AP National Sports

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — USA Luge’s competitive season began with Tucker West winning his ninth national start championship and Emily Sweeney winning the women’s start crown for the first time. West held off Jonny Gustafson over the three-start event to win the men’s title at the team’s indoor training facility by 0.28 seconds. Sweeney

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer Paris Saint-Germain’s leadership has written to Spanish league president Javier Tebas to protest about his “insulting and defamatory statements” about the Qatari-owned club. Tebas delivered some familiar broadsides on Tuesday about PSG benefiting from state funding, followed by fresh digs against the club for signing Lionel Messi from

By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt has found an ally in his contract negotiations with the team in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger says the Steelers should pay Watt “whatever the heck he wants.” Watt is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Steelers want to

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer Steve Stricker has filled out his U.S. Ryder Cup team with six captain’s picks. That list does not include Patrick Reed. Stricker added Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Harris English. That was expected. They were next in line in the standings. He also added Daniel Berger and

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers were seeking a female athlete from Florida Atlantic University to be the next college student they sign to an endorsement deal. They were unable to choose just one and are now making the offer to more than 200 of them. The NHL

LONDON (AP) — Alex Albon will return to Formula One next season after reaching a deal to race for Williams. The London-born Thai will take close friend George Russell’s seat following confirmation of the Briton’s deal to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2022. The 25-year-old Albon was replaced by Sergio Perez at Red Bull

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — The top ice hockey official in Belarus has been banned for five years for politically motivated discrimination against players and supporting the country’s authoritarian president. Dmitri Baskov’s alleged involvement in the killing of an activist last year was also investigated. The International Ice Hockey Federation also

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s football federation has canceled plans for a training camp in Qatar in January after Swedish clubs expressed concern about the 2022 World Cup host’s human rights record. The federation has held a January camp in Qatar since 2019 with a team featuring mainly players from the Swedish league. However, it said

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer The British Open is heading back to Royal Portrush. The R&A says the world’s oldest major championship will return to the Northern Irish venue in 2025 after a successful staging of the British Open there in 2019 when Irish player Shane Lowry won by six shots. That marked the

By MARK LONG AP Pro Football Writer JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Urban Meyer is unbeaten in season openers. Most of them weren’t even close, either. He never lost the first game of any season as head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida or Ohio State. He built a 17-0 mark in openers between 2001 and

By The Associated Press Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller will be enshrined Wednesday at the Hall of Fame, a year after the induction ceremonies were called off because of the coronavirus pandemic. The four were chosen last year. No new members have been picked since. With a mid-week ceremony

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Baseball Writer OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Gavin Sheets hit a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth, Cesar Hernandez added a two-run single in the same inning, and the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox beat the stumbling Oakland Athletics 6-3. Jimmy Lambert (1-1) allowed three hits over five solid innings for his

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego Padres left-hander Blake Snell made another bid at a gem and this one didn’t end so well when Jo Adell hit a two-run single with two outs in the seventh inning to help the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-0 victory. Snell took

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — The first trial of “Operation Varsity Blues” will begin this week with the potential to shed light on investigators’ tactics and brighten the spotlight on a college admissions process many complain favors the rich. Jury selection is beginning Wednesday in federal court in Boston in the

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Jordan Lyles pitched seven smooth innings in relief, Jason Martin hit a two-run single and the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1. It’s a rare three-game winning streak for the last-place Rangers. They’ll try to tie their season high of four straight wins on Wednesday.

By DENNIS GEORGATOS Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Logan Webb pitched effectively for seven innings, Mike Yastrzemski homered and Steve Duggar had two triples among his three hits as the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 12-3. Brandon Crawford added three hits and an RBI. All of Duggar’s hits went for extra

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — Jewell Loyd scored 20 points, Sue Bird added 14 points and seven assists and the Seattle Storm cruised to a 105-71 win over the Washington Mystics. The Storm (20-10) moved into third place in the playoff race with two games to play. Seattle raced out to a 10-point lead in the

HOUSTON (AP) — Carlos Correa drove in the winning run in the 10th inning after Alex Bregman tied it in the ninth, and the Houston Astros rallied for a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners. Correa greeted Yohan Ramirez (1-3) with a ground-rule double to right-center, scoring Yuli Gurriel, who started the inning at second.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Left-hander Blake Snell of the San Diego Padres took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels before walking two batters and allowing a two-run single to Jo Adell on his 96th pitch. Snell was trying for the majors’ ninth no-hitter this year, which would’ve topped the

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — Some of the world’s largest broadcasters including American network NBC are being asked by human rights groups to cancel plans to cover the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Winter Games are set to open on Feb. 4. The request comes in an open letter from