Tottenham official Fabio Paratici to serve worldwide ban
Soccer
AP

Tottenham official Fabio Paratici to serve worldwide ban

  • By JAMES ROBSON - AP Soccer Writer
  • 0

Tottenham managing director of football Fabio Paratici will serve a worldwide ban for his part in a false accounting scandal involving Juventus. Italy’s most famous soccer team was hit with a 15-point penalty in January and bans were also handed out to a number of its officials. Paratici was the club's sporting director and was handed the longest ban of 2½ years by the Italian soccer federation. FIFA says that has now been extended worldwide. Paratici would have been expected to play a key role in identifying and hiring a successor to Antonio Conte at Tottenham.

Stakes high for Anthony Joshua ahead of fight with Franklin
Boxing
AP

Stakes high for Anthony Joshua ahead of fight with Franklin

  • By STEVE DOUGLAS - AP Sports Writer
  • 0

The stakes are high for Anthony Joshua in a fight that comes at a crossroads in his career. The former two-time world champion takes on American boxer Jermaine Franklin at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday. Joshua is coming off consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk that have damaged his status. His career would be pretty much in ruins if he also loses to Franklin. Joshua has been repeatedly asked if a loss would send him into retirement and he says that would at least free him from the pressure of an expectant public. Yet he is also talking about a possible blockbuster all-British heavyweight fight with Tyson Fury.

Leeds midfielder Tyler Adams set for spell out after surgery
Soccer
AP

Leeds midfielder Tyler Adams set for spell out after surgery

  • AP
  • 0

Leeds midfielder Tyler Adams is set for an extended spell out of the team after undergoing a hamstring operation. Adams missed the Premier League match at Wolverhampton on March 18 and didn’t play for the United States in its games against Grenada and El Salvador over the past week. The 24-year-old Adams has undergone what was described by Britain’s Press Association as a “non-invasive” procedure after consulting a specialist. Leeds is waiting to discover how much of the remainder of the season he is likely to miss. The club hasn’t commented officially on the length of Adams’ likely absence.

MATCHDAY: Lyon visits Chelsea in Women's Champions League QF
Soccer
AP

MATCHDAY: Lyon visits Chelsea in Women's Champions League QF

  • By The Associated Press
  • 0

Defending champion Lyon travels to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea for the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, trying to overcome a 1-0 deficit. The London club says more than 13,000 tickets have been sold, surpassing Chelsea women’s previous record for a Champions League home match. Chelsea is trying to become only the second team to defeat the holders over two legs in the competition since 2015. Wolfsburg has a 1-0 lead over Paris Saint-Germain in Thursday’s other game. PSG will be without the suspended Élisa de Almeida and defenders Paulina Dudek and Amanda Ilestedt, who are out injured.

Soccer
AP

President of French soccer club Angers steps down

  • AP
  • 0

Angers president Said Chabane has stepped down to make way for his son at the helm of the struggling French league club. Angers says Chabane resigned on March 21 to offer his position to Romain Chabane. Said Chabane is facing sexual assault accusations. Angers is in last place in the league standings with 10 matches left to play this season and looks set to be relegated to the second division. It has been a rocky month for Angers after coach Abdel Bouhazama also resigned after he appeared to downplay sexual harassment.

De la Fuente under pressure early as Spain’s new coach
Soccer
AP

De la Fuente under pressure early as Spain’s new coach

  • By TALES AZZONI - AP Sports Writer
  • Updated
  • 0

The Luis de la Fuente era in Spain is already being questioned after only two games. A lackluster win and a disappointing loss were enough to put the new coach under the spotlight. Spain needed two late goals in a hard-fought 3-0 win over Norway to open its qualifying campaign for the 2024 European Championship on Saturday. Then it fell 2-0 at Scotland on Tuesday after another poor performance. De la Fuente’s Spain showed some of the same problems from the past and the new coach is under pressure to show some significant improvement the next time Spain plays.

May Madness: This March, FAU coach has Owls on cusp of title
College
AP

May Madness: This March, FAU coach has Owls on cusp of title

  • By TIM REYNOLDS - AP Basketball Writer
  • Updated
  • 0

Dusty May is going to the Final Four and it's safe to say that few might have seen that coming. May had, to be fair, not much better than minimal name recognition when he took the Florida Atlantic job five years ago. That wasn’t the case with almost all the other FAU coaches over the years, names like Mike Jarvis and Matt Doherty and Michael Curry and Sidney Green and Rex Walters. And their FAU resumes don’t compare — some don’t come even close — to what May has done.

Baseball
AP

Michael Cunningham: It’s World Series or bust for Braves

  • Michael Cunningham - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)
  • 0

ATLANTA — My lasting memory of the 2022 Braves: Standing in the visiting clubhouse in Philadelphia while Dansby Swanson, moisture in his eyes, declared the whole season a failure. In that moment, the 101 wins and fifth straight National League East title didn’t matter much to Swanson. They’d…