Sports News Roundup: U.S. Open protocols won't work for Halep; Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sports events around the world and more

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

U.S. Open protocols won't work for Halep, says coach Cahill

The COVID-19 protocols proposed by the U.S. Open organizers are "incredibly difficult" and would probably not work for world number two Simona Halep, her coach Darren Cahill said. The hardcourt major is scheduled to begin on Aug. 31 and men's world number one Novak Djokovic has already said that it would be "impossible" to play under the protocols, which would restrict players to their hotels with only one support staff.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sports events around the world

Major sports events around the world that are in the process of re-starting or which have been rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

SOCCER Red Sox confirm past racist incidents at Fenway

The Boston Red Sox, the last team in Major League Baseball to integrate, owned up to another ugly chapter in the their past on Wednesday. Former All-Star outfielder Torii Hunter recently said in an ESPN interview that he was "called the N-word in Boston 100 times. Little kids, with their parents right next to them. ... That's why I had a no-trade clause to Boston in every contract I had."

Meetings to feature chlorinated water jumps, sanitized sand pits

Athletics meeting organizers have been advised to put chlorine in the water jump, clean relay batons between each use and add a solution containing a virucide agent to sand pits as part of hygiene guidelines for events during the coronavirus pandemic. The sport's governing body, World Athletics, has issued 22 pages of guidelines which it said in a statement https://www.worldathletics.org/news/press-release/world-athletics-outbreak-prevention-guideline on Thursday were "based on scientific and medical knowledge of the virus responsible for Covid-19."

PGA Tour makes subdued return with moment of silence

Players stopped for a moment of silence to honor George Floyd as the PGA Tour's return following a three-month forced coronavirus hiatus got off to a subdued start on Thursday at the Charles Schwab Challenge. At 8:46 CT (1346 GMT) the horns sounded three times at stately Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas and across the sun-kissed layout players stopped in their tracks to honor Floyd, a black American man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck.

Qatar 2022 World Cup stadium workers went months without pay: Amnesty

A Qatari company helping build a 2022 World Cup stadium has been banned from the event's projects after its labourers went unpaid for months, organisers said on Thursday, in a case Amnesty International said showed inadequate worker welfare standards. Around 100 employees of a Qatari subcontractor, Qatar Meta Coats (QMC), working on the Al Bayt stadium went up to seven months without pay and continue to be owed unpaid salaries, Amnesty said in a report.

Diack tells court he slowed handling of Russian doping cases to save sponsorship

Lamine Diack, the former head of World Athletics, on Thursday told a French court he had slowed the handling of Russian doping cases between 2011-2013 to save a sponsorship deal with a Russian bank. Diack, 87, said he had not sought to protect the athletes caught up in the scandal, some of whom later competed in the London 2012 Olympics, but to ensure the cases did not come to public attention all at once. This, he said, would have caused a scandal.

LeBron James backs effort to prevent U.S. black vote suppression

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is starting a group with other black celebrities to work to prevent the suppression of the African-American vote, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. James' group, More Than a Vote, will be focused on educating and protecting black voters as well as energizing more to show up at the polls for the Nov. 3 U.S. elections, according to the person who declined to speak publicly about the campaign.

NASCAR bans Confederate flag from race tracks

NASCAR on Wednesday banned the Confederate flag from all races as the sport moved to distance itself from a checkered past on race amid global protests against the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody. The African American man died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25. As protests erupted, NASCAR promised to do more to address racial injustice and followed through on that with the Confederate flag ban.

NHL: Training camps can open on July 10, league says

Formal training camps for the 24 National Hockey League (NHL) teams that could return to action later this summer can open on July 10 if it is deemed safe to do so, the NHL and its players' union said on Thursday. The length of training camps and, therefore, the start date for a formal resumption of play will be determined at a later date, the NHL and NHL Players' Association said in a joint statement.