Track bans transgenders, tightens rules for Semenya
Track and field banned transgender athletes from international competition Thursday, while adopting new regulations that could keep Caster Semenya and other athletes with differences in sex development from competing.
In a pair of decisions expected to stoke outrage, the World Athletics Council adopted the same rules as swimming did last year in deciding to bar athletes who have transitioned from male to female and have gone through male puberty. No such athletes currently compete at the highest elite levels of track.
Another set of updates, for athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), could impact up to 13 current high-level runners, WA President Sebastian Coe said. They include Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion at 800 meters, who has been barred from that event since 2019.
Semenya and others had been able to compete without restrictions in events outside the range of 400 meters through one mile but now will have to undergo hormone-suppressing treatment for six months before competing to be eligible.
Hockey
BLACKHAWKS WON'T WEAR PRIDE JERSEYS, CITING NEW RUSSIAN LAW >>
A National Hockey League team with a Russian player has decided against wearing special warmup jerseys to commemorate Pride night, citing an anti-gay Kremlin law that could imperil Russian athletes when they return home.
The Chicago Blackhawks, who have at least two more players with connections to Russia, will not wear Pridethemed warmup jerseys before Sunday's game against Vancouver, a person with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press, because of security concerns involving the law, which expands restrictions on supporting
LGBTQ rights. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it in December.
Soccer
UEFA TO INVESTIGATE BARCELONA FOR ITS REFEREE PAYMENTS >>
Barcelona is facing a new legal threat from UEFA, including a possible Champions League ban, because of its payments of millions of dollars to a company linked to a Spanish refereeing official.
The European soccer body asked for an investigation into the matter, which is already being pursued by prosecutors in Spain. Champions League regulations in effect since April 2007 allow UEFA to ban teams from the competition for one season if they were involved in fixing matches.
NWSL SEASON IS LAST FOR GOTHAM DEFENDER KRIEGER >> While Ali Krieger has no idea what the next chapter of her life will look like, for now she's just looking forward to some downtime after a professional soccer career that has stretched for some 16 years.
Krieger announced her impending retirement. She's going to finish out a final season with Gotham in the National Women's Soccer League. The opening stop on the farewell
tour comes on Sunday, when Gotham starts the season at Angel City.
As a defender, Krieger's career wasn't a series of highlight-reel goals. But she's known as a savvy and strong player who won World Cups with the United States in 2015 and 2019. At the 2011 World Cup quarterfinals, Krieger scored the game-winning penalty kick after a 2-2 draw against Brazil. The Americans went on to lose on penalties to Japan that year.
Baseball
PHILS' HOSKINS EXPECTED TO MISS SIGNIFICANT TIME >>
Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins needs surgery for a torn ACL after injuring his left knee fielding a grounder in a spring training game and is expected to miss a significant amount of time.
The Phillies did not say when Hoskins would have the surgery or exactly how long the slugging first baseman might be sidelined.
Hoskins was backing up to play a chopper when the ball popped out of his glove. Soon after, he fell to the ground and began clutching his left knee. BRAVES CLOSER IGLESIAS HEADED TO IL >> Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias will open the season on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation, the team said.
The Braves say an MRI showed the right-hander has “low-grade” inflammation and will not throw for seven days.
Iglesias was expected to move into the closer's role after Kenley Jansen signed with the Boston Red Sox.
College basketball PROVIDENCE HIRES ENGLISH AS NEXT COACH >>
Providence hired Kim English as its next basketball coach, quickly moving to fill the opening left after Ed Cooley left to take the job at Big East rival Georgetown.
English becomes the 16th coach in school history. The 34-year-old English was 34-29 in two seasons at George Mason, leading the Patriots to a 2013 record this past season.
Golf
GARNETT, MARTIN TIED FOR LEAD AT PUNTA CANA >>
Brice Garnett returned to the course of his lone PGA Tour victory and played a clean round in a steady wind for a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead with Ben Martin in the Corales Puntacana Championship.
Martin matched Garnett with a bogey-free round, joining him in the lead with a birdie on the par-3 eighth and finishing with a tee shot off the rocks on the par-3 ninth that took a favorable bounce onto the green.
They had a one-shot lead over Matt Wallace of England.
College football ALABAMA'S YOUNG THROWS AT PRO DAY >>
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, who didn't throw at the combine, threw a scripted series of 50 passes mostly to former teammates before a large contingent of NFL coaches, scouts and executives representing all 32 teams. Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud are vying to be the first player taken in the NFL Draft on April 27.