Sports News Roundup: Swimming-Titmus ready to respond to McIntosh challenge at world championship trials; Golf-Asian Tour hoping rest of the world is not forgotten in new landscape and more

The announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf into one unified commercial entity on Tuesday shook golf and Ohanian and his tennis Hall of Fame wife Serena believe the TGL and their Los Angeles Golf Club team could also attract younger fans. Athletics-UK Athletics to receive 150,000 pounds to help stage Diamond League meet UK Sport has pledged up to 150,000 pounds ($188,000) to help UK Athletics stage next month's Diamond League meeting at the London Stadium, it said on Thursday.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 09-06-2023 13:32 IST | Created: 09-06-2023 13:28 IST
Sports News Roundup: Swimming-Titmus ready to respond to McIntosh challenge at world championship trials; Golf-Asian Tour hoping rest of the world is not forgotten in new landscape and more
Ariarne Titmus Image Credit: Flickr

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Swimming-Titmus ready to respond to McIntosh challenge at world championship trials

Two months on from Summer McIntosh's world record swims, Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus will have a chance to respond to the Canadian wunderkind's challenge at world championship trials in Melbourne next week. The rivalry between Titmus and U.S. great Katie Ledecky has ignited swimming in recent years but the pair face a new threat in 16-year-old McIntosh, who smashed Titmus's 400m freestyle world mark with a time of 3 minutes, 56.08 seconds at the Canadian swimming trials.

Golf-Asian Tour hoping rest of the world is not forgotten in new landscape

The Asian Tour is determined that the rest of the world outside of the United States and Europe is not forgotten when the dust settles on the merger between LIV Golf and the PGA and DP World Tours. Tuesday's announcement that the world's two biggest tours and the Saudi-backed circuit had ended two years of bitter conflict was accompanied by a statement that the new combined entity would "unify the game of golf, on a global basis". Commissioner Cho Minn Thant welcomed the deal on Wednesday and said it vindicated the Asian Tour's decision to throw in their lot with LIV Golf last year to bankroll an expanded and more lucrative schedule.

Soccer-Over one million tickets sold for Women's World Cup - FIFA

This year's Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is on track to become the most attended standalone women's sporting event ever with over one million tickets sold, FIFA said on Thursday. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the ninth edition of the Women's World Cup, which starts on July 20, has sold 1,032,884 tickets, surpassing the previous tournament in France in 2019.

Golf-Ohanian and Williams sisters taking up golf with TGL ownership

In a week that has seen a reshaping of golf's landscape a new player emerged on Thursday with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Serena and Venus Williams securing the first franchise in the TGL, the tech-forward team golf league developed by Tiger Woods. The announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf into one unified commercial entity on Tuesday shook golf and Ohanian and his tennis Hall of Fame wife Serena believe the TGL and their Los Angeles Golf Club team could also attract younger fans.

Athletics-UK Athletics to receive 150,000 pounds to help stage Diamond League meet

UK Sport has pledged up to 150,000 pounds ($188,000) to help UK Athletics stage next month's Diamond League meeting at the London Stadium, it said on Thursday. The grant, which comes from the National Lottery major event funding, is aimed at covering part of the projected deficit in hosting the July 23 event, said UK Sport, the country's governing sporting body.

NBA-Heat running out of time to find answer to Jokic

The dominance of Denver center Nikola Jokic through the first three games of the NBA Finals has dampened Miami's title hopes and the Heat must find a way to nullify the towering Serb if they are to avoid falling behind 3-1 in the championship series. Jokic had 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in the Nuggets' 109-94 victory on Wednesday that put them 2-1 up in the best-of-seven series. That effort saw him become the first player to log at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a Finals game.

Tennis-Swiatek sets up Muchova showdown for French Open crown

Defending champion Iga Swiatek was pushed hard by Beatriz Haddad Maia at the French Open on Thursday, but the top seed soaked up the pressure to overcome the Brazilian 6-2 7-6(7) and reach a third final in four years at Roland Garros. She will play on Saturday the unseeded Karolina Muchova, who saved a match point before overcoming second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5 to end the Belarusian's hopes of becoming world number one.

NBA-Heat forward Butler excited about Messi's impact in Miami

Six-times NBA All Star Jimmy Butler said he is excited about Lionel Messi's move to Inter Miami and that the Argentine World Cup winner will do a lot of good for U.S. soccer. Messi, 35, announced on Wednesday he plans to take his talent to South Beach after his contract with French champions Paris St Germain expires at the end of this month.

Saudi Arabia's golf coup highlights Biden's human rights bind

When Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a deal this week to merge with North America's top body in charge of professional golf, it signaled for some the completion of a U.S.-aided rehabilitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, five years after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that U.S. spy agencies believe he authorized. The deal - a three-way merger of U.S.-based PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the rival PIF-backed LIV circuit - was announced just as Washington's top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in the kingdom.

MLB roundup: Braves rally, win 10-inning slugfest vs. Mets

Ozzie Albies hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 13-10 win over the visiting New York Mets on Thursday and a sweep of the three-game series. Albies hit the second pitch he saw from Tommy Hunter (0-1) into the right field seats to extend Atlanta's winning streak to five games and hand New York its sixth consecutive loss.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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