Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.
Soccer-Spanish court throws out Rubiales’ pre-kiss defamation lawsuit
A Spanish court has dismissed a lawsuit by disgraced ex-soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales against coach Javier Clemente who had called Rubiales a “dangerous and ambitious guy” seeking “to get rich”, qualifying his comments as free speech. In its ruling seen by Reuters on Monday and dated Sept. 1 – amid an unrelated scandal over Rubiales’ behaviour at the Women’s World Cup last month – the Madrid court said that “we are dealing with a pure exercise of the right to freely express an opinion about a person who, moreover, is a public figure”.
Rugby-Portugal’s Pinto banned for two matches for kung fu kick, Simoes cleared
Portugal winger Vincent Pinto has been banned for two games for kicking Wales’s Josh Adams in the head while jumping to catch a high ball in a World Cup match in Nice last weekend.
Pinto was shown a yellow card, later upgraded to red, for the incident late in the Pool C match and his argument that it failed to meet the threshold for dismissal fell on fallow ground at a judicial hearing on Tuesday.
Tennis-Britain drawn to face Serbia in Davis Cup Final 8
Britain who topped Group B in the Davis Cup after their win over France on Sunday now face Serbia, as the draw for the Final 8 Knockout stage was announced on Tuesday. Serbia finished second behind Czech Republic, but clinched their place in the Final 8 with a win over Spain.
WTA roundup: Russian teen wins opener at Guangzhou
Russian 19-year-old Diana Shnaider took down eighth-seeded American Claire Liu 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Guangzhou Open on Monday in China. Shnaider won six straight games in the first set and came back from a 2-0 hole in the second set to win in 75 minutes. She broke Liu’s serve six times in eight chances.
Motor racing-Wolff says F1 risks disarray if Massa succeeds in title bid
Formula One risks disarray in the unlikely event of Felipe Massa winning a threatened legal claim for the 2008 world championship, according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. Former Ferrari driver Massa, now 42, has alleged he was denied the title by a “conspiracy” because the sport’s leaders knew the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was manipulated but took no action until a year later.
Golf-Travel mixup leaves Kang without clubs at Solheim Cup
Danielle Kang has had a stressful start to the Solheim Cup week as the American golfer’s clubs never made it onto her connecting flight to Spain where the prestigious international tournament begins in three days. A day after Kang and U.S. captain Stacy Lewis made desperate pleas on social media to locate her golf bag and get it on the next flight to Spain, the American was still without her clubs.
Soccer-Wounded Manchester United are a threat to Bayern, warns Kane
Harry Kane’s first Champions League game for Bayern Munich will be against familiar opposition on Wednesday when Manchester United visit the Allianz Arena and the England striker has warned against reading too much into their poor form. While Kane has scored four goals already in the Bundesliga and Bayern are level on points with the leaders, United have lost three of their opening five games, including last weekend’s 3-1 home reverse against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Soccer-Sweden’s women’s team will support Spain players if they boycott match
Sweden’s women’s team will support their Spain counterparts if they decide to boycott their Nations League fixture this week, midfielder Filippa Angeldahl said on Tuesday.
After most of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad were called up on Monday the players said they would continue their boycott of the national team, though some reported for training under the threat of being sanctioned.
Spain’s World Cup-winning rebels report for training under sanctions threat
Some of the rebel players from Spain’s World Cup-winning women’s squad who had threatened to boycott the national team in a push to stamp out sexism at the football federation (RFEF) on Tuesday reported for training under the threat of being sanctioned. Misa Rodriguez, Olga Carmona, Oihane Hernandez, Eva Navarro and Tere Abelleira, who had previously said they would not play for the team until further changes were applied at the Spanish football federation (RFEF), were escorted by police at Madrid’s airport as they headed for a training camp near Valencia.
Baseball-Ohtani has elbow procedure, won’t pitch again until 2025
Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani underwent a procedure to repair his right elbow on Tuesday and while he is expected to be able to hit on opening day of the 2024 season, he will not pitch again until 2025, his doctor said. The Angels last month said that the 29-year-old had a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and would not pitch again. An oblique injury suffered during batting practice ended his season entirely last weekend.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)