Wawrinka ends 2017 season to undergo knee surgery
World number four Stan Wawrinka announced that he will not defend his US Open title and miss the rest of the season after deciding to undergo knee surgery. The 32-year-old, who was seen struggling with a knee problem during his first-round loss to Daniil Medvedev at the Wimbledon, had earlier withdrawn from the upcoming Canadian Masters in Montreal. However, he has now decided to end his year early in order to cure the problem completely. Earlier, Serbian maestro Novak Djokovic also called an early end to his season to rest an elbow problem that forced him to retire during his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Tomas Berdych.
Annoyed Barca won't pay Neymar bonus
Barcelona won't pay a 26 million euro ($30.8 million) bonus to Neymar for renewing his contract with the Catalan giants in 2016, a club spokesman said after his decision to join Paris Saint-Germain for a world record transfer fee. Josep Vives admitted Barca had been left irritated by the Brazilian's decision to leave despite signing a new five-year deal last year as PSG paid his 222 million euro ($264 million) buyout clause to leave Barca powerless to prevent Neymar moving on. Barca had deposited the bonus with a notary to be paid on September 1 had Neymar remained at the club, but have already recovered the 26 million.
Imran Khan faces parliamentary probe into sexual harassment
Pakistan's flamboyant opposition leader Imran Khan faced a major crisis after the National Assembly decided to form a special committee to probe sexual harassment charges against him by a prominent woman lawmaker of his party. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, soon after the swearing-in of his cabinet, called for the formation of a special committee to investigate the allegations of harassment levelled against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former Pakistan cricket team captain Khan by the Member of the National Assembly, Ayesha Gulalai. Gulalai has alleged that Khan, 64, had hinted towards tying the knot in the texts sent to her, which also included lewd messages. Khan has rejected the allegations and said that the ruling PML-N has used her and bought her.
South Africa double stops England in their tracks
South Africa checked England's progress with two wickets in quick succession after lunch on the first day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford. Alastair Cook (46) and Essex teammate Tom Westley (29) both fell with the score on 92 as England saw two wickets go down for no runs in 19 balls. Dawid Malan helped England captain Joe Root put on 52 for the fourth wicket before, having battled hard, he fell to Morne Morkel for 18. At tea, England were 147 for four, with star batsman Root 34 not out after winning the toss. Ben Stokes, fresh from his man-of-the-match winning century in England's 239-run victory in the third Test at The Oval, was one not out. England were unchanged from the side that triumphed in The Oval's 100th Test, a result that left Root on the brink of a win in his first series as England captain at 2-1 up with one to play. Root won the toss and batted in overcast conditions just as he'd done at The Oval.
IOC defends stance on Russian doping
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended its stance on Russia despite being criticised for baulking at calls to ban the country outright from last year's Rio Olympics over doping. Russia was accused in a World Anti-Doping Agency report last year of widespread state-sponsored doping. Its athletics team was barred by the IAAF from the Rio Games and will also miss the IAAF World Championships that get under way later on Friday. But there was no blanket ban for Russia in Rio, the IOC coming under fire for instead allowing individual sports federations to decide which Russian athletes could compete. IOC president Thomas Bach insisted that the IAAF was a special case, outlining the "collusive cooperation" Russian elements had enjoyed with the disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack and other corrupt people at the heart of track and field.
ATK sign ex-Ireland forward Keane, Pune City Marcos Tebar
ATK roped in Republic of Ireland's record goalscorer Robbie Keane for the Indian Super League (ISL) season 4, the franchise said in a statement. The 37-year-old, who was a free-agent after leaving American football club LA Galaxy in 2016, will join former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Teddy Sheringha, who is the coach of defending champions ATK in the Kolkata outfit. Keane has been a prolific scorer playing for the Republic of Ireland with 146 International appearances and scoring 68 goals. Meanwhile, FC Pune City announced the signing of Spanish midfielder Marcos Tebar, who had last year represented Delhi Dynamos in the cash-rich football tournament. Tebar, a product of the famed Real Madrid Academy, represented Real Madrid Castilla (B Team) mostly.
Spanish motorcycling legend Angel Nieto dies at 70
Angel Nieto passed away at the Rosario Polyclinic in Ibiza, one of Spain's Balearic Islands, the MotoGP website reported. He was 70. A 13-time Grand Prix world champion in two categories, Nieto was seriously injured on July 26 when his quad bike collided with a car on the Mediterranean island, reports Efe. The Spaniard was placed in an induced coma, but doctors at the Rosario Polyclinic on Wednesday said he was in the process of being woken up. In a report this week, the hospital said the patient was "within normal limits" and there were no signs of complications. But that diagnosis changed drastically on Thursday morning, when he suffered a massive cerebral edema and was forced to undergo emergency surgery to ease pressure in his skull. He was pronounced dead at 7pm.
PKL: Patna Pirates extend Telugu Titans's losing streak
Hosts Telugu Titans losing streak continued as they suffered their fifth consecutive loss with a 36-43 defeat to double defending champions Patna Pirates in the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). Patna captain Pardeep Narwal (12 points) and Monu Gayat (10) played stellar roles in the second win on the trot for Patna Pirates over Telugu Titans in this edition at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium. Vinod Kumar, Jaideep and Manish picked up four tackle points each as they kept a check on Telugu raiders for the better part of the match. It was only towards the end that home captain Rahul Chaudhari (12 raiding points) made some impact to cut the deficit to seven at the end.
BCCI mulling pay hike for Indian women cricketers
After a tremendous performance by the Indian women's cricket team in the recently-concluded ICC Women's World Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling to offer them a substantial pay hike. According to the BCCI sources, a proposal has been floated to the treasurer of the BCCI to revise the women's cricketers pay and also clear their pending payment. Earlier, the BCCI had also announced a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh for each member of the World Cup squad and now it seems that the women cricketers are all set to get even richer. The proposal is likely to be discussed in the upcoming meeting of Committee of Administration (CoA) and the BCCI officials on August 9.
Players won cricket pay war: Allan Border
Former Australia skipper Allan Border believes it was the players who won the Australian cricket's pay war. The long standing pay dispute between Cricket Australia (CA) and Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) finally came to an end as an "in-principle agreement" was signed after final round of face-to-face negotiations on Thursday. The deal guarantees state and international players will pocket up to 30 per cent of an estimated USD 1.67 billion of revenue over the next five years, while female player payments will increase their stake from USD 7.5 million to USD 55.2 million. It also includes up to USD 30million for grassroots cricket. The deal will pave way for the nation's professional players to be re-contracted and for this month's scheduled Test tour to Bangladesh to proceed as planned.
