Thursday Sports in Brief
OLYMPICS
GENEVA (AP) — Russia will not be able to use its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday halved the four-year ban proposed last year by the World Anti-Doping Agency in a landmark case that accused Russia of state-ordered tampering of a testing laboratory database in Moscow.
The ruling also blocked Russia from bidding to host major sporting events for two years.
Russian athletes and teams will still be allowed to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing if they are not implicated in doping or covering up positive tests.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — The Sun Belt Conference football championship game Saturday between No. 9 Coastal Carolina and No. 17 Louisiana-Lafayette was canceled Thursday because of a positive COVID-19 test within the Coastal Carolina program.
An entire position group would have been unavailable to play because of contact tracing.
Both schools were in line for a New Year’s Six bowl spot with a victory.
Coastal Carolina (11-0, 8-0, No. 12 CFP) is the conference’s first top 10 team. It was set to host the title game. Louisiana-Lafayette is 9-1 overall, 7-1 in the Sun Belt and No. 19 in the CFP.
NHL
WASHINGTON (AP) — Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist will sit out the upcoming NHL season because of a heart condition, announcing the news a little more than two months after joining the Washington Capitals.
Lundqvist posted a written statement and a videotaped one on social media Thursday, saying it was a “pretty tough and emotional day.”
He said he has been having various tests on his heart “for several weeks” and “unfortunately won’t be able to join the team this year.”
The 38-year-old from Sweden was bought out by the New York Rangers after 15 seasons and signed a $1.5 million, one-year deal with Washington in October.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks are going to remain the Blackhawks and there is no sign of a change coming anytime soon.
Speaking publicly for the first time since baseball’s Cleveland Indians announced Monday they plan to change their name, Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz reiterated the same message the team shared this summer after lingering questions about Native American team names returned to the forefront.
“Obviously respect the decision the Cleveland Indians made to go down that path, but we continue to deepen our commitment to upholding our namesake and our brand,” Wirtz said Thursday.
NBA
NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA coach’s challenge is back, and here to stay.
Following the recommendation from the league’s competition committee, the NBA’s board of governors voted Thursday to keep the challenge as an option for coaches going forward. It was introduced last year on a one-year trial.
Coaches challenged 700 calls last season, including the playoffs. Calls were overturned 308 times, or a rate of 44%.
Also approved by the board of governors Thursday: a plan to give teams the ability to expand their active roster on game nights from 13 to 15 for this season — a move being made largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic and in anticipation of the likelihood that teams will be missing players from time to time.
NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA Foundation has chosen the initial seven recipients of grants from the newly created group, the first step toward what the league has promised will be at least $300 million in money designed to spur additional economic empowerment in Black communities.
Those first grants, announced Thursday, totaled $2 million. They went to the following groups: exalt, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Marcus Graham Project, Operation DREAM, The Knowledge House, TEAM Inc., and the Youth Empowerment Project.
Plans to create the NBA Foundation began in June and were finalized by the NBA’s Board of Governors and the National Basketball Players Association in early August.
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill introduced Thursday by four Democratic lawmakers would grant college athletes sweeping rights to compensation, including a share of the revenue generated by their sports, and create a federal commission to oversee college athletics.
The College Athletes Bill of Rights is sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). If passed, it could wreak havoc on the NCAA’s ability to govern intercollegiate athletics and the association’s model for amateurism.
The announcement of the bill comes a day after the Supreme Court agreed to review a court ruling the NCAA says blurs the “line between student-athletes and professionals” by removing caps on certain compensation that major college football and basketball players can receive.
SOCCER
GENEVA (AP) — Robert Lewandowski has been voted FIFA’s best player of 2020.
The Bayern Munich and Poland forward beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to get the award for the first time. Messi and Ronaldo have combined to dominate the prize in 11 of the past 12 years.
Lewandowski scored 55 goals last season to lift Bayern to a sweep of international and domestic trophies.
England defender Lucy Bronze won the women’s player award. Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool won the men’s coach award ahead of Bayern’s Hansi Flick.
Sarina Wiegman of the Netherlands national team was voted the best coach in women’s soccer.
OBITUARY
Lorenzo Taliaferro, who ran for 339 yards and scored five touchdowns during three injury-riddled seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, has died. He was 28.
Taliaferro passed away Wednesday in Williamsburg, Va., according to York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office. The cause of death was not immediately made public.
Drafted by Baltimore out of Coastal Carolina in the fourth round of the 2014 draft, Taliaferro ran for 292 yards and four touchdowns over 13 games as a rookie before an injury ended his season. He played in three games apiece in 2015 and 2016 before again finishing on injured reserve each season.
Taliaferro ended up playing in 19 games in the NFL before being cut by Baltimore in September 2017.
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