Reuters Sports News Summary

However, Russian and Belarusian players will not receive the honor this year, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a news conference Wednesday before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. ATP roundup: Daniil Medvedev reaches quarters in Halle Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev delivered 10 aces while posting a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Ilya Ivashka on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Soccer-Infantino says soccer to be top U.S. sport by 2026 World Cup

FIFA president Gianni Infantino says he expects soccer to be the biggest sport in North America in time for the 2026 World Cup as the host cities for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico were announced on Thursday. World soccer governing body FIFA announced the 16 cities - 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada - that were successful from the 22 bids put forward in a special event at the Rockefeller Center in New York.

MLB roundup: Dodgers' Tyler Anderson nearly no-hits Angels

Tyler Anderson lost a no-hit bid with one out in the ninth inning while leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. On the verge of the third no-hitter of the major league season, Anderson struck out former American League MVP Mike Trout to open the ninth inning, but reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani ripped a line-drive triple to right, out of reach of a diving Mookie Betts toward the right-field line.

NHL: No summer trip to Russia, Belarus for Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup's annual summer travels will not include a stop in Russia or Belarus this year. Every member of the team that wins the NHL title typically gets to show off the trophy in their hometown. However, Russian and Belarusian players will not receive the honor this year, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a news conference Wednesday before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final.

ATP roundup: Daniil Medvedev reaches quarters in Halle

Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev delivered 10 aces while posting a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Ilya Ivashka on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany. Medvedev of Russia had to battle to win a first-set tiebreak before cruising through the second set. He saved all six break points while Ivashka of Belarus saved five of six.

Doping-Former international weightlifting heads banned for life over ITA charges

Tamas Ajan, the former head of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), and Nicu Vlad, the IWF's former vice-president have been banned from the sport for life for covering up doping offences, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Thursday. Hungarian Ajan, who has denied wrongdoing, and Romanian Vlad were charged with "complicity and tampering" in regard to doping offences by the ITA in June last year.

WTA roundup: Coco Gauff advances to quarters in Germany

Seventh-seeded Coco Gauff needed just 63 minutes to defeat Xinyu Wang 6-0, 6-4 on Thursday and advance to the quarterfinals of the bett1open in Berlin. Gauff won 82.1 percent of her first serves in the win. She will play No. 4 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the quarters.

Athletics-Norway's Ingebrigtsen powers to mile victory in Oslo

Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen stormed to victory in the mile race at the Wanda Diamond League meeting on Thursday, clocking a time of 3:46.46 to narrowly miss out on the European record of 3:46.32 in front of a raucous home crowd. Ingebrigtsen sat in behind the pacemaker for two laps before blazing away in pursuit of Steve Cram's 1985 mark, but despite running a personal best he came up short on a chilly, wet night in Oslo that was far from ideal for track and field.

Golf-McIlroy trails U.S. Open leader Hadwin by one, Mickelson struggles

Tournament favourite Rory McIlroy was among the five-man pack sitting one shot back of Canada's Adam Hadwin after the first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday while Phil Mickelson struggled a week after making his LIV Golf debut. Mickelson, playing on his 52nd birthday and three days after facing an onslaught of questions about his involvement with the Saudi-backed LIV series, shot an unsightly eight-over par 78 to sit near the bottom of the 156-player field at The Country Club.

Golf-Englishman Tarren takes misplaced clubs in stride at U.S. Open

Callum Tarren nearly had to get a new set of clubs for the U.S. Open after they were misplaced by an airline but that did not unsettle the unheralded Englishman who went out and grabbed a share of the first-round clubhouse lead on Thursday. The PGA Tour rookie flew into Boston from Toronto on Saturday but his clubs did not make the trip until the next day, which was actually an improvement compared to 2019 when he said they did not arrive until the eve of his first U.S. Open.

Basketball-Four-time WNBA champion Bird to retire after this season

Four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird said on Thursday that the 2022 season will be her last in professional basketball, after a two decade-long career. The 12-times Women's National Basketball Association All-Star was drafted first overall by the Seattle Storm, where she has played the entirety of her career in the top-flight North American league.