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Olympic hero Alysa Liu to sit out figure skating season before 2027 return

  • US star plans to return for 2027-28 season

  • Liu will continue training during year away

  • Skater says break ‘makes the most sense’

Olympic champion Alysa Liu will sit out the 2026-27 figure skating season, taking another break from competition while continuing to train ahead of a planned return the following year.

The 21-year-old American announced her decision on social media, saying she wanted time to “recalibrate” and develop her skating away from the demands of competition.

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© Photograph: Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

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Ukrainian star leaves LSU women’s basketball team after signing of Russian recruit

  • Center Kate Koval departs after one season with Tigers

  • Anna Minaeva of Russia joined team earlier this month

  • Kim Mulkey hoped two could be ‘ambassadors’ for peace

Ukrainian center Kate Koval is leaving LSU less than two weeks after the Tigers brought in a player from Russia.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Monday night that Koval was leaving for “personal reasons”, adding that the program will “respect her privacy on her decision”.

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© Photograph: Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images

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Angel Reese breaks two WNBA rebounding records in one night during Dream win

  • 24-year-old breaks single game and single season record

  • Reese’s 26 rebounds help Atlanta to win over Los Angeles

Angel Reese rebounded her way into the record books not once, but twice in one night. Reese set a WNBA record with 26 rebounds in the Atlanta Dream’s 78-71 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday, pushing her past the season record in the same game.

“Last time I was here, I didn’t miss any shots. Tonight I couldn’t hit [anything] so I knew I was going be able to get them on the rebounding side,” Reese said after the game. “I just want to be there for my team. Offensively, defensively, whatever it takes to win.”

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© Photograph: Brett Davis/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brett Davis/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brett Davis/Getty Images

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At least one in four former NFL players in study suffered from degenerative brain disease CTE

  • 215 of 235 donated brains showed signs of CTE

  • Condition can only be diagnosed after death

  • Symptoms include problems with memory and mood

At least one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 was found to have had chronic ⁠traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to a study released on Tuesday.

Out of the 878 former players who died during that time frame, 235 donated their brains for study, researchers said, with 215 ⁠of those donated brains ⁠found to have CTE, ​a degenerative disease that can only definitively be diagnosed after death. CTE is associated with repeated blows to the head, including concussions. Symptoms include difficulty with attention and memory, dementia, mood disorders and headaches.

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© Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

© Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

© Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

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I once saw Enes Kanter speak truth to power. Now he only punches down | Bryan Armen Graham

Nearly a decade after I watched him defy Erdoğan at great personal cost, the ex-NBA player is using his hard-won freedom to turn transgender people into a punchline

Nine years ago, I watched Enes Kanter ask America to take him in. It was May 2017, inside the National Basketball Players Association’s offices in midtown Manhattan. Kanter had just returned from a frightening detention at Bucharest airport, where Romanian border police told him Turkey had canceled his passport. He’d just turned 25, an NBA center with a green card and no country he could safely call home.

“I’m open for adoption,” he joked from the head of a table in a nondescript conference room, addressing a dozen reporters hastily summoned by his manager. Then he turned serious: “My next move is to just become an American citizen.”

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© Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

© Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

© Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

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Another set of Sullivan brothers are making football waves in Bangladesh

While Cavan and Quinn Sullivan star in MLS with the Philadelphia Union, brothers Ronan and Declan have connected with their South Asian heritage

Ronan Sullivan had tried a panenka twice in his life. Both attempts were at practice on the other side of the world, and one hit the crossbar. But his twin brother, Declan, was hardly surprised when Ronan turned to him and told him he’d chip the fifth penalty of a shootout that could win a scoreless tournament final, as millions tuned in online to see his Bangladesh side play against India in the Under-20 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship.

“He didn’t even need to say it. I knew he was gonna do that the whole time,” Declan remembered, sitting next to his brother on the couch of their dorm room at Saint Joseph’s University. “I knew that if he got the last pen to win it, he was gonna do that. That’s just the him thing to do.”

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© Photograph: Courtesy Bangladesh Football Federation

© Photograph: Courtesy Bangladesh Football Federation

© Photograph: Courtesy Bangladesh Football Federation

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Luka Dončić looks like a superstar adrift at the Lakers

The Slovenian is one of the best players on the planet. But factors largely beyond his control have started to turn his career into a slog

Luka Dončić must feel as though, these past few months, he’s been twirling in a washing machine. He announced a separation from his fiancee in March; reports followed of a prolonged custody battle over their two daughters. As Dončić plays in the NBA and his children live in Slovenia, he doesn’t see them much as is. But after the reports of the rift with his ex emerged, he started playing some of the best basketball of his life: he led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 15-2 record in March, a stretch that included a torrential 60-point display against the Miami Heat. Behind Dončić’s brightening star, the Lakers seemed to be sharpening into a real contender. Then Dončić tweaked his hamstring in April and the illusion shattered. He watched from the sidelines as the Lakers limped out of the playoffs with an inevitable second-round defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Actually, Dončić must feel as if he’s been in turmoil for the past few years. He made his first – and so far only – NBA finals in 2024, leading the Dallas Mavericks there with a barrage of awesome shotmaking. As the best offensive player on the court while playing through multiple injuries, Dončić and his Mavs lost to the far deeper Boston Celtics in five games. As thanks, the Mavericks traded Dončić to the Lakers, citing defensive concerns, when what had really doomed them against the Celtics was that no one aside from Luka – who led his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals in that series – could play at the requisite level to win.

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© Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

© Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

© Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

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