Justino’s foe drops out
Megan Anderson has been forced to withdraw from her upcoming UFC featherweight title fight against Cris “Cyborg ” Justino at UFC 214 at Honda Center because of personal issues, the organization said. Tonya Evinger will take Anderson’s place against Justino for the vacant featherweight title on the July 29 card. — Lance Pugmire
New Indiana men’s basketball coach Archie Miller will make $24 million under his seven-year deal — and potentially more in bonuses, in contract details revealed Tuesday. He took the job in March.
The Dallas Stars have bought out the final year of goalie Antti Niemi’s contract, a plan that will spread the $3-million payment over two seasons for an annual salary cap hit of $1.5 million. The ninth-year player became expendable after Ben Bishop was acquired from the Kings in a trade that will likely make him the starter with Kari Lehtonen as the backup.
Former New York Mets pitcher Anthony Young, who set a major league record with 27 straight losses, has died. He was 51. The Mets said Young died Tuesday in Houston after a long illness. He had told former teammates this spring that he had a brain tumor. Young’s streak of losses began in 1992 with the Mets and stretched into the next season. In all, the drought spanned 74 appearances.
After years of intrigue about allegedly corrupt World Cup bidding, FIFA published an investigation report that showed how voters exploited the murky system yet allowed Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. FIFA published investigator Michael Garcia’s 430page dossier less than 24 hours after Germany’s biggest-selling daily, Bild, began reporting extracts from a leaked copy.
The full report verified the broad conclusions of a summary of Garcia’s work published by FIFA in November 2014. A Russia bid backed by Vladimir Putin gave limited cooperation to Garcia’s team which found no evidence of undue influence. Putin met six of 22 FIFA voters before the December 2010 elections. Qatar’s ultimate victory over the United States tested FIFA’s bid rules to the limit. The bid team used a full range of lavishly funded state and sports agencies, plus advisors who raised Garcia’s suspicions.
Garcia’s report was once a holy grail for FIFA critics who hoped it would be explosive and force a rerun of the World Cup hosting votes. Many believed Russian and Qatari bids must have behaved badly to persuade a FIFA executive committee lineup in 2010 that has since been widely discredited. Russia and Qatari organizers have denied wrongdoing.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has partly restored drug-testing duties to the Russian anti-doping agency. RUSADA was suspended in 2015 when its staff was accused of helping to cover up drug use, but will now have wide-ranging authority over testing. After intense negotiations and sweeping personnel changes at the Russian agency, WADA said Tuesday it has now allowed RUSADA to “plan and coordinate” drug testing under the supervision of British agency UKAD.