SOCCER
Nicholas Gioacchini and Sebastian Soto both scored their first two international goals, Gio Reyna got his first and a young United States team routed Panama 6-2 Monday night in an exhibition at Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
Gioacchini and Reyna made their first appearances Thursday in a 0-0 draw at Wales, among six debuts as the Americans returned from a coronavirus break that had sidelined the team since February. Soto and Richy Ledezma were among two more debuts against the Panamanians.
Sebastian Lletget, like Soto a second-half substitute, also scored late for the Americans. Ledezma assisted on the final goal.
José Fajardo scored his first two goals for Panama, the first in the eighth minute with a glancing header following a cross by Alejandro Yearwood that split central defenders Tim Ream and Matt Miazga. Fajardo cut the gap to 3-2 in the 79th minute.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Sixteen people tested positive for the coronavirus in the latest round of checks on players and club staff in the Premier League, England’s top division said.
It is the highest number of positive tests recorded in a single week since testing began ahead of the return of football in June after the sport’s suspension amid the pandemic.
The league said 1,207 players and club staff were tested from Nov. 9-15. That number would not have included players away from their clubs on international duty.
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: Luis Suárez and goalkeeper Rodrigo Muñoz have tested positive for the coronavirus, the Uruguayan Football Association said.
They and national team staffer Matías Faral, also infected, will miss Uruguay’s home match against Brazil on Tuesday in South American World Cup qualifying.
TENNIS
ATP FINAL: Daniil Medvedev pulled off an underarm serve as he outlasted Alexander Zverev and joined Novak Djokovic as a winner at the ATP Finals on day two.
Medvedev prevailed 6-3, 6-4, while Djokovic cruised past Finals debutant Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-2 in an empty O2 Arena.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: The Australian Open and all the regular regional leadup tournaments are set to be staged in Melbourne in January as organizers aim to minimize health risks for players in the coronavirus pandemic.
Tennis Australia plans to transfer tournaments usually held in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart to Melbourne, where a quarantine and practice and playing hub will be set up.
But it’s yet to be cleared.
Australia’s international borders are mostly closed, and there is still differing domestic traveling restrictions between states.
Tennis Australia on Monday told the Associated Press that logistics, including draw sizes and scheduling, were being worked through for the weeks ahead of the Australian Open, which is due to start on Jan. 18. The ATP Cup is scheduled to begin around Australia on Jan. 1.
But Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews told a later news conference the plan to host all tournaments in Melbourne was “far from a done deal.”
OLYMPICS
SWIMMING: Australian swimmer Shayna Jack was banned for two years for accidental doping, with her sanction expiring days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judge decided “Jack did not intentionally ingest ligandrol and considered that she had discharged her onus of proving that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional.”
Jack tested positive for the anabolic agent ahead of the 2019 world championships. An Australian sports tribunal previously recommended a four-year ban before CAS took on the case.
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