Rafiq.

Charles Leclerc is expecting another bumpy ride this weekend as he bids to put Ferrari's reliability problems behind him and reboot his title challenge at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Swiss prosecutor's office on Wednesday demanded a 20-month suspended jail sentence for Michel Platini and ex-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter, accusing them of defrauding football's governing body.

La Liga confirmed Wednesday it has filed complaints to UEFA about Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City "continuously breaching the current regulations of financial fair play."

Boston's backs are against the wall heading into Game 6 of the NBA Finals, but Celtics star Jaylen Brown vowed they won't back down against the Golden State Warriors.

Andre Burakovsky showed what championship experience means and put the Colorado Avalanche one game closer to their first title in 21 years.

Snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan said this week that China is primed to “monopolize” the sport and boasts three or four players who have recently emerged as potential world champions.

Manchester City are still waiting for their moment of Champions League glory, but by winning the race to sign Erling Haaland they have established themselves as a go-to destination for Europe's top talent.

Phil Bennett was considered to be the finest fly-half to play for Wales, pivotal to the country's glory years during the 1970s who became a cult figure due to a grievance-laced pre-match speech before facing England, the old enemy.

Fresh from a head-to-head match against her compatriot Han Xu in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), Li Yueru feels that Chinese women's basketball has earned recognition from the world's elite league in recent years.

England suffered their heaviest home defeat in nearly 100 years on Tuesday as Gareth Southgate's side went down 4-0 to Hungary in the UEFA Nations League, while it was also a night to forget for Italy as they lost 5-2 in Germany.

Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool had shown "decisiveness and ambition in equal measure" to land Darwin Nunez for a fee that could rise to a club-record 100 million euros ($105 million).

French Open finalist Casper Ruud crashed out of the Queen's grass-court tournament on Tuesday, beaten by British unknown Ryan Peniston in straight sets.

A hotly anticipated US Open starts Thursday that will test the world's top golfers over a formidable layout at a historic setting with a splash of controversy as well.

A longtime Phoenix Suns employee alleges that she resigned after experiencing bullying and hostile treatment she believes was in retaliation for her voicing concerns about gender equity and misconduct within the NBA team's organization, according to ESPN.

Luka Modric's early penalty gave Croatia a 1-0 win over off-form France in Paris on Monday as the World Cup holders finished their June run of UEFA Nations League matches without a victory in four outings.

Football's rules body on Monday said five substitutes would be permanently introduced for all top-level matches and a semi-automated offside detector is closer to being used at this year's World Cup.

Golf's fracture between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf series is the talk of the US Open and Justin Thomas is saddened by what it could mean for the sport.

Travis d'Arnaud, Marcell Ozuna, Adam Duvall, Dansby Swanson and Michael Harris II homered as the Atlanta Braves earned their 12th consecutive win, beating the host Washington Nationals 9-5 on Monday.

Los Angeles FC believe Giorgio Chiellini can propel the team towards a first Major League Soccer crown after the veteran Italy and Juventus defender confirmed his move to the club on Monday.

Andrew Wiggins scored 26 points as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Boston Celtics 104-94 to move within one win of a seventh NBA championship crown on Monday.

China secured their first victory of the men's 2022 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) on Sunday by overcoming hosts and defending champions Brazil 25-23, 31-29, 25-23.

Chinese players showed their strength on tennis court on Sunday to win three major titles and a total of six around the world.

Spain won a second successive UEFA Nations League match on Sunday with a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic while rivals Portugal conceded a goal after just 57 seconds to lose to Switzerland.

Rory McIlroy admitted he had been motivated by pulling clear of Greg Norman's PGA Tour title haul after surging to victory Sunday at the Canadian Open.

The feeling-out process is complete. All even at 2-2 in the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors now contest a best-of-three for the championship.

Cal Quantrill gave up one run over six innings and Jose Ramirez drove in three runs as the Cleveland Guardians rolled to a 6-3 victory over the visiting Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

World champion Max Verstappen led a Red Bull 1-2 in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix in a potentially key moment of the title race after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and Ferrari endured another dose of misery with a double retirement.