Reuters Sports News Summary

Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Tennis-Williams sisters, Kenin withdraw from Western & Southern Open

Venus and Serena Williams as well fellow American Sofia Kenin on Tuesday withdrew from the upcoming Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, dimming the star power at the U.S. Open tune-up event. "Unfortunately, I will not be playing in the Western & Southern Open next week as I am still in recovery from my leg injury at Wimbledon," two-time champion Serena said in a tournament press release.

Belarus Olympic Committee calls U.S. sanctions 'absurd'

The Belarusian Olympic Committee (BOC) on Tuesday dismissed U.S. sanctions, imposed against it for alleged facilitation of money laundering and evasion of existing sanctions, as baseless and absurd. Washington on Monday slapped new sanctions on several Belarusian individuals and entities, including its Olympic committee, with the aim of punishing hardline president Alexander Lukashenko.

MLB roundup: Rays top Red Sox to pad AL East lead

Francisco Mejia cleared the bases with a single during a four-run ninth inning as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays rallied past the slumping Boston Red Sox 8-4 in the opener of a key three-game series Tuesday night. Ji-Man Choi tied the game with a pinch-hit two-run double in the seventh as the Rays extended their winning streak to five. Tampa Bay has beaten Boston in six straight to pull ahead by five games in the American League East standings.

Tennis-Nadal withdraws from Toronto Masters with persistent foot injury

World number four Rafa Nadal on Tuesday said he had withdrawn from the Masters 1000 hardcourt event underway in Toronto due to persistent pain in his injured left foot. The injury kept the 20-time Grand Slam champion out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics this year and played a role in his shock third-round exit at the Washington Open last week.

Messi dreams of delivering PSG elusive Champions League crown

Lionel Messi said on Wednesday he wanted to power Paris St Germain to their first Champions League trophy, putting the tearful farewell he bade to Barcelona behind him after signing a two-year contract with the deep-pocketed French soccer powerhouse. Messi joined the star-studded PSG as a free agent after Barcelona, where he begun and always imagined he would play out his career, acknowledged last week they could no longer afford him.

The pull of brand Messi: shirts, social media and TV rights

Replica shirts bearing his name are flying off the shelves, followers are flocking by the million to his new club's social media accounts and TV rights suddenly look a bargain: Lionel Messi's arrival in Paris has set the money train in motion. Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi bluntly told reporters on Wednesday that people would be "shocked" by the revenue the 34-year-old six-time Ballon d'Or soccer world player of the year would bring to the club he joined as a free agent the previous day.

NBA-Westbrook 'all ears' as he joins LeBron and AD on Lakers

The biggest move of a busy NBA offseason was Russell Westbrook's return to his native Los Angeles to join the Lakers franchise he grew up worshipping. But as soon as the trade was announced, questions sprung up about how the ball dominant guard would fit in alongside demanding floor general LeBron James in an offense built around maximizing the generational talent of forward Anthony Davis.

Olympic body lambasts 'cruel' 28-day quarantine for athletes returning to South Australia

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has labelled the government of South Australia "cruel and uncaring" for imposing an extra two-week quarantine for athletes returning via Sydney from the Tokyo Games, meaning a 28 days of quarantine in total. The additional quarantine requirement for athletes currently isolating in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, comes on top of the two weeks mandated for all arrivals from overseas.

Soccer-Row deepens over La Liga private equity deal

Squabbling between Spanish football's power brokers over a tie-up between its elite leagues and a private equity firm intensified on Wednesday, as the body representing lower-tier professional sides joined the two biggest in rejecting it. La Liga, which covers the top two soccer divisions, announced last week it would get 2.7 billion euros ($3.2 billion) of funding from CVC Capital Partners, with 90% of that going to clubs and the firm in return getting 10% of La Liga's revenue and a 10% stake in most of its business.

Boxing-Venezuelan refugee Olympic boxer says he will be taken in by Uruguay

Venezuelan boxer Eldric Sella, who represented the Refugee Olympic Team at the Tokyo Games, said on Tuesday he will move to Uruguay after being unable to return to Trinidad and Tobago, where he had been living. Sella lasted only 67 seconds in his first Olympic fight, leading him to apologize for his loss and generating a wave of solidarity among Venezuelans who him as an icon of the difficulties suffered under the country's economic crisis.

Source: Dev Discourse