SOCCER
VAR changes made: Webb
Referees chief Howard Webb said steps have been taken to ensure there is no repeat of the video assistant referee (VAR) error that saw a legitimate goal by Liverpool’s Luis Diaz against Tottenham Hotspur disallowed. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) said that VAR got the offside decision wrong. “Having seen what happened in Spurs vs Liverpool we analyzed the situation, we had a look at what we can do better to put some safeguards in place,” PGMOL chief refereeing officer Webb told Match Officials: Mic’d Up. “We worked hard over the subsequent days to look at what we needed to do to put in those safeguards around the communication to avoid that sort of thing happening.”
SOCCER
UK, Ireland to host Euro 2028
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak celebrated the UK being named as hosts of UEFA Euro 2028 with Ireland by visiting England’s soccer players at St George’s Park on Tuesday. Sandwiched between Three Lions captain Harry Kane and manager Gareth Southgate, Sunak posed for photographs holding a No. 28 England jersey. “I grew up with Euro 96 being one of the most amazing memories of my childhood,” Sunak said in a statement. “We have a chance to do that all over again.” Kane, who would be a month shy of 35 when the Euro 2028 starts, said it would be a “dream come true” to win the tournament having lost the 2020 final to Italy at Wembley. “The perception in sport or football is that you hit 30 and people start to think it’s the end, but the way I am looking at it is that I almost have the second half of my career now,” England’s top scorer said.
GOLF
No rankings for LIV players
LIV Golf is playing only for cash, not world ranking points, after the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) board determined it could not fairly measure the 48-man league with the other 24 tours around the world. The OWGR rejected the application from Saudi-backed LIV Golf, first submitted in July last year after the league already had played two of its 54-hole, no-cut events. “We are not at war with them,” said Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board. “This decision not to make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 tours and thousands of players trying to compete on them.”
GYMNASTICS
Mary Lou Retton in ICU
Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton has pneumonia and is in an intensive care unit (ICU) in a Texas hospital. Retton’s daughter, McKenna Kelley, shared Retton’s condition in an Instagram post on Tuesday. Kelley said 55-year-old Retton, who became the first US woman to win the Olympic all-around title, is “fighting for her life” and not able to breathe on her own. Kelley started a fundraising campaign on Retton’s behalf for medical expenses, as she said Retton does not have medical insurance. Retton was 16 years old when she became an icon of the US Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. She also won two silver and two bronze medals at those Olympics to help bring gymnastics into the mainstream in the US.
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
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