11:19 AM ET Associated Press Tennis star Naomi Osaka has lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games, ending the flame’s long journey from Greece to these delayed Olympics. The cauldron sat atop a peak inspired by Mount Fuji. It’s a sphere that opened like a flower, “to embody vitality and hope,”
5:00 AM ET CINCINNATI — His Cincinnati Bengals teammates had already left the field following a summer workout, but rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was still on the turf at Paul Brown Stadium getting familiar with his job. Chase plotted his place in the offensive formation as he worked on keeping his pre-snap routine and
4:00 AM ET What do Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling, N’Golo Kante, Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Jordan Henderson all have in common? They have reached the key moment in their contracts when they find out how important they really are to their clubs. As my ESPN colleague Gab Marcotti wrote this week, there is an
10:19 AM ET Texas and Oklahoma could make their move to the SEC official in a matter of weeks, ESPN has confirmed. The Austin American-Statesman reported Friday that a Big 12 source believed talks between the SEC and the two schools had been ongoing for more than six months, though Texas A&M had been left
Shikhar Dhawan, India’s stand-in captain during the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, is a natural entertainer on the pitch, with his thigh-slapping celebration after taking catches gaining an iconic status among fans. Dhawan now has decided to bring his entertainment-factor even to the captaincy’s post, as he celebrated winning the toss in the 3rd ODI
10:07 AM BST British & Irish Lions’ assistant coach Robin McBryde has said World Rugby showed a lack of thorough planning after the appointment of South African Marius Jonker as the Television Match Official (TMO) for the first test against the Springboks. Jonker is a late replacement for New Zealander Brendon Pickerill, who did not
7:02 PM ET Andrea Adelson Close ESPN Senior Writer ACC reporter. Joined ESPN.com in 2010. Graduate of the University of Florida. David M. Hale Close ESPN Staff Writer ACC reporter. Joined ESPN in 2012. Graduate of the University of Delaware. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has made it his goal to make football
12:53 AM ET TOKYO — The trio of players making the unprecedented jump from the NBA Finals to the Olympics are all scheduled to be in Japan by Saturday. The hope is for Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday to be available when Team USA opens play Sunday against France, according to coach Gregg
8:00 AM ET All things considered, Saturday’s main event between TJ Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen is the best UFC Fight Night headliner so far this year. For me, there are only two others that even come close in terms of significance, stylistic matchup and prefight narrative: Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum in April and Max
7:00 AM ET Draft day is here! You’ve read through our top-50 prospect rankings, checked out the latest projections in Greg’s mock draft, learned more about what makes Owen Power such a great prospect from Emily’s story, and of course, digested the Seattle Kraken‘s expansion draft process thanks to our top takeaways file. Now, it’s
6:31 AM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show As the Olympic boxing tournament in Tokyo starts on Saturday, Britain’s Joe Joyce will watch closely as he aims to build on his success
3:03 AM BST ESPN staff The three-match Bledisloe Cup has been thrown into uncertainty with the shutdown of the trans-Tasman travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Friday announced an eight-week pause on the travel bubble as New South Wales struggles to manage a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney.
5:51 AM BST Australia and Melbourne Rebels winger Marika Koroibete will relocate to Japan to play with Top League club Wild Knights next season, the club said on Friday. Koroibete will link up with former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans at the Wild Knights, which won the Top League title this year after beating Suntory Sungoliath
4:00 AM ET Barcelona have hit a big stumbling block in their attempt to register Lionel Messi’s new contract — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. PLUS: An ex-Man Utd star wanted by Chelsea. Jump to: Romero a Chelsea, Juve target after United exit | Premier League clubs’ COVID fears | Barca back out of
1:25 AM ET Associated Press Naomi Osaka‘s opening match in the Olympic tennis tournament has been pushed back from Saturday to Sunday. Organizers did not immediately provide a reason for the switch. They said only that the move came from the tournament referee. 1 Related Osaka was originally scheduled to play 52nd-ranked Saisai Zheng of
2:44 AM ET An important women’s bantamweight fight is off this weekend’s UFC card. The scheduled co-main event bout between Aspen Ladd and Macy Chiasson has been canceled because of an undisclosed Chiasson injury, UFC officials told ESPN on Thursday. The Saturday event in Las Vegas will go on with 11 fights. 1 Related ESPN
Virat Kohli was the top-scorer across both teams when India last toured England.© Twitter India captain Virat Kohli is gearing up for the upcoming five-match Test series against England. Although Kohli did not feature in the three-day warm-up game against County XI in Durham, he was seen middling the ball during a net session. Reminiscing
11:42 PM ET Nelson Cruz is so old that when he first signed with the New York Mets in 1998, Roger Maris still held the single-season home run record. Nelson Cruz is so old that when he played his first professional game, his new teammate Wander Franco had not been born. Nelson Cruz is so