Reuters Sports News Summary

A total of 25 players and 10 team staff members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since testing began on June 23, the National Basketball Association said in a statement on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs. Sailing: Team New Zealand victim of 'sinister attack,' says Dalton

Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton said on Friday there had been a "deliberate" and "sinister" attempt to damage their reputation ahead of their America's Cup defence and that they were working with the government to address the issues. The team said earlier this week "informants" had been spreading "highly defamatory and inaccurate" allegations about some of the practices of America's Cup Events (ACE), a subsidiary of the team formed to organise and run the event. Australian Rules: COVID-19 spike chases AFL teams out of Victoria

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne has forced 10 Australian Football League (AFL) teams to move out of their home base in southern Victoria state as part of a revised schedule to preserve the integrity of the competition. The teams in the top flight of Australian Rules will base themselves and play matches in other states that have reined in the infection for the forseeable future, the AFL said on Friday. PGA Tour shortens players' path to return from COVID-19

The PGA Tour announced Wednesday that it will alter its health and safety plan to allow asymptomatic players a quicker road to return. Tour player Cameron Champ will be the first to take advantage of the new standards as he was allowed back into the field at this weekend's Rocket Mortgage Challenge at Detroit after three negative coronavirus tests in a 72-hour period. NFL: Redskins stadium sponsor FedEx requests team change its name

Key sponsor FedEx Corp has asked the Washington Redskins to change their name, adding to renewed calls for the NFL franchise to be rebranded. FedEx has the naming rights to the team's Landover, Maryland, stadium, known as FedExField, under a 27-year deal for which it paid $205 million in 1999, according to media reports at the time. Former boxing champ Roberto 'Hands of Stone' Duran recovers from COVID-19

Former world boxing champion Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran was wheeled out of a hospital amid applause from medical staff after recovering from the coronavirus, a social media post from the pugilist showed on Thursday. "It was a World Championship fight, which I was able to win in a team, with the support, care and dedication of a medical crew," Duran wrote on Instagram alongside a video in which hospital workers in scrubs and face masks waved Panamanian flags as he flashed a thumbs-up. NBA: Nine more players test positive for COVID-19

Nine more NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19, less than a week before teams are set to travel to Florida to resume the 2020 season. A total of 25 players and 10 team staff members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since testing began on June 23, the National Basketball Association said in a statement on Thursday. NFLPA hasn't signed off on two-game preseason: report

The NFL Players Association reportedly has not yet signed off on an abbreviated, two-game preseason. "Some in union leadership continue to question whether it's smart to play ANY preseason games," NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported late Wednesday. Tennis: American Gauff can improve the world, says Navratilova

American tennis player Coco Gauff can improve the world, 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova has said, lauding the teenage tennis prodigy for her role in the Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice. Gauff, 16, released a video on social media protesting killings of African-Americans in the United States amid widespread outrage across the country following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in police custody in Minneapolis. MLB will be lucky to finish season amid virus surge: Manfred

While attempting to clarify comments he made a day earlier that caused a bit of a stir, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday admitted the league will "be lucky" to play a full 60-game abbreviated season. During an interview on the "Dan Patrick Show" on Wednesday, Manfred said, "The reality is, we weren't going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went or any other factor." NFL to play 'Black national anthem' before Week one games

The NFL will play "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a song often referred to as the Black national anthem, prior to the kickoff of Week 1 games, a source familiar with the league's discussions told Reuters on Thursday. The song, written by James Weldon Johnson and his brother J. Rosamond Johnson in the early 1900s, will precede the traditional pre-game playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," the official national anthem.