Latest - Auckland Tuatara will return to Australian Baseball League for the 2022/23 season after a two-year hiatus.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Tuatara entered the league in the 2018/19 season and had a playoff push in 2019/20 before dropping out of the league in November 2020 due to Covid-19.
The Auckland side joins six teams from Australia in the ABL for the upcoming season.
The 2021/22 ABL season was abandoned after initial delays as Covid-19 restrictions continued.
Auckland Tuatara chief executive officer Regan Wood said it was an important step for the history of club that plays out of North Harbour Stadium.
"We think we contribute; we bring a different style of baseball. Our coaching staff want to win baseball, they want to win every day. But we also want to make sure we engage with the public.
"One of our goals is to have the largest crowd, one of our goals is to have the most amount of people turning up to a game. We are refreshed and we're looking forward to playing again."
Pulse midcourter suffers season-ending injury
Pulse midcourter Paris Lokotui will miss the rest of the ANZ Premiership netball season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee.
Lokotui, 20, suffered the injury in the opening minutes of the match against the Southern Steel in Dunedin on 9 May.
In her second season with the Pulse, Lokotui was making progress this year after transitioning into the midcourt in 2021, an impressive debut season resulting in selection to the 2021/22 Silver Ferns Development squad.
Central Manawa midcourter Ainsleyana Puleiata will replace Lokotui in the Pulse line-up, fresh off helping Manawa secure a fourth national league title.
Puleiata, 21, is no stranger to the Pulse, having previously been a training partner while also adding valuable cover this year during the challenges thrown up by Covid.
Puleiata has developed a strong mental fortitude and created her own inspirational story after bouncing back from two ACL ruptures of her own during her young career.
Magic upset Mystics
The bottom of the table Magic have upset the top of the table Mystics 48-47 in their ANZ netball Premiership game in Auckland.
Ameliaranne Ekenasio Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
It is just the Magic's second win of the season.
After fading late in their recent matches - and fearing they'd go through a second season with just one win - the Magic came out on top of a classic see-saw battle on the Mystic's home court in Auckland.
It may have been a low-scoring "ugly" affair - as Magic shooter Ameliaranne Ekenasio called it - but the Magic's dogged defence paid dividends in the end.
And they can now claim to be the only team who have beaten the Mystics twice this year.
The Mystics were without their star shooter, Grace Nweke - in the crowd on crutches with an ankle injury - so they turned to Monica Falkner and Filda Vui to hold up their shooting end.
Mahmood out for the season
England's fast bowling contingent has been dealt another blow with seamer Saqib Mahmood out for the season with a stress fracture in his back.
Lancashire bowler Mahmood last played for his county in April and complained of back pain, with scans revealing a fracture.
England return to action next month when world test champions New Zealand begin a three-match tour at Lord's on June 2 but fellow fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are also sidelined as they continue to recover from elbow surgeries.
The 25-year-old quick, capable of bowling at 90 miles per hour and generating reverse swing with the old ball, made his England test debut earlier this year in the Caribbean.
-Reuters
IOC to allow Russians at board meeting
Russian members of the International Olympic Committee can take part in this week's IOC session despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the Olympic body saying they are not representatives of their country.
Russia currently has two members on the IOC with former pole vault Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva and Shamil Tarpishchev. Longtime former member Vitaly Smirnov is an honorary IOC member.
"Under the Olympic Charter, the IOC members are not representatives of their country within the IOC," an IOC spokesperson said in response to questions on the eligibility of Russian IOC members at the session.
The IOC is holding its executive board and session from Wednesday to Friday with members either attending in person in Lausanne, Switzerland, or joining online.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in February, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", many sports bodies have moved events and suspended Russian teams or athletes while sponsors have ended contracts in protest.
The IOC has recommended events in Russia be cancelled or relocated and that Russian and Belarusian athletes not take part or compete under a neutral flag.
-Reuters
F1 right to ban jewellery
Formula One is right to ban jewellery from the cockpit but the governing FIA could have enforced the rule in a less confrontational way, according to Grand Prix Drivers' Association chairman Alex Wurz.
Lewis Hamilton Photo:
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and the FIA were in a standoff at this month's Miami Grand Prix over piercings the Mercedes driver has raced with for years and said he could not remove.
Hamilton has been told to take them out by the Monaco Grand Prix on May 29 but has said he has no intention of doing so.
"It is a rule for the right reasons," former Benetton, McLaren and Williams driver Wurz, who is heavily involved in driver safety and education, told Reuters.
"I would have probably liked a slightly different approach of how to deliver the message.
The ban on jewellery, as well as the wearing of non-compliant under-garments, has long been in the rules but rarely enforced until the FIA clamped down this season.
It says items beneath the mandatory flameproof clothing could increase the risk of burn injuries and has highlighted the risk of critical delays or complications if medical imaging is required following an accident.
-Reuters
Monfils won't play Roland Garros
Local hope Gael Monfils will not compete at the French Open later this month as he goes under the knife to fix a problem with his right heel.
The 22nd-ranked Monfils started the year well, winning his 11th ATP tour title in a tune-up event in Adelaide before reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals in January, where he was beaten by Matteo Berrettini.
He has struggled in recent months, however, failing to go past the round of 16 in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid.
Monfils, 35, reached the last four at the 2008 French Open and repeated the feat eight years later at the 2016 U.S. Open but has never reached a Grand Slam final.
The French Open begins on May 22.
-Reuters
City to "give their lives"
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said they are ready to "give their lives" in the final match of the season to retain the Premier League title in front of their supporters.
Pep Guardiola Photo: PHOTOSPORT
City were held to a 2-2 draw at West Ham United in their penultimate game yesterday, taking them four points clear of Liverpool, who can narrow the gap to one point when they travel to Southampton tomorrow.
City then host Aston Villa and Liverpool host Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day of the campaign.
"Next week our stadium will be sold out, we will give them our lives and they will give theirs, all together," Guardiola said. "To do it is an incredible privilege, after many years.
"To have our chance with our people, to win one game to be champions. I'm looking forward to it."
While City could be crowned champions on Tuesday if Liverpool lose, Guardiola said he was only focused on his own side.
"If they lose or win it depends on us do the most perfect game we possibly can do," Guardiola added.
-Reuters
Win for son of Djokovic
Novak Djokovic said his seven-year-old son Stefan had won his first tournament on the same day the Serb lifted his first crown in more than six months at the Italian Open, describing their success as a "sunshine double".
Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to triumph in Rome yesterday, ensuring a perfect week for the world number one before the French Open starting on May 22, but the 20-times Grand Slam winner was equally pleased for his son.
"The journey started successfully. My son won a tournament today. A sunshine double," Djokovic said, adding that his son's victory at the small club tournament would stick in his memory.
"I wanted him to enjoy it on the court... He was on cloud nine with the family, my parents, my wife's parents, everybody supporting him. It's nice."
Djokovic said he would fully support his son if he decided to pursue a career in tennis.
"He's only seven... He shouldn't feel any pressure or expectations yet, though he's going to because it's part of his family. He's going to attract a lot of attention if he's playing tennis, particularly in our country," Djokovic added.
-Reuters
