Digest

SOCCER

United confirms exit of teenager Gomes

Manchester United confirmed on Wednesday that Angel Gomes has left the club after the highly rated 19-year-old rejected a new contract.

Gomes joined United's youth academy when he was 6 years old and made his first-team debut at the age of 16 in 2017. The attacking midfielder made 10 senior appearances in total. His last game for the Old Trafford outfit was a 4-0 win over Norwich City in January.

"Everybody at Manchester United would like to wish Angel the very best of luck for the future and thank him for his efforts for the club," said a United statement.

According to British media reports, Gomes rejected an offer of 30,000 pounds ($37,400) per week because he was not assured of regular playing time under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Bayern closing on deal for City's Sane

Leroy Sane

Bayern Munich is close to buying Germany forward Leroy Sane from Manchester City, the Bavarian club said on the same day it signed defender Tanguy Nianzou Kouassi from Paris Saint-Germain.

Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said on Wednesday that Bayern was "in very good talks" with City and Sane's representatives."Now we obviously all have to be patient," he added.

City manager Pep Guardiola wished Sane well.

"There are some little issues but it looks like he is going to Munich," Guardiola said."We wish him all the best and big thanks for our years together. He will have another chapter at a fantastic club.

"Everyone has their own life and he decided to move on. I would have loved for him to stay but he believed he would be better and happier there."

Kouassi is an 18-year-old centerback who made his first appearance for PSG in December and went on to feature 13 times across all competitions.

BASKETBALL

Yi racks up record in Guangdong rout

Yi Jianlian

Yi Jianlian became the CBA's all-time leading regular-season scorer as the Guangdong Southern Tigers smashed the Beijing Royal Fighters 136-91 in Dongguan on Wednesday.

With 5:44 remaining on the clock, Yi dunked his way into the history books with his 9,277th point surpassing Liu Wei's previous record (9,275).

The ease with which Guangdong won came as little surprise after Royal Fighters coach Stephon Marbury rested his three leading players－Sun Yue, Wang Shaojie and Kyle Fogg.

Sonny Weems racked up 27 points, 10 assists and six rebounds to take the game beyond Beijing's reach as the league-leading Southern Tigers stayed perfect since the season's behind-closed-doors resumption on June 20.

"Those guys played a great game, although Guangdong was aggressive. They came out with an impressive whole-court press," Marbury said.

Lakers still hopeful Howard will play

Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard's status for the resumption of the NBA season remains uncertain, but the Los Angeles Lakers don't plan to replace him on the roster.

Coach Frank Vogel confirmed the team's position on Wednesday while speaking on a conference call with media members.

"We've been in communication with Dwight the whole way," Vogel said. "We don't know what the level of participation is yet. He wants to play. We're hopeful he's able to join us. We're hopeful and optimistic that he'll be able to join us in Orlando.

"We don't have any intention of replacing Dwight's roster spot when we believe he'll hopefully be able to join us."

The Lakers and 21 other NBA teams will head to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando next week ahead of the restart of play July 30.

Free-agent guard JR Smith, meanwhile, has signed with the Lakers for the rest of the season to aid their championship push.

Rockets' Sefolosha opts out of restart

Houston's Thabo Sefolosha has opted out of the NBA's restart in Orlando, a source familiar with the decision told Associated Press.

The source spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday because the decision hasn't been announced.

Sefolosha is in his first season with the Rockets. He averaged 2.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 41 games.

The 36-year-old is a 15-year NBA veteran who has also played for Utah, Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Chicago.

The Rockets are scheduled to resume the season on July 31 against the Dallas Mavericks.

NFL

League cutting preseason in half

The NFL will cut its preseason in half and push back the start of exhibition play so teams have more time to train following an all-virtual offseason made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic, a source told Associated Press.

The pandemic forced teams to conduct their entire offseason programs via videoconference. Teams will, therefore, be gathering together for the first time when training camps open July 28.

Minus the usual mini-camps, on-field practices and in-person weight training from April to June, players' conditioning won't be what it normally is. So, eliminating the first week of preseason games Aug 13-16 will give them more time to ratchet up their football fitness.

Teams will now play exhibitions Aug 20-24 and Aug 27-31 during what were originally the second and third weeks of exhibition play, with all 32 teams playing one home and one road game.

Xinhua - Agencies