Sports News Roundup: Highlights from the World of Athletics

A roundup of current sports news covering golf, pickleball, swimming, basketball, tennis, and more. Highlights include Justin Thomas leading in golf, international expansion of pickleball tournaments, record-breaking performance by Caitlin Clark in WNBA, Australian Olympic swimming strategies, and controversies involving Russian and Belarusian athletes regarding the Ukraine war.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Golf-American Thomas leads Open, McIlroy and DeChambeau struggle

American Justin Thomas overcame a mid-round wobble to take the clubhouse lead at the 152nd British Open with a first-round three-under-par 68 at a blustery Royal Troon on Thursday. The twice former PGA champion galloped to four under after 10 holes before hitting trouble but finished strongly, sinking a long birdie at the last to set the pace.

Sport-Pickleball league unveils first tournaments outside U.S. for 2025

The pro tour for pickleball, the popular paddle sport similar to tennis, table tennis and badminton, will make its first foray outside the U.S. with events in Australia, India, Canada, Asia and Europe next year, organizers said on Thursday.

The U.S.-based Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) tournaments will mark the first time ranking points will be awarded to players competing internationally as organizers look to replicate the explosive growth of the sport overseas.

Swimming-Australia launches Olympic charm offensive after poking U.S. bear

Australia's Olympic swimming head coach Rohan Taylor has praised the United States team as the "standard of the sport" in a bid to ease tensions following a media campaign which hyped up the nations' rivalry in the leadup to the Paris Games. Australia finished second to the U.S. on the swimming medal table at the Tokyo Olympics and hopes to knock the Americans off top spot for the first time since the 1988 Seoul Games.

Caitlin Clark sets WNBA single-game assists record

Rookie guard Caitlin Clark dished out a WNBA-record 19 assists for the Indiana Fever in their 101-93 loss to the Dallas Wings on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas. Clark surpassed Courtney Vandersloot's previous single-game assist record of 18. Vandersloot, who currently plays for the New York Liberty, set the mark on Aug. 31, 2020, as a member of the Chicago Sky.

Russian and Belarusian athletes broke rules on Ukraine war, rights group says

Ten Russian and seven Belarusian athletes cleared to compete in the Paris Olympics have violated the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) rules on neutrality regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine and should be barred, an international rights group said on Thursday. Global Rights Compliance, which tracks violations of international humanitarian law in the conflict and assists war crimes prosecutors in gathering evidence of alleged violations, said it had presented evidence to the IOC substantiating the assertions, but that the committee had ignored its warnings.

Athletics-Herniated disc knocks defending decathlon world champ LePage out of Olympics

Canada's reigning world decathlon champion Pierce LePage has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics due to a herniated disc in his back which requires surgery. The 28-year-old announced the news in a lengthy video on Instagram, saying he had hoped up until recently he would be able to push through the pain to compete for his first Olympic medal, but does not want to risk further injury ahead of next season.

Tennis-Nadal records confident win over Norrie in Bastad

Rafa Nadal upset Briton Cam Norrie 6-4 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in Bastad on Thursday, mounting a terrific second-set comeback in an encouraging display for the Spaniard's fans ahead of the Paris Olympics. The former world number one skipped Wimbledon to prepare for the Olympic tournament and the plan appeared to be paying off as he rallied back from 4-1 down in the second set to set up a meeting with Argentine fourth seed Mariano Navone.

Google brings AI to US broadcast of Paris Olympics

Alphabet's Google will infuse artificial intelligence into the U.S. broadcast of the Paris Olympics, allowing sports commentators to use AI to explain competitions, the tech company said on Thursday alongside NBCUniversal and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Google will be named the official search AI partner of Team USA, marking the first time a tech company has partnered with the sports nonprofit, the three organizations said in a statement.

Olympics-Dutch medallist Kamminga questions handling of Chinese swimmers' doping cases

Dutch swimmer Arno Kamminga described the case of the 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for a banned drug as a "lose-lose situation" while also questioning how the investigation was handled by the authorities ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed reports in April that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for TMZ (trimetazidine) -- a medication that increases blood flow to the heart -- before the Tokyo Olympics.

Union's Cavan Sullivan, 14, becomes youngest to make pro debut

Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to debut in MLS and North American team sports history when he entered Wednesday night's match in the 85th minute against the New England Revolution. Sullivan (14 years, 293 days) passed Freddy Adu (14 years, 306 days) for the MLS mark. Adu set it for D.C. United in 2004.

(With inputs from agencies.)