Digest

SOCCER

Botafogo weighing up bid for Qingdao's Toure

Botafogo is considering a bid to sign Qingdao Huanghai midfielder Yaya Toure, the Brazilian club's president said on Monday.

The Rio de Janeiro outfit is in talks with potential sponsors to raise funds to trigger Toure's buyout clause with the Chinese Super League club and cover his salary demands.

"We are looking at it, but there's a lot of engineering that needs to be done," Botafogo president Nelson Mufarrej said.

"It's not something that can be rushed. We have the whole week...to look for the money and see if we're able to really have him. What we can't do is pass the agreed limit for player expenses."

Having arrived in China as a free agent last July, former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder Toure helped Qingdao earn promotion to China's top flight.

He would be Botafogo's second major signing in less than two weeks after it secured Japan's former AC Milan midfielder Keisuke Honda in an 11-month deal

Wenger backing City's Champions League ban

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he has little sympathy for Manchester City over their ban from European competition, especially as he regularly lost some of his best Gunners players to wealthy Premier League rivals.

"The rules are what they are and people who don't respect them...have to be punished," said Wenger at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin. "If it is proven that this has been done on purpose, you cannot let that go unpunished."

On Friday, UEFA announced City had been banned from continental competition for two seasons for what the governing body said were "serious" financial fair-play breaches between 2012 and 2016.

City was also fined 30 million euros ($32.5 million) and is taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Since the Sheikh Mansour takeover in 2008, which put the financial might of Abu Dhabi behind the club, City has won 10 major trophies－including four Premier League titles.

GOLF

'Greatest of all time' Wright dies aged 85

Thirteen-time major winner Mickey Wright, often described as the greatest woman golfer of all time, died on Monday aged 85.

Wright, who accumulated 82 LPGA Tour titles during a professional career which stretched from 1954 to 1969, died in Florida after a heart attack, reports said.

"We're saddened to learn today of the passing of Mickey Wright, a 13-time Major Champion and 82-time winner on the@LPGA, just three days after celebrating her birthday," the World Golf Hall of Fame announced on Twitter.

"One of the best to ever play the game, she will be greatly missed.#RIPMickey." Born Mary Kathryn Wright in San Diego, California, in 1935, Wright enjoyed a stellar amateur career which included a US Girls Junior Championship in 1952.

ATHLETICS

Fraser-Pryce eyes track farewell at 2021 worlds

Jamaican sprint queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, currently preparing for the Tokyo Olympics, says the defense of her women's 100m sprint gold at the 2021 world championships could be her farewell from athletics.

The 33-year-old surged to an unprecedented fourth women's 100m gold at the Doha worlds last September on her return to major competition after the birth of her son, Zyon, in 2017.

"After Tokyo, I am the defending champion at the world championships in Eugene and that is so close to home," Fraser-Pryce, who has won two Olympic and nine world championship golds over the last 12 years, said ahead of Monday's Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin.

"It's a few hours (flight) from Jamaica and to be able to end a career close to home, where I can have most, if not all, of my family in attendance, would be the highlight of my career."

American sprint legend Michael Johnson said he would "put money "on the evergreen Fraser-Pryce winning the women's 100m final on Aug 1 at the Tokyo Olympics.

AWARD

Messi and Hamilton share Laureus honor

The world's top soccer player Lionel Messi and dominant Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton were jointly declared the winners of the prestigious Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award in Berlin on Monday.

Six-time F1 world champion Hamilton and six-time FIFA World Player of the Year Messi split the jury, with the voting tied for the first time in the awards' 20-year history.

It was also the first time a soccer player has won the award.

"I am honored to be the first to win this award being a sportsperson coming from a team sport," Messi said from Barcelona via a video message.

US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles, who won five titles at the 2019 world championships in Stuttgart to leave her with a record 25 world gold medals, was named Laureus Sportswoman of the Year for the third time.

"It means the world to me, this is my third Laureus award and I am really grateful," said Biles in a video message.

South Africa, which won the 2019 Rugby World Cup, was named team of the year, beating soccer's European champion Liverpool and the US women's team.

GOLF

Pippen praying for China's virus fight

NBA legend Scottie Pippen has voiced his support for China in its ongoing fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

"We're praying for you here in the United States. Hopefully things are going to start to get better today," Pippen told his fans in China.

"In today's news I saw a lot of people who had been held in shelter with family are to be released, so I think that was a good, good sign," Pippen told Xinhua on Sunday.

"To China now fighting through a difficult time, you're stronger as a group than individuals. I think this is a time when we need each other and... for giving, caring and showing your love."

Pippen, who won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls, has traveled to China multiple times, teaching kids basketball and forging a strong bond with the country.

Xinhua - Agencies