Sports

By AMY TAXIN Associated Press California officials are considering a plan to make flag football a girls’ high school sport amid soaring popularity of the game and a push to get more female athletes on the field. The California Interscholastic Federation’s federated council is expected to vote Friday on the proposal. If the measure is

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Geiger will take over from Howard Webb as the head of referees in Major League Soccer. The 48-year-old Geiger, who retired as a referee after the 2018 season, was promoted to general manager of the Professional Referee Organization that supplies MLS match officials. Geiger was an MLS referee from 2004-18

LEEDS, England (AP) — Weston McKennie likely won’t have to wait long for his Leeds debut. The United States midfielder joined the Premier League club on loan from Juventus this week and has impressed manager Jesse Marsch ahead of a weekend game at Nottingham Forest. Marsch says “He’s fit, he’s ready,” and could start on

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer Duke coach Kara Lawson said her team played with a men’s basketball for the first half of a loss to Florida State last Sunday. The 16th-ranked Blue Devils lost to the Seminoles 70-57 in Tallahassee, Florida — the team’s second Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the season. After her

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer Ford will return to Formula One as the engine provider for Red Bull Racing in a partnership announced Friday that begins with immediate technical support this season and engines in 2026. Red Bull powertrains and Ford will partner on the development of a hybrid power unit that will

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says midfielder Phil Foden is set to return from a foot injury but defender John Stones will be sidelined for up to a month because of a hamstring problem. Foden will be in contention to play Sunday when second-place City travels to Tottenham. The England playmaker

By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer Inspired by the lifesaving medical attention Damar Hamlin received on the field during a game last month, the NFL and American Heart Association will provide free CPR education in Arizona throughout Super Bowl week as part the NFL Experience at the Phoenix Convention Center. Hamlin, the 24-year-old Buffalo

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The prime ministers of the three Baltic countries urged the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian athletes from next year’s Paris Games because of the war in Ukraine, saying Friday a boycott was a possibility. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said athletes from her country could be put in a situation

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has stepped up efforts to lobby international sports leaders against Russian participation in next year’s Paris Olympics as indications mount that the games could see the biggest boycott since the Cold War. A meeting of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee did not commit to a

LONDON (AP) — Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul and Mackenzie McDonald have given the United States a 2-0 lead over host Uzbekistan in Davis Cup qualifying. Paul beat Khumoyun Sultanov 6-1, 7-6 (6) after McDonald’s Davis Cup debut ended with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sergey Fomin on an indoor hard court in Tashkent. The

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP Associated Press IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Caitlin Clark scored 42 points and Monika Czinano had 28 as No. 6 Iowa defeated No. 8 Maryland 96-82 on Thursday night. Clark, who entered second in the nation in scoring at 27.1 points per game, was 13 of 19 from the field, including 6

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The Olympic flame is going for a sail. Instead of arriving overland the symbolic flame alighting the 2024 Paris Games will take to the seas from its birthplace in Greece. Paris organizers say it will travel across the Mediterranean aboard a three-masted tall ship and arrive in the French port of

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Geoff Ogilvy has been largely missing from the PGA Tour the last four years. The 2006 U.S. Open champion has been in his native Australia working on a golf course design. But after sitting through more video calls than he can remember, Ogilvy realized

By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer If the Super Bowl comes down to a key fourth-down decision, that might bode well for the the Philadelphia Eagles. The analytically inclined Eagles have long been one of the NFL’s most aggressive organizations when it comes to the crucial fourth-down calls. Those decisions helped fuel the team’s