Reuters Sports News Summary

Doi, 32, ends a pro career that began in 2006 and featured one singles and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Golf-Rahm and Hatton to launch Europe's Ryder Cup bid European captain Luke Donald said Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will "bring fire and passion" to start Europe's bid to reclaim the Ryder Cup when they take on world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in Friday's opening foursomes match.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Golf-Volume turned up as Ryder Cup ready for lift-off

A spectacular fly past by the Italian air force's Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team drowned out the start of U.S. captain Zach Johnson's speech at the opening ceremony of the 44th Ryder Cup on Thursday. It could be a portent of things to come. Johnson's 12-man team will be defending the trophy the U.S won back with a crushing victory at Whistling Straits in 2021 but will have to block out raucous home support at the Marco Simone Country Club, east of Rome.

WTA roundup: Misaki Doi's career ends in Tokyo

No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1 in the final match of the Japanese player's career on Thursday at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Sakkari struck 25 winners and did not face a break point in the 65-minute victory, advancing to the quarterfinals to face No. 5 seed Caroline Garcia of France. Doi, 32, ends a pro career that began in 2006 and featured one singles and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour.

Golf-Rahm and Hatton to launch Europe's Ryder Cup bid

European captain Luke Donald said Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will "bring fire and passion" to start Europe's bid to reclaim the Ryder Cup when they take on world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in Friday's opening foursomes match. The captains revealed their morning groupings during Thursday's opening ceremony and Donald said of his first two men out: "They are very passionate. I think Jon feeds off a playing partner with similar kind of fire and passion. He wants to feel like he's out there with a team mate that's really engaged with him. Tyrrell really fits that bill.

NFL eyes Spain, France and Brazil as sites for future international games

Spain, France, Brazil and even Australia are being looked at as possible future sites for NFL regular season games as the league ramps up its efforts to grow the game abroad, a league official said. The NFL kicks off the first of this season's international games on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London before the series shifts for the first time to Frankfurt for two games starting Nov. 5.

PGA Tour in deal talks with Endeavor, Fenway Sports - source

Endeavor Group and Boston Red Sox owner Fenway Sports Group have expressed interest in investing in the PGA Tour, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. Any potential transaction would rival PGA's deal with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). First unveiled in June, the deal has divided the golfing world and irked some U.S. lawmakers.

Soccer-Napoli say they never intended to offend Osimhen amid row

Napoli said on Thursday they never intended to offend their striker Victor Osimhen with mocking social media videos, but the Serie A champions stopped short of apologising to the Nigeria international. The Italian side posted a video on TikTok with a high pitched voice showing Osimhen missing a penalty in their 0-0 draw against Bologna on Sunday, which was later deleted.

Football-XFL and USFL announce intent to merge

The XFL and USFL said on Thursday that the two troubled American grid iron leagues plan to merge and begin play next year. The XFL is owned by movie star Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson while the USFL is under the ownership of Fox Corp.

Doping-CAS adjourns Valieva case, hearing to resume in November

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's doping case has been adjourned until November after a panel of arbitrators asked for further documentation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Thursday. Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in December 2021, but the result was only made known a day after she helped her country win the team gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022.

Factbox-Rugby-World Cup 2023 knockout stage: which teams will qualify?

The knockout stage of the 2023 Rugby World Cup will begin on Oct. 14. The following is a look at the teams who have qualified for the quarter-finals, schedule and betting odds: POOL C

Soccer-Atletico hang on to beat Osasuna 2-0 in ill-tempered match

Goals from Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo Riquelme earned Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win over Osasuna in a bad-tempered LaLiga encounter which ended with both teams reduced to 10 men on Thursday. Atletico, who have a game in hand, moved up to fifth place in the LaLiga standings on 13 points, six behind surprise leaders Girona. Real Madrid are second on 18 points, one ahead of champions Barcelona.

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