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July 9 : Matthieu Jalibert has been selected to start at fullback for France’s Nations Championship fixture against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday, but he faces a late fitness test on a troublesome calf injury.

• Coach Fabien Galthie has made eight changes to the side that narrowly lost 34-32 to New Zealand in their tournament opener and is hoping Jalibert, who played at flyhalf last weekend, comes through Friday’s final training session.

• Should Jalibert be unavailable, Antoine Hastoy will wear the number 15 jersey, after his impressive performance as a late replacement against the All Blacks, while Romain Ntamack is at flyhalf.

• “I promised Matthieu the first test match (at flyhalf) and Romain the second. They were promises, so I’m keeping them,” Galthie said.

• 2024 Olympic Sevens rugby gold medallist Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang earns a first cap on the wing in a back three that also includes Jalibert and Theo Attissogbe.

• Australia-born prop Moses Alo-Emile will also earn his first cap as part of a forward pack with five changes. Only fellow prop Demba Bamba, number eight Marko Gazzotti and flanker Oscar Jegou remain from the side that lost to New Zealand.

• Starting XV: 15-Matthieu Jalibert, 14-Theo Attissogbe, 13-Fabien Brau-Boirie, 12-Yoram Moefana, 11-Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, 10-Romain Ntamack, 9-Maxime Lucu (captain), 8-Marko Gazzotti, 7-Oscar Jegou, 6-Lenni Nouchi, 5-Emmanuel Meafou, 4-Florian Verhaeghe, 3-Demba Bamba, 2-Peato Mauvaka, 1-Moses Alo-Emile

• Replacements: 16-Maxime Lamothe, 17-Jefferson Poirot, 18-Tevita Tatafu, 19-Hugo Auradou, 20-Tom Staniforth, 21-Killian Tixeront, 22-Nolann Le Garrec, 23-Kalvin Gourgues.

July 9 : Finn Russell has recovered from a calf injury and will start at flyhalf in Scotland’s Nations Championship fixture against hosts South Africa in Pretoria on Saturday, one of three changes to the starting XV by coach Gregor Townsend.

• The other two changes see prop Zander Fagerson and lock Gregor Brown promoted to start after coming off the bench in last weekend’s 47-38 victory in Argentina.

• Fagerson lines up at tighthead after a tour-ending injury to Elliot Millar Mills in Cordoba, joining Pierre Schoeman and Ewan Ashman in the front row.

• Ben White partners Russell in the half-backs, while Rory Hutchinson retains his place at outside centre, forming a midfield partnership with captain Sione Tuipulotu.

• An all-Glasgow Warriors back-three sees Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie selected on the wings, with Kyle Rowe at fullback.

• A six-two split of forwards and backs on the replacements bench sees prop Rory Sutherland in line to win his 50th cap should he come onto the field.

• Starting XV: 15-Kyle Rowe, 14-Kyle Steyn, 13-Rory Hutchinson, 12-Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 11-Jamie Dobie, 10-Finn Russell, 9-Ben White, 8-Jack Dempsey, 7-Rory Darge, 6-Matt Fagerson, 5-Scott Cummings, 4-Gregor Brown, 3-Zander Fagerson, 2-Ewan Ashman, 1-Pierre Schoeman

• Replacements: 16-Gregor Hiddleston, 17-Rory Sutherland, 18-Will Hurd, 19-Alex Samuel, 20-Josh Bayliss, 21-Magnus Bradbury, 22-Tom Jordan, 23-Stafford McDowall.

BRUSSELS, July 9 : Europe’s top court on Thursday backed the German Football Association (DFB), ruling that its regulations governing football agents are compatible with EU competition law provided they pursue legitimate objectives in the public interest.

The judgment by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) comes in a case that highlights the growing use of EU competition law to challenge sports regulations.

The dispute was brought by sports management company ROGON, alongside an Austrian company and a football agent, which challenged DFB rules covering the licensing, registration and remuneration of agents, as well as their relationships with clubs and players.

After the trio argued that the rules breached EU antitrust law, a German court referred questions on the matter to the CJEU.

