Sports

By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer BEREA, Ohio (AP) — New Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson maintained his innocence and strongly denied committing any sexual misconduct despite allegations made by 22 women against him. Wearing a dark pinstriped suit and orange tie at his introductory news conference, Watson showed little emotion while saying he’s done nothing

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Four Chinese badminton players are on probation for two years for failing to try their best to win a doubles match in 2018. The incident happened in the Fuzhou Open quarterfinals in China in November 2018. World-ranked No. 2 pair Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen were playing No.

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — UCLA assistant coach Michael Lewis will be taking over Ball State’s program once the Bruins have completed their NCAA Tournament run. Lewis will replace the fired James Whitford. Ball State went 131-148 in Whitford’s nine seasons. Goetz said Lewis won’t officially begin his new job until UCLA’s season is over. The

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) — Steve Prohm is back at Murray State for a second stint as its men’s basketball coach. The coach said in a release Friday he is “excited and grateful” for the chance to return to Murray State. He is taking over the program as the Racers prepare to join the Missouri Valley

MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid says Eden Hazard will undergo surgery to remove a plate in his right leg. The 31-year-old Hazard has played sparingly for Madrid this season. The surgery will rule him out from facing former club Chelsea next month in the Champions League. Madrid says in that “in the coming days” Hazard

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer Olympic ice dance champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron shattered their own rhythm dance world record on Friday to take the lead over two American teams at the world championships in Montpellier, France. With the backing of their home crowd, Papadakis and Cizeron scored 92.73 points to their program

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s leading scorer Jermaine Couisnard has entered the transfer portal a day after Lamont Paris was named the Gamecocks new men’s basketball coach. Team spokesman Michael DeBates said in an email Friday that the fourth-year guard was in the NCAA portal. Couisnard averaged 12 points a game last season for

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey wasn’t going to miss a chance to see her son Jaden play in his first Sweet 16, Ivey will head down to Philadelphia from Connecticut after her team practices Friday afternoon to watch Purdue face Saint Peter’s in the men’s

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Auto Racing Writer JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The second practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was delayed by 15 minutes after a raging fire erupted at an oil depot nearby in Jiddah. Yemen’s Houthis rebels acknowledged they launched a series of attacks on the kingdom. While Saudi Arabia and

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Pablo Larrazábal had an eagle and three birdies on the back nine to erase a bad start at the Qatar Masters and allow him to take a one-shot lead into the weekend. The 122nd-ranked Spaniard shot 1-under 71 at Doha Golf Club for a 36-hole total of 9-under 135. His 40

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Auto Racing Writer JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The topic of conversation again has shifted from racing to human rights issues with Formula One back in Saudi Arabia this week for another grand prix. Lewis Hamilton says the responsibility for holding the kingdom to account shouldn’t fall on the drivers but

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — New Georgia coach Mike White has hired Akeem Miskdeen  (pronounced mis-cuh-deen), who was on White’s staff at Florida, as an assistant coach. Miskdeen was an assistant coach at Florida Atlantic for three seasons before joining White at Florida. He has coached for 13 years, including time as an assistant at Kent

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Auto Racing Writer JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Charles Leclerc has posted the fastest time ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in the first practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver moved to the top near the end of the session and was .116 seconds faster than

LONDON (AP) — West Ham says it has made “significant” financial donations to animal welfare charities following the fine imposed on player Kurt Zouma for abusing his cat. The France international had been fined two weeks’ salary and lost sponsorship deals after he was filmed kicking and slapping a cat. The Royal Society for the

TOPSHAM, Maine (AP) — Two Maine teenagers who helped bring a runaway school bus to a stop and called for help have been invited to the New England Patriots season opener. Team owner Robert Kraft delivered the invitation himself during a Zoom call this week with Connor and Seamus Collins, who stepped in when their

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Two days, two wins and making it look easy. Naomi Osaka sure seems like herself again. The former world No. 1 is through to the third round at the Miami Open, easily handling 13th-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday. It was