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TOKYO DATES

Tokyo Olympics rescheduled

UNDATED (AP) — Tokyo Olympics organizers have rescheduled the Summer Games that were postponed last week by the coronavirus.

Organizers say the opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021, almost one year to the day the games originally were due to begin. There had been talk of switching the Olympics to spring, a move that would coincide with the blooming of Japan's famous cherry blossoms. But it would have clashed with European soccer and North American sports leagues.

The new Olympic dates conflict with the scheduled world championships in track and swimming, but those events are now expected to also be pushed back. All sports federations involved in the Olympics signed off on the new dates.

The governing body of track and field says it supports the new dates for the Tokyo Olympics and is working with organizers in Eugene, Oregon, to move its world championships to 2022.

In other Olympic news:

— Tokyo Olympic Committee CEO Toshiro Muto is promising transparency in calculating the costs of reschedule the Olympic Games. Katsuhiro Miyamoto, an emeritus professor of sports economics at Kansai University, puts the costs as high as $4 billion. That would cover the price of maintaining stadiums, refitting them, paying rentals, penalties and other expenses. Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. However, an audit bureau of the Japanese government says the costs are twice that much. All of the spending is public money except $5.6 billion from a privately funded operating budget.

NCAA-SPRING ELIGIBILITY

NCAA adds another year of eligibility for spring athletes

UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA will permit spring sport athletes who had their seasons shortened by the coronavirus outbreak to have an additional year of eligibility.

The NCAA Division I Council has voted to give college athletes who compete in spring sports such as baseball, softball and lacrosse a way to get back the season they lost. However, the council did not guarantee financial aid. Winter sports were not included in the decision.

The amount of scholarship money available to each athlete will be determined by the athlete's school. Roster limits will be adjusted to fit returning athletes along with incoming freshman.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-NATIONAL TENNIS CENTER

National Tennis Center aiding coronavirus battle

NEW YORK (AP) — The site of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York is going to be used for 350 temporary hospital beds and to prepare food packages during the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier says an area that houses indoor courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows will begin to be converted into a medical facility starting Tuesday.

New York state and city officials are trying to increase hospital capacity by up to 87,000 beds to handle the outbreak.

In other news involving the pandemic:

— USA Rugby has decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because its financial woes have been exacerbated by the coronavirus shutdown. USA Rugby has been in financial strife since 2018. A recent attempt to restructure was set back this month when it had to suspend all activities indefinitely in the face of the pandemic.

NBA-CELTICS-SMART

Smart says he’s been cleared

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart says he has been cleared by medical officials after testing positive for the new coronavirus earlier this month.

Smart posted a message on Twitter saying he was informed of the news Friday by the Massachusetts Department of Health. He thanked everyone for their support.

Boston played the Utah Jazz on March 6. Five days later, Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert announced he had tested positive for COVID-19, triggering rolling shutdowns of sports around the world.

Smart had been in isolation since testing positive on March 19 and was being monitored by Celtics medical staff. His teammates, coaches and staff members were also tested, but those tests have come back negative.

NFL-NEWS

Reid promotes probe, re-vote over post-ballot changes to CBA

UNDATED (AP) — Free agent safety Eric Reid wants the NFL's new collective bargaining agreement invalidated over language added following ratification of the pact earlier this month.

He is calling for an investigation and a re-vote.

In a letter to the NFLPA on Monday, Reid's lawyers said language posted on the players association's website after passage of the agreement by a 1,019-959 vote on March 15 contains different language than the one players signed off on.

The letter highlights a difference in wording in the section about the league's disability plan that affects hundreds, and potentially thousands, of ex-players who applied for Social Security disability insurance payments before Jan. 1, 2015. In the version the players received and approved, those offsets applied only to players who applied after Jan. 1, 2015.

The new CBA is set to begin with the upcoming 2020 season and extend through 2030.

Elsewhere in the NFL:

— Free-agent punter Sam Martin has signed a three-year, $7 million package with the Broncos. Martin has averaged 46 yards per punt with a 40.9-yard net average, 38 touchbacks and 175 punts inside the 20-yard line during his seven NFL seasons.

— Receiver Darius Jennings has signed a contract with the Chargers after spending the last two seasons with the Titans. Jennings led the league in kick return average in 2018 and had a 94-yard return for a touchdown against Miami. Jennings appeared in eight games for Tennessee last year before becoming a restricted free agent.

— The Steelers have signed three XFL players, givng one-year deals to defensive end Dewayne Hendrix, safety Tyree Kinnel and linebacker/long snapper Christian Kuntz. All three played in the startup league that suspended operations earlier this month because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-NBA

Perry opts for draft

UNDATED (AP) — Two more high-profile college basketball players are leaving campus early, while a third is giving it strong consideration.

Mississippi State forward Reggie Perry has entered the NBA draft. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound sophomore was selected as The Associated Press co-Southeastern Conference player of the year after ranking in the top 10 of several conference categories. Perry led the SEC in rebounds last season with 10.1 per game, ranked sixth in scoring at 17.4 points and ninth in blocks with 1.2.

Arizona State junior point guard Remy Martin has declared for the draft, saying he’s decided to take another step into making his dream a reality. Martin led the Sun Devils with 19.1 points. 4.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 2019-20, putting them on the cusp of a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance before the college basketball postseason was halted by the coronavirus. He was named first team all-Pac-12 by The Associated Press.

Michigan forward Isaiah Livers is applying for early entry into the NBA draft. However, the school says Livers is not hiring an agent and will work with the Michigan coaching staff during the evaluation and pre-draft processes. Even if a player does use an agent during the evaluation process, he can return to school without losing eligibility if he ends the relationship with the agent. Livers has started 46 games in three seasons at Michigan.

He led the Wolverines in scoring this season at 12.9 points per game, although he was limited to 21 games because of injury problems.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-MICHIGAN STATE-SEXUAL ASSAULT

Woman wants Michigan AG to investigate sexual assault accusation against MSU player

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a Michigan State basketball player is asking the Michigan attorney general's office to investigate, according to a published report.

Citing a police report and emails obtained through a public records request, ESPN is reporting that Michigan State University police told prosecutors they had probable cause that sophomore guard Brock Washington raped the woman on Jan. 19 while she was too intoxicated to consent. Police referred the case to county prosecutors, who declined to file charges this month.

An MSU police spokesman told ESPN on Monday that the attorney general's office requested the case file and the department was cooperating.

After a loss at Indiana on Jan. 23, coach Tom Izzo told reporters that Washington had been suspended. He did not elaborate.

Washington did not play again this season. He played a total of 19 minutes this season before the suspension.

MLB-RED SOX-SALE

Sale has elbow surgery

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox say starting pitcher Chris Sale has undergone successful Tommy John surgery.

Sale is expected to miss 14-15 months, which would bring him back in the middle of the 2021 season.

The Red Sox said during training camp that he had a flexor strain near the elbow, but the team hoped he would avoid ligament replacement surgery.

The seven-time All-Star is 109-73 in 10 major league seasons and entering the second season of a six-year, $160 million contract. He comes off his worst season as a full-time starter, going 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in 25 starts.

BOXING-SAUNDERS-LICENSE SUSPENDED

British boxer has license suspended over video comments

CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — British boxer Billy Joe Saunders had his boxing license suspended Monday after publishing a social media video in which he appeared to condone domestic violence amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The WBO super-middleweight champion filmed himself working out and offered men advice on how to hit their female partners during the lockdown.

The British Boxing Board of Control says it investigated Saunders’ comments and decided to suspend his license under the regulations for misconduct.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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