The EU judges said such regulations could qualify for an exception to the bloc’s cartel rules.

The rules “may prove to be necessary in order to pursue one or more legitimate objectives in the public interest which are not, in themselves, anti-competitive,” the court said.

“In particular, that may be the case where, in order to achieve such objectives, a sports federation is required to adopt regulations capable of having implications for the ecosystem which they regulate and control,” it said.

The ruling is the latest in a series of legal battles in which football stakeholders have turned to European courts to challenge governing-body rules.

Disputes over restrictions imposed by sports authorities have produced several landmark judgments in recent years.

Last year, the CJEU took aim at FIFA’s player transfer system, saying some of its rules breach EU laws, a judgment that could lead to lower transfer fees and shift more economic power to players.

In another high-profile case in April this year, the court gave the thumbs up to no-poach deals agreed between Portuguese football clubs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEW DELHI, July 9 : India on Thursday unveiled an ambitious calendar of 29 international events over the next two years as it seeks to strengthen its credentials as a host nation with an eye on winning the bid to stage the 2036 Olympic Games.

The world’s most populous country is due to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad and is also bidding to stage both the 2036 Olympics and the 2038 Asian Games in the western Indian city.

Since last year, India has staged 36 international competitions across 15 cities and is on course to host 65 events by 2028 — a target it hopes will demonstrate its capacity to stage multi-sport spectacles on the scale of the Olympics.

“Hosting international competitions has become a key pillar in India’s sporting ecosystem,” Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a statement.

“As we prepare to host CWG 2030, and bid for Olympic 2036, the experience gained from hosting events in 15 cities will help us strengthen our capabilities further.”

Mandaviya said hosting events at home had significantly reduced the financial burden of sending athletes overseas, while helping create lasting sporting infrastructure and build technical expertise among officials and volunteers.

India’s calendar for this year includes the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships as well as amateur snooker and badminton world championships.

Beyond these events, national sports federations are also bidding to stage continental and world championships as India looks to further strengthen its case as a destination for major international sport, the sports ministry said.

July 9 : Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout will miss next month’s World Under-20 Championships after suffering a left hamstring tear in training in Brisbane, the 18-year-old said on Thursday.

The sprinter had been selected for Australia’s 200 metres and 4x400m relay teams for the championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Gout had opted to skip this month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to focus on the World Under-20 Championships, but the injury has cut short his season.

“I’m very disappointed but I have no other possibility but to accept the situation,” he posted on Instagram.

“I understand that this is part of athletics. My focus now will be on my rehab in the coming weeks and months and ensuring I come back in 2027 better and stronger and faster.”

He stamped his authority after he clocked a world under-20 record of 19.67 seconds in the 200m at the Australian Championships in Sydney in April, breaking his own national record.

He was unable to replicate that performance at last month’s Diamond League meeting, where he finished sixth in 20.60 seconds.

The teenager also finished third in the rarely contested 150m at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic last month, clocking 14.96 seconds.

July 9 : FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina defended the officiating in Argentina’s 3-2 victory over Egypt in the World Cup round of 16, dismissing allegations of bias and saying match officials operated with complete independence.

In an interview published on inside.fifa.com on Thursday, Collina said criticism of referees was part of football but he condemned the questioning of the officials’ integrity after Egypt complained about the officiating following the defeat.

“Constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football, but unfounded allegations have no place in our sport,” Collina said.

“Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials … Nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA president (Gianni Infantino).”

Collina said that such allegations could provoke threats against referees and their families.

Egypt exited the tournament but claimed they had been treated unfairly after Argentina overturned a 2-0 deficit to snatch victory with a stoppage-time winner from Enzo Fernandez.

Coach Hossam Hassan alleged after the match there may have been pressure on the referee to keep Argentina in the tournament. And the Egyptian Football Association said “several key incidents raised serious concerns and left profound questions about the consistency and fairness of decisions that directly influenced the course of the game.”

Egypt argued that Mostafa Zico’s second-half strike was incorrectly ruled out for what it described as a non-existent foul in the build-up. Egypt were also incensed that a challenge on Mohamed Salah was not penalised moments before Argentina launched the move that produced the winning goal.

