AP National Sports

OSTERSUND, Sweden (AP) — The former chairman of Swedish soccer team Ostersund has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for bribery. Swedish news agency TT reports that Daniel Kindberg was also banned from doing business for three years by Ostersund District Court. The court said Kindberg was guilty of aggravated bribery and other

By GERALD IMRAY AP Sports Writer CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The Nigerian government has made a sudden U-turn and cleared its national basketball teams to return to competition immediately. The sports ministry says the decision to lift a ban on the teams playing in international competitions came after an appeal to the government

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer The NHL, NHL Players’ Association and NHL Alumni Association are teaming up to get hockey into the NFT marketplace. The organizations announced a multiyear deal Thursday to make Sweet their official digital collectibles partner. NHL executive VP of business development and innovation Dave Lehanski says the lucrative agreement is

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer McLaren has signed IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist to a multi-year contract extension but could shift the Swedish driver to Formula E beginning next season. The team announced the extension Thursday but made clear it is evaluating where it will put Rosenqvist in its lineup. McLaren is both expanding

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (AP) — Players on the German national volleyball team have forfeited a match for refusing to play China after after some of their opponents tested positive for COVID-19. The Chinese team was given a 3-0 victory in the men’s Volleyball Nations League. The International Volleyball Federation says the game in the Philippines

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Three Russian officials have won a court ruling to overturn being barred from this weekend’s International Weightlifting Federation elections. The Court of Arbitration for Sport says it upheld appeals by the men who were excluded last month by a panel vetting potential candidates. IWF board member Maxim Agapitov was among the

MADRID (AP) — An investment group led by former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow has bought Spanish soccer club Leganés. Luhnow lost his job in baseball with the Astros in 2020 in the wake of a sign-stealing scheme during the team’s World Series title run in 2017 and again in 2018. An investigation by

EASTBOURNE, England (AP) — Serena Williams’ competitive preparation for Wimbledon will amount to two doubles matches. A right knee injury to Williams’ doubles partner has led to them withdrawing from the grass-court event in Eastbourne. Williams and Ons Jabeur were scheduled to play Magda Linette and Aleksandra Krunic in the semifinals after winning two matches

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Andrea Fuentes prevented a tragedy at the swimming world championships with her quick reaction. The United States coach knew something was wrong when she saw artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez sink motionless to the bottom of the pool during a solo free routine on Wednesday. The fully clothed Fuentes dived in. She

LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — France forward Christopher Nkunku has extended his contract with Leipzig through 2026 after a breakout season that attracted the attention of some of Europe’s biggest clubs. His previous contract had two more years to go. The 24-year-old Nkunku won the German Cup with Leipzig last season and scored 20 league goals

BERLIN (AP) — German soccer is bucking the recent trend of banning transgender women from women’s competition by allowing all transgender, intersex and non-binary players to decide for themselves whether to play in men’s or women’s teams. The German soccer federation has passed a new regulation for gender-nonconforming players with “diverse” or “unspecified” as their

By The Associated Press American League powerhouses square off when Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees host Yordan Álvarez and the Houston Astros in the opener of a highly anticipated four-game series Thursday night. New York boasts the best record in the majors, and Houston is second to the Yankees in the AL standings.

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer The National Hockey League has taken significant strides in recent years to improve diversity in a sport that has long been predominantly white. Executive Kim Davis said the NHL currently has 54 active players who are Arab, Asian, Black, Latino or Indigenous. That makes up roughly 7% of the

By MICHAEL WAGAMAN Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jesse Winker homered for the second straight day, Cal Raleigh also connected and the Seattle Mariners won consecutive games for the first time in more than two weeks by routing the Oakland Athletics 9-0. J.P. Crawford doubled twice and drove in two runs. Julio Rodríguez added

By MIKE COOK Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Oscar Gonzalez tied the game with a two-run single and scored on Owen Miller’s go-ahead sacrifice fly as the Cleveland Guardians rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to stun the Minnesota Twins 11-10. Gonzalez homered earlier and finished with four RBIs for the surging Guardians,

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Yordan Álvarez homered twice off Carlos Carrasco as the Houston Astros jumped on him early and held on for a 5-3 win over the New York Mets. Álvarez hit two of the season-high three homers Carrasco allowed before the pitcher left with lower back tightness in

TORONTO (AP) — Ayo Akinola scored twice and Toronto FC beat Montreal 4-0 on Wednesday night to advance to the Canadian Championship final. In the other semifinal, Brian White scored twice in the Vancouver Whitecaps’ 2-1 victory over the Canadian Premier League’s York United. Jesus Jimenez and Alejandro Pozuelo also scored for Toronto. Toronto, seeking

By FRED GOODALL AP Sports Writer TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nazem Kadri scored at 12:02 of overtime — perhaps with too many Colorado players on the ice — and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final to move within a victory of dethroning the two-time

By MARK DIDTLER Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper took one question during his postgame media session. Without getting into specifics about whether Colorado had too many men on the ice, he suggested the Avalanche’s overtime goal shouldn’t have counted. Said Cooper on Wednesday night after a 3-2 loss in