Digest

EQUESTRIAN

Springsteen's daughter makes Olympic team

The daughter of rock icon Bruce Springsteen and singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa has been selected as one of four riders on the US show jumping team that will compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

US Equestrian announced Monday that Jessica Springsteen would be making her Olympic debut. The 29-year-old has said being selected would fulfill a lifelong dream.

Springsteen will team with Kent Farrington, Laura Kraut and McLain Ward when the equestrian competition begins Aug 3. The team will be led by chef d'equipe Robert Ridland and Lizzy Chesson.

"I feel very confident that the seasoned group of riders that we will be sending to Tokyo is in top current form and peaking at just the right time," Ridland said in a statement.

Farrington is 40, Ward 45 and Kraut 55, and the trio has competed at a combined seven Olympics.

Springsteen, ranked third behind Kraut and Ward, will be riding 12-year-old stallion Don Juan van de Donkhoeve.

TENNIS

Jabeur 'honored' to represent Africa

Ons Jabeur will not be lifting the Wimbledon women's singles trophy this year but she said she was "honored" to have represented Africa with such style and gusto.

Aryna Sabalenka ended Jabeur's historic run at Wimbledon, the second-seeded Belarus player's power getting the better of the guile of the Tunisian 6-4, 6-3 in 74 minutes.

Jabeur, though, took a lot of positives from the remarkable last few weeks which saw her become the first Arab woman to win a WTA event－the grass-court tournament in Birmingham.

She then beat three former Grand Slam title winners－Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Iga Swiatek－on her run to her second Grand Slam quarterfinal.

"I'm honored," she said about representing Africa at such a high-profile global sports event.

"Also trying to represent a whole continent for me is very important.

"I try to behave well and give the right example for the young generation, for people following.

"We're going through tough times in Tunisia with COVID and everything. I'm glad that I'm giving positive thoughts to people there."

SOCCER

Montreal pulls out of 2026 World Cup bid

Montreal has withdrawn its bid to be a site of the 2026 World Cup, leaving Edmonton, Alberta, and Toronto as the only Canadian cities.

Montreal said Tuesday that the Quebec provincial government had withdrawn its support.

Eighteen US stadiums in 17 areas are bidding for the event, with the Los Angeles area submitting both SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, site of the 1994 World Cup final. Three cities in Mexico are bidding.

The 2026 World Cup will be the first with 48 nations and the first with three co-hosts. FIFA selected the bid as joint host in June 2018.

Sixty games are to be played in the US, including all from the quarterfinals on. Canada and Mexico are to host 10 games each.

The bid plan envisioned 16 total sites for the tournament.

FIFA said Tuesday it plans to conduct venue visits from September to November and finalize selections during the first six months of 2022.

CYCLING

Cavendish closes on Tour de France record

Mark Cavendish won the 10th stage of the Tour de France in a mass sprint on Tuesday, putting himself within one win of Eddy Merckx's record haul of 34 at cycling's biggest race.

Slovenian phenom Tadej Pogacar retained the race leader's yellow jersey.

Back in the race for the first time since 2018, Cavendish has been dominating the sprints this summer, having already claimed three stages.

The British sprinter from the Isle of Man enjoyed a perfect lead-out from his Deceuninck-Quick Step teammates and comfortably edged Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen.

Following two hard stages in the Alps contested in terrible weather conditions, Pogacar finished safely in the main pack. The defending champion was on his guard in the last 20 kilometers on roads open to crosswinds and pushed hard to remain at the front as the peloton split in small groups.

Pogacar has already stamped his authority on the race. He avoided the crashes that pushed some pre-race favorites out of contention, asserted his authority during the first time trial and attacked relentlessly in the mountains to open a 2:01 gap over his closest rival, Ben O'Connor of Australia.

TABLE TENNIS

Veteran Samsonov withdraws from Tokyo

Six-time table tennis Olympian Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus has announced that he will not take part in this summer's Tokyo Olympic Games.

Table tennis' world governing body ITTF confirmed the 45-year-old paddler's decision without giving a reason.

Samsonov, who made his Olympic debut at Atlanta 1996, reached the men's singles semifinals in Rio 2016 but failed to win a medal.

His position in the men's singles draw of Tokyo 2020 will now be reallocated to the highest-ranked individual not yet qualified. Britain's Paul Drinkhall is next in line and is pending confirmation from his National Olympic Committee.

Drinkhall, 31, narrowly missed out on winning an Olympic spot at April's European qualification tournament, finishing in the first reserve spot.

Having reached the last 32 on home soil at London 2012, Drinkhall went one round further four years later in Rio.

The Olympic Games table tennis competition gets underway at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on July 24, with China going for a gold-medal sweep.

Xinhua - Agencies