FIFA’s Collina said VAR had correctly recommended overturning Zico’s goal after identifying a foul by Marwan Attia on Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez during the attacking possession phase.

“We believe that a foul is a foul,” Collina said. “Regardless of whether the foul appears ‘obvious’, if the referee did not see it on the field of play, the VAR can intervene.”

Collina also defended the decision not to award Egypt a penalty before Argentina’s winner, saying both the referee and VAR judged the contact between Salah and Julian Alvarez to be “normal football contact”.

“Stepping on an opponent’s foot is a foul, whereas a defender who touches the ball first and then makes normal football contact has not committed a foul,” he said.

While acknowledging that some decisions would always involve an element of subjectivity, Collina said FIFA was satisfied with how VAR principles had been applied throughout the tournament.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., July 5 : Erling Haaland struck two late goals as Norway stunned record five-times champions Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup last 16 on Sunday to send the Scandinavian team into the quarter-finals for the first time.

Neymar’s penalty deep into stoppage time was little consolation for Brazil, for whom Bruno Guimaraes missed an early penalty as they failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1990.

With their fans hugely outnumbered and in conditions that felt like a sauna, Norway tuned out the noise and the heat with Haaland using every bit of his 6-foot-5-inch frame to head in the opening goal after 79 minutes before blasting home a shot from distance.

“I said to the boys today that I don’t think it’s 50-50, but we have a fair chance if we play at our best and have match winners, and we had that,” Norway coach Stale Solbakken said.

The Brazil players were left shattered by the humbling loss.

“It’s inexplicable,” defender Marquinhos said. “We have to take responsibility for this so that future generations can build on it.”

‘A NEW PEAK’ FROM HAALAND

Yellow jerseys dominated the stands for Brazil, hoping to see another sublime performance from a team who had been on an 11-match unbeaten World Cup streak in the U.S.

Instead, they watched in disbelief as Haaland’s side sentenced them to their longest World Cup drought in the history of the tournament with their last triumph in 2002.

The momentum appeared in Brazil’s favour at the start, as Kristoffer Ajer conceded an early penalty with a foolish challenge on Matheus Cunha after 13 minutes.

But the Brazilian fans were left scratching their heads as Guimaraes stepped up to take the kick instead of Vinicius Jr and that confusion turned to exasperation when Orjan Nyland dived left to save the penalty.

Norway coach Stale Solbakken replaced both wingers after halftime, sending on Andreas Schjelderup and Oscar Bobb, a masterstroke that gave Haaland the supporting cast he needed to put on a show. 

The Manchester City striker was a full head above the Brazilian defenders as he headed in the opener from a superb cross by Schjelderup. 

Eleven minutes later, Schjelderup again teed up Haaland, who appeared exhausted but found enough strength to fire in an unstoppable strike from outside the box as Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti sat grim-faced in the dugout.

“I peaked a couple of times in this tournament, but every now and then I get a new peak,” said Haaland. “If I get a chance or two, it usually turns into a goal. I don’t know how I do it, but that’s how I am. It’s about being focused.”

Neymar’s penalty 10 minutes into added time did nothing to change his Italian coach’s demeanour and the Brazilian great wept openly after his final World Cup match. 

Haaland, who has now scored in 14 consecutive competitive games and pulled level with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race with his seventh goal of the tournament, led the celebrations, banging a drum to the Norwegian fans’ famous Viking row as the sea of Brazilian fans left the stadium.

Norway will play Mexico or England in the quarter-finals.

LONDON, July 5 : Coco Gauff reached her first Wimbledon quarter-final late on Sunday, overcoming Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 4-6 6-3 6-4 and Wimbledon’s 11 pm curfew by two minutes in a topsy turvy match under the roof on Court One.

Neither player was at her best after a long wait to come on court but, while 11th seed Bencic, 29, started the steadier, seventh seed Gauff, 22, proved the more adventurous, hitting 35 winners to Bencic’s 19 though she also produced 46 unforced errors and nine double faults.

“I’m super happy to be in the quarters finally – I don’t know how many tries it’s been,” Gauff, who will now face fellow American Jessica Pegula, said in a hurried courtside interview.

