National Sports

By Aleks Klosok, Amanda Davies, CNN (CNN) — Iranian-born judoka Saeid Mollaei believes members of Iran’s women’s soccer team could be killed or put in prison when they return home after declining to sing the country’s national anthem at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia. As an athlete who faced a similar decision in 2019

By Hannah Keyser, CNN (CNN) — Team Italy pitcher Dylan DeLucia threw four shutout innings in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game against Puerto Rico – purportedly the first baseball game to be broadcast on national Italian television. When he was done, the prospect in the Cleveland Guardians system who hails from Florida had an

By Don Riddell, CNN (CNN) — Shiva Amini says that the lives of Iranian athletes can change with the snap of a finger. Amini was a soccer player on Iran’s national futsal team until 2017, when she was pictured casually playing soccer with some male friends in Switzerland – a crime, she was told by

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN (CNN) — Team USA and Venezuela are set to meet Tuesday night in the final of the World Baseball Classic, a fitting showdown between two of the top teams on the field from nations that have a long and tense history off it. Venezuela booked its trip to the final with

CNN By Dana O’Neil, CNN (CNN) — Just as the CBS music is the call to gather for all basketball worshipers on the high holy day of Selection Sunday, the wounded are required to wail about the unrighteous committee members who wronged them. Or this year, let Bruce Pearl do it for them. Let’s just

By Dana O’Neil, CNN (CNN) — Just as the CBS music is the call to gather for all basketball worshipers on the high holy day of Selection Sunday, the wounded are required to wail about the unrighteous committee members who wronged them. Or this year, let Bruce Pearl do it for them. Let’s just not,

By Dana O’Neil, CNN New York (CNN) — “Dormant.’’ That’s the word Steve Masiello used to describe the St. John’s program he walked into three seasons ago as Rick Pitino’s associate head coach. He said this while, behind him, the Red Storm players picked their way through the confetti strewn across the Madison Square Garden

By Dana O’Neil, CNN (CNN) — Sam Hoiberg sat at the far end of the Nebraska bench and watched one dismal loss beget the next. Between December 1, 2021, and February 5, 2022, the Cornhuskers lost 15 of 16, only claiming victory against lowly Kennesaw State. The Huskers took a brief pause from their doldrums

By Dana O’Neil, CNN (CNN) — The blaring alarm startled Malik Hall out of his sleep in the early morning of February 28. Months earlier, when he first arrived to play for Ironi Kiryat Ata B.C., a team in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the former Michigan State basketball player was told to download an

By Dana O’Neil, CNN (CNN) — Steve Prohm lets out a deep exhale and Bryce Drew sighs an extended, “Oohhhh.’’ Josh Schertz kind of tsk-tsks, before muttering, “It’s a tough one.’’ Independent of one another, each has been asked the same question: “What does it feel like to be Travis Steele this week?” They have

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN (CNN) — Team USA is on the verge of one of the most embarrassing exits in World Baseball Classic history and, at this point, there’s nothing the Americans can do about it. After a shocking 8-6 defeat to Italy on Tuesday, a game that saw the Americans fall behind 8-0 before

By Hannah Keyser, CNN Miami (CNN) — With Team Venezuela leading 6-2 in the seventh inning of their first World Baseball Classic game, a dance party erupted on the concourse behind third base. A small drumline – one of several in the stands, even for a noon game on a weekday – had attracted a

By Hilary Whiteman, Christina Macfarlane, Ben Church, CNN Brisbane (CNN) — One of the seven members of the Iranian soccer team granted refuge in Australia has changed her mind, forcing Australian officials to hurriedly move the other six women after she divulged their secret location to the Iranian embassy, the government in Canberra said. Home

By Christina Macfarlane, Ben Church, Hilary Whiteman, CNN Brisbane (CNN) — Two more members of the Iranian soccer team were granted humanitarian visas in Australia before the rest of the team departed Sydney late Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed Wednesday. That takes the total number of visas granted to seven – six players

CNN By Don Riddell, CNN (CNN) — Iraq’s men’s national soccer team is just 90 minutes away from qualifying for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 40 years – in theory. Events far beyond the team’s control have reinforced the adage that the last mile is often the hardest. On March 31,