Reuters Sports News Summary

The crowd-funding project, led by three-times Olympian Nuria Diosdado, caught the attention of businessman Carlos Slim, who is known for providing scholarships to high-performance athletes in disciplines such as tennis, archery, karate and motorsports in which he sponsors F1 driver Sergio Perez. Fencing-Russia considers boycotting Olympic qualifiers after gold medallists barred Russia is looking into boycotting fencing qualifying competitions for next year's Paris Olympic Games after some fencers were not allowed to compete, Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Soccer-Shakhtyor stripped of Belarusian title for match-fixing

Belarusian champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk have been found guilty of match-fixing and stripped of the Premier League title they won last season, the Football Federation of Belarus (BFF) said on Thursday. Shakhtyor were also deducted 30 points this season and 20 next season after the BFF found that club officials organised match-fixing and offered illegal financial incentives to other teams in the league.

Tennis-Italian Open must offer women equal pay before 2025, says Jabeur

World number seven Ons Jabeur said women players should not have to wait to receive the same prize money as their male counterparts at the Italian Open after tournament organisers announced plans to achieve pay parity by 2025. Tennis has sought to be a leader in the battle for equality in the last couple of decades with equal prize money offered to men and women at the four Grand Slams.

MLB roundup: Red Sox's Kenley Jansen notches 400th save

Raimel Tapia's pinch-hit double drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 400th career save as the visiting Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 5-2 on Wednesday to earn a split of their two-game series. Jansen pitched one inning and allowed one hit, striking out Travis d'Arnaud to end the game and earn his ninth save. Jansen, who pitched for the Braves last season and led the National League in saves with 41, is the seventh player to record 400 saves and trails No. 6 Billy Wagner, who has 422.

Canada unveils reforms in bid to enhance safe sport practices

The Canadian federal government announced a series of reforms on Thursday in a bid to enhance safe sport practices and hold the country's national sports oganizations (NSOs) accountable after complaints about a toxic culture from a slew of athletes. A public registry of individuals who have been sanctioned will be created within a year while NSOs must meet a number of requirements, including having at least one athlete on their board before April 2025, to maintain their federal funding.

Cycling-Pedersen wins stage six of Giro after duo caught 300m from finish

Mads Pedersen of Trek–Segafredo held his nerve to win stage six of the Giro d'Italia in the final sprint on Thursday after the peloton caught up with a breakaway duo of Simon Clarke and Alessandro De Marchi 300 metres from the finish. After a rain-sodden stage five that was marred by crashes, including one caused by a dog, the 162-km sixth stage in Naples was a far more pleasant ride under blue skies with the sun beating down on the riders who were glad to have dry roads.

Tennis-Resurgent Kenin knocks out Sabalenka on day of upsets in Rome

World number two Aryna Sabalenka suffered an early shock at the Italian Open on Thursday as the in-form Belarusian crashed to a 7-6(4) 6-2 defeat by American Sofia Kenin in a high-octane second-round match. Sabalenka wobbled on serve early in her first match since claiming the Madrid title last week and squandered three chances to break Kenin before finding her groove to level a pulsating opening set at 4-4.

Soccer-Gatti's last-gasp header earns Juventus draw with Sevilla

Federico Gatti scored with a header seven minutes into added time to earn Juventus a 1-1 home draw against Sevilla in their Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday. Europa League kings Sevilla ignored the heavy rain and the pressure of the Italian crowd at a packed Allianz Stadium to dominate the game and looked well on course continue their bid for a record-extending seventh title before Gatti's last-gasp effort left the tie evenly poised.

Swimming-Mexican artistic team keep Olympic dream alive by selling towels and swimsuits

Mexico's artistic swimming team have put bathing suits and towels on sale to pay for their preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (CONADE) stopped providing financial support. The crowd-funding project, led by three-times Olympian Nuria Diosdado, caught the attention of businessman Carlos Slim, who is known for providing scholarships to high-performance athletes in disciplines such as tennis, archery, karate and motorsports in which he sponsors F1 driver Sergio Perez.

Fencing-Russia considers boycotting Olympic qualifiers after gold medallists barred

Russia is looking into boycotting fencing qualifying competitions for next year's Paris Olympic Games after some fencers were not allowed to compete, Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said on Thursday. Russian Fencing Federation president Ilgar Mammadov had said the International Fencing Federation (FIE) prevented Olympic gold medallists Yana Egorian, Sofya Velikaya, Olga Nikitina and Sofia Pozdniakova -- Pozdnyakov's daughter -- from competing.

Tennis-Madrid organisers apologise for denying women's doubles finalists speeches

The organisers of the Madrid Open have apologised to the women's doubles finalists of this year's tournament following criticism for denying players the opportunity to make speeches at the trophy ceremony. Singles world number three Jessica Pegula, who partnered Coco Gauff in their 6-1 6-4 defeat by Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia, said on Sunday she was left disappointed after organisers did not allow the finalists to address fans.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)