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MLB-TESTING DELAYS
Nationals, Astros cancel workouts
WASHINGTON (AP) — Baseball’s two World Series finalists have each canceled workouts because of COVID-19 testing delays.
The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros called off training camp practices Monday after not receiving test results from Friday.
General manager Mike Rizzo of the champion Nationals said it’s not safe to continue with camp without accurate and timely testing. Rizzo called on Major League Baseball to work quickly to resolve issues with its lab to keep the season from being at risk.
Astros GM James Click speculated the July 4th holiday weekend contributed to the delay.
MLB said it addressed delays caused by the holiday weekend and doesn’t expect them to continue.
MLB-BRAVES-MARKAKIS
Markakis won't play this year
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Braves veteran outfielder Nick Markakis has become the latest player to opt out of the 2020 season due to increased concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
Markakis is the second Atlanta veteran in two days to announce plans to sit out the 60-game season, following right-hander Félix Hernández.
The 36-year-old Markakis says he was uneasy about playing the season without fans and then was swayed by his telephone conversation with teammate Freddie Freeman, who has tested positive for COVID-19 and has fever and other symptoms.
Dodgers pitcher David Price, Washington infielder Ryan Zimmerman and Colorado outfielder Ian Desmond are among other players who have opted out.
MLB-RANGERS-GALLO
Rangers' Gallo tests positive
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — All-Star slugger Joey Gallo has tested positive for the coronavirus and is missing the Texas Rangers’ summer camp. The outfielder has yet to show any symptoms of COVID-19.
Gallo had been among Rangers players who worked out for several weeks at their new ballpark before his positive test. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels says Gallo has had multiple tests, including one that came back negative. An initial test June 27 was positive, followed by a negative test and then another positive result Sunday.
Gallo is isolating at his Dallas apartment and away from teammates. Daniels says the teammates Gallo was around have tested negative.
GOLF-MEMORIAL-SPECTATORS
Plans for spectators are scrapped
UNDATED (AP) — The PGA Tour and the Memorial have scrapped state-approved plans to have limited spectators next week in Ohio.
The Memorial was scheduled to be the first tournament with spectators since golf return from the COVID-19 pandemic-caused shutdown. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine approved a plan for there to be 20% capacity at Muirfield Village. The tour said rapidly changing dynamics of the pandemic caused that to change.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan says golf needs to stay focused on health and safety. Muirfield Village is hosting back-to-back events. The Workday Charity Open this week was not planning on having fans.
TRUMP-BUBBA WALLACE
Trump lashes out at NASCAR, Bubba Wallace over flag, rope
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is criticizing NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag at its races and is going after its only Black driver.
After a weekend spent stoking division, Trump wrongly accused Bubba Wallace of perpetrating “a hoax” after one of his crew members discovered a rope shaped like a noose in a garage stall.
Federal authorities ruled last month that the rope had been hanging there since at least last October and was not a hate crime.
Trump is asking whether Wallace has “apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid.”
TRUMP-TEAM NAMES
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is criticizing two sports teams that are considering name changes in the wake of a national reckoning over racial injustice and inequality.
Trump tweeted Monday that, “They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct.”
The NFL’s Washington Redskins announced Friday that they had begun a “thorough review” of their name, which has been deemed offensive by Native American groups for decades. Hours later, the Indians baseball team announced that they, too, will review their long-debated name.
NFL-REDSKINS NAME
Native American groups ask NFL to force Redskins name change
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several Native American leaders and organizations have sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calling for the league to force Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the team name immediately.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press expresses concern that the organization’s process to review the name doesn’t involve consultation with those Native American leaders.
The team launched a “thorough review” of the name last week, while several prominent sponsors said it’s time to change it.
TENNIS-TIAFOE
Tiafoe won't play in team tennis
UNDATED (AP) — Frances Tiafoe will not play in the World TeamTennis season after testing positive for the coronavirus.
The American was playing in a weekend tournament in Atlanta and was tested after feeling symptoms during his match on Friday. He withdrew from the event the following day and said he was following the recommended quarantine protocol.
He was set to play for the Washington Kastles during the World TeamTennis season, set for July 12 to Aug. 2. It’s being played entirely at The Greenbrier in West Virginia because of the pandemic, instead of around the country as usual.
JAPAN-ALLOWING FANS
Japanese soccer and baseball to start allowing fans at games
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s professional baseball and soccer leagues will begin allowing fans this week.
Soccer and baseball officials say the first day with fans will be Friday. The maximum number will be 5,000 or 50% of stadium capacity, whichever is smaller. Officials say they plan to allow stadiums to be filled to 50% capacity beginning on Aug. 1.
Japan has largely held the coronavirus in check with only 1,000 deaths it a country of 126 million.
The United States has reported 130,000 deaths with a population of about 330 million. However, new cases have increased recently in Tokyo. New cases on Sunday in Tokyo topped 100 for the fourth straight day.
BLAGG RETIRES
British diver Blagg retires at 23 because of shoulder injury
LONDON (AP) — British diver Alicia Blagg says she is retiring from the sport because of a shoulder injury that has ended her chances of competing in a third Olympics at next year’s Tokyo Games.
The 23-year-old Blagg has won medals at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships but says “injury after injury” have taken a toll. Blagg had shoulder surgery in May 2019 to repair a torn labrum.
She previously had two wrist surgeries. Blagg competed at the London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She hoped to recover from the shoulder surgery and qualify for the Toyko Games.
BRITISH SPRINTER-POLICE
British Sprinter accuses London police of racial profiling
LONDON (AP) — British sprinter Bianca Williams and her partner have accused London police of racial profiling after officers stopped and searched the couple’s car.
Williams and Portuguese sprinter Ricardo dos Santos are both Black and were stopped in their Mercedes on Saturday. Williams says Metropolitan police “put out a fabricated report” about driving on the wrong side of the road. Video of the incident has circulated on social media.
Police say the car was stopped because it was being driven erratically and on the wrong side of the road, and refused to stop when asked.
The police say after reviews of social media video and the officers’ body cameras that they “are satisfied that there are no misconduct issues.”
ZANARDI INJURED
Zanardi undergoes facial reconstruction surgery
SIENA, Italy (AP) - Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi has undergone a five-hour surgery to reconstruct his face following a crash on his handbike last month.
It’s the third major surgery that Zanardi has had since he crashed his handbike into an oncoming truck near the Tuscan town of Pienza on June 19 during a relay event.
Dr. Paolo Gennaro of the Santa Maria alle Scotte Hospital in Siena says that because of the complexity of the fractures the operation required three-dimensional digital and computerized technology that was “made to measure” for Zanardi.
Zanardi was returned to the intensive care unit in a medically induced coma after the surgery.
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