Beckham on brink of firing up Miami

MIAMI - David Beckham is "at the finish line" in his quest to obtain approval for a Major League Soccer expansion club in Miami, MLS commissioner Don Garber told the Miami Herald on Tuesday.

Perez finally in good company

AKRON, Ohio - Pat Perez is in his 16th season on the PGA Tour and finally feeling like he's in the big leagues.

Del Potro dishes out sage advice

WASHINGTON - Juan Martin Del Potro has some advice for 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic as he prepares for a long break from tennis: stay home and play with the kids.

Driver-less Ariya iron-willed for title defense

ST ANDREWS, Scotland-Ariya Jutanugarn may be fighting a cold, but memories of her women's British Open win are keeping her warm as she prepares for her title defense at Kingsbarns this week.

Score board

Bolting up for last blast of Usainity

LONDON - In the unlikely case that the world of athletics did not know what it will be missing when Usain Bolt retires from the sport in less than two weeks' time, the Jamaican superstar's final pre-competition media conference rammed home the message on Tuesday.

After years of pain, Pearson has podium on radar

MELBOURNE - Australian hurdler Sally Pearson will return to the scene of her greatest triumph when the World Athletics Championships get underway at London Stadium, hopeful of capping an emotionally draining comeback with a spot on the podium.

Depleted Kenyans still ready to go the distance

NAIROBI - Kenya's athletes were set to fly to London's World Athletics Championships on Tuesday, their hopes for domination battered by the last-minute withdrawal of 800m Olympic champion David Rudisha with a quad injury.

Digest

Basketball

High hopes

When he was cleaning up his father's barn as a teenager, Sam Kendricks daydreamed about how cool it would be to travel the world and compete in the pole vault at the Olympics.

No end to gender questions for Semenya

CAPE TOWN - Caster Semenya is making a bold bid for double gold in the women's 800m and 1500m but her only guarantee at the World Athletics Championships in London is further scrutiny of the gender controversy that has dogged her career.

Russia doping ban likely to remain

The IAAF is not ready to lift Russia's suspension from track and field competitions as the country has "failed to fully accept the findings" of an investigation into its state-sponsored doping scheme.