Bencic, a semi-finalist here last year and Olympic champion in 2021, took the first set on her third set point when the erratic Gauff dumped a return into the net.

Gauff, a favourite with the Wimbledon crowd since she reached the fourth round as a bubbly 15-year-old in 2019, found her range in the second set, breaking Bencic’s serve twice and dropping her own only once. She produced a drop shot and an exquisite lob to take the match into a third set.

Playing some inspired tennis and finding the corners of the court, Gauff, twice a Grand Slam champion, had Bencic on the back foot in the third set.

With the clock ticking down to Wimbledon’s 11 pm closure deadline, Gauff set up match point with a smash and won the battle with a big serve that Bencic could not return.

“I was looking at the clock in the last service game and on that match point I was going for serve and volley as I was wanting to end the point.

“I’m not used to racing for time as we’re not used to having to finish by a certain time.”

The All England club is in a residential district of southwest London and has a strict curfew.

Gauff said she was hungry for more after finally reaching the quarter-finals.

“Even though it was a tough match I feel this was my best match of the tournament,” she said.

LONDON, July 5 : Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime hit out at an injury rule on Sunday after the third seed beat Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

The 25-year-old labelled it “a disgrace” after his opponent took a time-out after injuring his ankle in the fourth set when Auger-Aliassime was serving and had two match points.

On the resumption, the Canadian lost his serve and was dragged into a deciding set before securing a 6-7(4) 7-6(6) 6-3 6-7(2) 6-1 victory.

The players were involved in a verbal spat after shaking hands and while Auger-Aliassime did not disclose what was said, he hit out at the rules.

“The interactions between him and I, I don’t want to get into that. If he wants to come in here and talk about it, he can. But he knows my opinion,” he said.

“What I can say, though, is that I think the rule has to change. I think that obviously as long as the rule is like that, a player will use it to their advantage.

“I think that it’s very simple: if you’re hurt bad while the game’s going on… in the middle of the game, the opponent is serving, the shot clock is on, basically when you’re hurt bad, you’re forfeiting every point until you can call the physio. If the physio helps you recover, you play your service game. If you’re hurt bad, then you retire.

“But to stop in the middle of an opponent’s service game and to be able to call the physio, I think that’s a disgrace of a rule. I don’t see any other sport where you can do that. I mark my words. It’s a disgrace of a rule.”

Auger-Aliassime will face seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

“I can only say good things about Novak because, I think as a kid I didn’t appreciate it as much, but now I’m a player, the load of work he’s done over the years, I mean, I’m not even near any of that. Just to think about it, it’s crazy.”

LONDON, July 5 : Jannik Sinner has struggled in searing heat in the previous two Grand Slams this year, but the Italian said he was well prepared to handle it in southwest London, with temperatures expected to soar at Wimbledon this week.

After a heatwave last week, which broke British records for June at around 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit), the second week of the tournament is forecast to see temperatures climb again beyond 30 degrees Celsius.

Sinner, who hails from the Alpine region of South Tyrol in northern Italy, struggled physically during a Paris heatwave to fall in the second round of the French Open in May and suffered cramps in an early scare at the Australian Open in January.

The four-times major winner will take on German Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarter-finals but did not get drawn into a debate with reporters on when he will take to the court.

“It seems you know the schedule better than me. I don’t know when they put me on. I’m happy either way. I’m well prepared. We did a good preparation,” Sinner said after his 6-3 7-6(0) 6-3 win over Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki.

“Whatever happened in the past, it’s gone already. Now we’ll see if we found a solution. If not, we keep working for the next one. But in any case, the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, the feelings are different.

“There’s definitely more tension. At the same time, I’m very happy where I am at the moment. We’ll see how it goes.”

Sinner said it was most important to have the right attitude on court in the business stage of the Grand Slam.

“Of course, the stages are getting bigger, more important, as we know,” he added.

“There’s more attention on every detail. We try to prepare for each match as if it’s the most important one and we’ll see.

“I’m trying to control whatever we can, then the rest is trying to solve the problem.”