Digest

SNOOKER

Yan fends off fightback to set up Trump clash

China's Yan Bingtao set up a clash with world No 1 Judd Trump as the 20-year-old reached the last 16 of the Snooker World Championship with a 10-7 first-round victory over Elliot Slessor on Monday.

Yan dominated the first session 7-1 before Englishman Slessor staged a strong comeback to trail 9-7. World No 16 Yan, however, prevailed in the 17th frame to reach the second round at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre for the first time in his career.

Yan will next face reigning champion Trump, who came back from 5-2 down to knock out qualifier Tom Ford 10-8 last Friday.

Earlier on Monday, Ronnie O'Sullivan annihilated Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-1 in the fastest match ever played at the Crucible. Five-time world champion O'Sullivan only needed 108 minutes to book a second-round berth against China's No 1 Ding Junhui. The previous record for the fastest match was set last year when Shaun Murphy took 149 minutes to see off China's Luo Honghao 10-0.

In other action, world No 13 Jack Lisowski was edged 10-9 by Anthony McGill.

OLYMPICS

Japanese diver tests positive for COVID-19

Veteran diver Ken Terauchi has become the first member of the Japanese Olympic team to test positive for COVID-19.

The Kyodo news agency said that the 39-year-old Terauchi, who is being treated in hospital, first showed symptoms of the virus on July 25 and had a fever measuring over 37 Celsius on July 27 and 28.

He underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on Friday after finding out that an acquaintance he met after training in Osaka on July 24 had tested positive for the virus, Kyodo said.

Terauchi qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, which would be his sixth Games, along with teammate Sho Sakai after finishing seventh in the men's 3-meter synchronized competition at last year's world championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

BASKETBALL

Zion 'alive again' after shining in Pelicans win

Zion Williamson said he felt "alive again" after getting a chance to help his team close out a game.

Brandon Ingram scored 24 points, Williamson added 23 points and matched his career high with five assists in his most extensive playing time since the NBA restart, and the New Orleans Pelicans got a much-needed 109-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

"My competitive spirit was there and I'm glad coach and the whole team trusted me to finish the game out," Williamson said.

After being limited to a combined 29 minutes in his first two games back, Williamson played 25 minutes, although he appeared to get fatigued when he didn't hustle back on defense and was taken out with six minutes to play. But he returned a short time later and helped the Pelicans close on a 12-6 run.

"The medical guys thought that he was able to go back in and play,"Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said."He played really good down the stretch."

SOCCER

Espanyol wants La Liga relegation canceled

Espanyol called on La Liga to cancel its relegation on Monday as the end to the season in Spain continues to prove problematic following a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Despite finishing bottom of the table, Espanyol said in a statement the run-in had been "undoubtedly unfair in a sporting sense given the last stage of the league was not competed in the same, equal conditions as before the suspension".

Promotion and relegation in Spain has become a thorny issue after the second-division match between Fuenlabrada and Deportivo La Coruna on the final day of the season could not go ahead due to several Fuenlabrada players testing positive for the coronavirus.

Despite Espanyol's relegation, Team China striker Wu Lei has committed his future to the Barcelona-based club after being linked to several other European sides.

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

'The Rock' buys XFL for reported $15m

Former wrestling star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Monday said he has acquired the XFL.

The 48-year-old Johnson made the announcement on Twitter. The price reportedly is $15 million.

The XFL had eight franchises and played five games out of a planned 10-game schedule before canceling the remainder of its season in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It drew decent TV ratings early on and had deals with ESPN and Fox.

The league suspended operations and laid off all of its employees on April 10 and filed for bankruptcy protection on April 13.

Since ending his wrestling career, Johnson has became a movie star, including in the Fast & Furious and Jumanji franchises.

Spring football is a difficult challenge, as the Alliance of American Football found out in 2019, not lasting a full season either.

TENNIS

Ex-pro Puerta admits lying in doping case

Former pro player Mariano Puerta has admitted he lied to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reduce his suspension after a second positive doping test.

Four months after the high point of his career－the final of the 2005 French Open－the Argentine tested positive for etilefrine, a banned cardio-respiratory stimulant. He had also been caught in 2003 for the use of a banned anabolic steroid.

Puerta was initially suspended for eight years, but the penalty was reduced to two years thanks to a defense strategy that he said "was a lie".

"But I did not take any sporting advantage. I don't want to be seen as a deceiver," Puerta, who lost to Rafa Nadal in the 2005 Roland Garros final, said in an interview published by La Nacion on Monday.

Puerta's defense said he drank water from a glass used by his then wife Sol Estevanez to take effortil, a medication that contains etilefrine. He said the false claim was created by lawyer Eduardo Moline O'Connor, who died in 2014.

Xinhua - Agencies