THE HOT CORNER

1 SWIMMING: Argentine swimmer Guillermo Bertola has been banned for four years and stripped of his 2019 Pan American Games silver medal in a doping case in which he said he received a transfusion of his mother’s blood. The governing body of swimming said the case against the 30-yearold open-water swimmer was based on irregular blood readings in his biological passport.

2 SOCCER: The second-tier United Soccer League is preparing to resume its season July 11 after reaching an agreement with the USL Players Association. The 35-team league had just played its season openers when play was stopped in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

3 COLLEGE BASKETBALL:

Will Jones’ 19-game stint as North Carolina A&T’s interim men’s basketball coach not only earned him Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference coach of the year honors, but also the fulltime job. The school made the announcement Thursday. The Aggies were 14-5 under Jones last year. He replaced coach Jay Joyner when Joyner resigned following a midseason suspension due to an unspecified personnel matter.

4 COLLEGE BASKETBALL: LSU associate head basketball coach Greg Heiar is leaving the staff, he announced on social media Thursday. Heiar left Wichita State to join LSU as an assistant when current Tigers coach Will Wade took over in 2017. Heiar’s promotion to associate head coach came before last season.

5 TENNIS: Venezuelan referee Armando Belardi was suspended for two years and six months for not reporting approaches to him to alter match scores. Belardi was approached twice in 2018 by unidentified parties, the Tennis Integrity Unit said. The investigation found Belardi did not alter the scores, but that he violated anti-corruption rules by not informing authorities.