ROLLING PAST RUSSIA Canada’s Stephen Maar spikes the ball as Russia’s Alexander Chefranov, centre, and Ilyas Kurkaev attempt to block during a World League volleyball finals match on Day 2 in Curitiba, Brazil, on Wednesday. Canada won in an upset 25-23, 2
enough up the steep ascent to take the overall race lead and its yellow jersey off the shoulders of his teammate Geraint Thomas, who couldn’t stay with the leaders on the climb made doubly punishing by the hot temperatures. Froome has a 12-second lead over Thomas, with Aru moving up to third in the overall standings, 14 seconds behind the reigning champion. Meanwhile, British rider Mark Cavendish withdrew after suffering a broken right shoulder blade after being elbowed by Peter Sagan. Sagan, a world champion rider, was disqualified for endangering Cavendish and other riders.
British Open payout will be in greenbacks
The British Open is paying its prize money this year in American dollars. Golf ’s oldest championship announced Wednesday the total purse will be US$10,250,000, with US$1.845 million going to the winner. The British Open is July 20 to 23 at Royal Birkdale along the Lancashire coast in England. R&A chief Martin Slumbers says the event will not be using the British sterling this year because of what he called an increasingly global marketplace. He says the prize fund is in U.S. dollars because it is the most widely adopted currency for prize money in golf. Henrik Stenson earned 1,175,000 pounds last year, which was equal to US$1,549,590. The value of the pound began falling after Britain voted last year to leave the European Union.
Two-sport champ Conley dead at 86
Gene Conley, one of the only players in history to win championships in two major professional sports, has died. He was 86. The Boston Red Sox, for whom Conley played for from 1961 to 1963, said he died Tuesday. Conley helped pitch the Milwaukee Braves to a World Series championship in 1957, and he won three NBA titles with the Celtics. Conley was a right-hander and three-time all-star who spent 11 years in baseball with four teams. A native of Muskogee, Okla., he was selected by the Celtics in the 1952 draft and, after spending most of the next six years playing only baseball, he returned to the NBA in 1958 and won three consecutive titles.