PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS AGREE TO RETURN FOR GROUP TRAINING

Premier League clubs will return to training in small groups from Tuesday after the latest stage of “Project Restart” was approved on Monday.

Clubs unanimously voted to allow players to start socially distanced training in a bid to meet the Premier League’s mid-june date to resume the season. Contact training is not permitted at this stage and corner flags, balls, cones, goalposts, playing surfaces and other equipment will be disinfected after each session.

KOREAN CLUB SORRY FOR ‘X-RATED’ SEX DOLL

One of South Korea’s top football clubs apologised for causing “deep concern” on Monday after being accused of using sex dolls to fill empty seats at a weekend game.

FC Seoul insisted the mannequins—used in the absence of fans, who are banned because of the coronavirus—had “no connection to sex toys”. But some of the artificial spectators, deployed for Sunday’s game against Gwangju FC, wore T-shirts with the logo of Solos, a sex toy seller.

BAYERN BRUSH UNION ASIDE ON RETURN

Robert Lewandowski bagged his 26th league goal this season as leaders Bayern Munich resumed their Bundesliga title chase with a 2-0 win at Union Berlin behind closed doors.

Lewandowski netted a firsthalf penalty and defender Benjamin Pavard scored a late header for Bayern in Berlin. The Bundesliga on Saturday became the first top European league to restart during coronavirus pandemic.

JORDAN SNEAKERS FETCH RECORD $560,000

A pair of Air Jordan sneakers worn in a game by Michael Jordan sold for $560,000 at Sotheby’s auction house, an all-time record for basketball shoes. The white, black and red shoes, made for Jordan in 1985 and autographed by the NBA legend himself, dethroned the reigning “Moon Shoe,” one of Nike’s first sneakers, a pair of which sold in July 2019 for $437,000, also at Sotheby’s.

HARVICK WINS CLOSED DOOR NASCAR RACE

Harvick shook off the rust of a two-month break in the NASCAR schedule by winning the closed-door Real Heroes 400 on Sunday at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Harvick seized the lead at the midway point and led for more than 150 laps to claim NASCAR’S first live race since March 8.