Digest

TRACK AND FIELD

Relay gold for China at Asian championships

The Chinese track and field team kick-started its campaign at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok on Wednesday with a relay gold and three silver medals.

In the women's 4x100m relay final, Liang Xiaojing, Wei Yongli, Yuan Qiqi and Ge Manqi clinched the title for China with a time of 43.35 seconds.

China's men had to settle for silver in their 4x100m relay final, despite the absence of Japan. The Chinese quartet could only clock 38.87 sec to finish second behind Thailand, who won in a national-record time of 38.55.

In the women's javelin, Tokyo Olympic champion Liu Shiying finished second (61.51 meters) behind Japan's Marina Saito (61.67m).

In the women's triple jump, Zeng Rui added another silver medal to the Chinese tally with her last leap of 14.01m. Japan's Mariko Morimoto won gold with her final jump of 14.06m.

SOCCER

Free World Cup tickets amid sluggish sales

A sponsor is giving away 20,000 tickets to FIFA Women's World Cup matches in New Zealand as ticket sales remain sluggish in a country in which rugby union dominates as the national sport.

According to FIFA, 1.25 million tickets have been sold for matches across co-hosts Australia and New Zealand. Around 320,000 of those have been sold for matches in New Zealand, but only six of those matches are close to a sellout.

On Thursday, the accounting firm Xero, a tournament partner, said it would offer 5,000 free tickets to a match at each of New Zealand's four venues.

Women's World Cup chief executive Dave Beeche told the New Zealand Herald that FIFA is "comfortable" with the current rate of ticket sales in New Zealand. He said sales had picked up in recent weeks as coverage of the tournament had increased.

Spieth, Thomas part of Leeds United takeover

Golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are set to become minority owners of English soccer club Leeds United, Spieth told Sky Sports on Wednesday.

Spieth and Thomas are investing in the San Francisco 49ers' ownership group, 49ers Enterprises, which is in the process of taking over Leeds after its relegation from the Premier League to the second-tier Championship for next season.

Spieth said fellow PGA Tour player Rickie Fowler decided against investing after Leeds was relegated.

"Relegation wasn't ideal," Spieth said, "but we got involved with the 49ers group about purchasing a larger share and getting in with them doing things so successfully as they do everywhere they've touched.

"We thought it would be a cool opportunity. It's a big city, historic club, great venue in Elland Road, and once we looked into it we realized it could be really exciting."

Leeds didn't specify the sale price for the remaining 56 percent but British media reported it to be 170 million pounds ($214 million).

AWARD

Mahomes, Shiffrin win top athlete honors

Patrick Mahomes was honored as best men's sports athlete at The ESPY Awards, while skier Mikaela Shiffrin received the women's sports honor on Wednesday night.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has won two Super Bowls in his five seasons in the NFL and was named MVP of the game each time, including this past February. He turns 28 in September.

"It was an incredible season. There were many ups, many downs," Mahomes said. "I appreciate my teammates, my coaches, the guys that are here. I go back to camp next Tuesday, so this is a great award. But we're going to do this thing again, we're going to keep this thing rolling."

Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race in March, breaking the mark set by Ingemar Stenmark for the most such wins by any skier. She went on to win an 88th Cup race, as well as the overall season title.

BASKETBALL

LeBron confirms he will play another season

LeBron James will play another season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 38-year-old superstar announced his intentions at The ESPY Awards on Wednesday night after accepting the record-breaking performance award for becoming the NBA's career scoring leader.

At the end of last season, James said he wasn't sure if he would be back.

"Can I give everything to the game still? The truth is I've been asking myself this question at the end of the season for a couple of years now. I just never openly talked about it," James said.

"I don't care how many more points I score or what I can and cannot do on the floor. The real question for me is can I play without cheating this game? The day I can't give the game everything on the floor is the day I'll be done. Lucky for you guys that day is not today."

The crowd at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood let out a huge cheer.

"So, yeah, I still got something left," James added. "A lot left."

Agencies