Boro to host England friendlies in June
LONDON • England will play their Euro 2020 warm-up matches against Austria and Romania on June 2 and 6 respectively at the Riverside Stadium, the Football Association (FA) said yesterday.
The FA said the home ground of second-tier Championship side Middlesbrough was "selected to host both fixtures to help support a Covid-secure environment for the squad". The Three Lions kick off their Euro 2020 campaign against Croatia on June 13.
REUTERS
Amsterdam to allow fans at Euro 2020
AMSTERDAM • Euro 2020 games in Amsterdam are expected to be played with at least 12,000 spectators in the stands, the Dutch football association said yesterday.
The news follows an announcement by the Italian football federation the previous day, saying that Rome's Olympic Stadium can be re-opened to the public for Euro 2020 matches.
REUTERS
Sato aiming for world mark and Games gold
TOKYO • Japanese swim star Shoma Sato clocked the second-fastest 200m breaststroke time yesterday and has set his sights on claiming the world record and the gold medal when he makes his debut at the Tokyo Olympics in July.
The 19-year-old broke the national record as he blazed home in 2min 6.40sec, just 0.28sec off the world mark of 2:06.12 set by Russia's Anton Chupkov at the 2019 world championships.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Olympic marathon qualifier relocated
BRUSSELS • Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge will test his readiness for a defence of his Olympic marathon crown not in Hamburg as planned but in the Dutch city of Enschede after the race was switched due to Covid-19 restrictions in Germany.
Organisers yesterday also announced the invitation-only event, which serves as a Tokyo Games qualifier, had been pushed put back a week to April 18. Kipchoge, the marathon world-record holder, last ran at October's London Marathon, placing eighth.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Murofushi getting cancer treatment
TOKYO • Koji Murofushi, who until last September was sports director for the Tokyo 2020 Games, is undergoing treatment for brain cancer, according to Japanese media reports yesterday.
The former hammer thrower and 2004 Athens Games gold medallist is set to undergo a transplant of his own stem cells later this month.
REUTERS