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Russian athletes set off for Rio from Moscow on Wednesday Badminton is the latest sport to clear Russian competitors to take part in the Olympic Games as the nation’s athletes begin to travel to Brazil. Governing bodies must rule on whether Russian athletes can compete in Rio following the country’s doping scandal. So far 108 of the 387-strong Russian team have been banned from the Games, which get under way…

This week’s Badges for Baseball session in Aberdeen was a little different than others this summer, as rising country music star Matt Stillwell was at the practice Wednesday to throw around the ball and pitch and catch. The baseball fan and singer has a new single out, “Hey Dad,” and appeared with Badges for Baseball through his partnership with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, which sponsors the program. Stillwell played…

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Sports Direct had hinted at the time of its full-year results that it was considering a buyback while the shares were depressed. Meanwhile, the company’s arch-rival JD Sports said that full-year profits would be at the upper end of expectations, between £170m and £190m, after strong trading.  JD Sports sales have benefited from an exclusive replica kit contract with the Welsh football team, who had unexpected success at the Euros.

One issue that constantly clouds youth sports is the unrealistic expectations many adults have that younger girls and boys will star in high school sports and earn scholarships to play in college. Many parents even believe their child will go on to become a professional athlete. I hate to burst their bubble, but the facts say otherwise. The National Council of Youth Sports has reported that more…

Jaunt, one of the bigger names in virtual reality filmmaking right now, has partnered with the e-sports league ESL to film a series of short 360-degree documentaries about its biggest tournaments. The first of those documentaries is called CLG: Win Everythin’ (typo intentional) and follows the team Counter Logic Gaming during a League of Legends competition. The documentary is just over five minutes long and is available now through Jaunt’s apps…

OLYMPICS BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Eleven weightlifters, including three Russian medalists, have tested positive for banned drugs in the latest retests of samples from the 2012 London Olympics, the International Weightlifting Federation said. The IWF said in a statement that all 11 athletes, six of whom were medalists, had been provisionally suspended until their cases are closed. Four of the 11 are Russians, who all tested positive…

He may have stormed to a commanding Brickyard 400 victory, but the attention wasn’t on Kyle Busch Sunday. Instead the spotlight was elsewhere, including what is likely the final race for Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the dearth of spectators who witnessed Busch’s dominating performance. Not surprisingly, these two topics are also the chief focus of this week’s NASCAR mailbag. That and lug nuts,…

The U.S. women’s national team won the trophy it really wanted last summer in Canada. This summer, the world champs will compete for a place in history. Since women’s soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996, no country has claimed the Women’s World Cup and Olympic gold medal in back-to-back years. The world champion Americans settled for silver in 2000, then rebounded from World Cup disappointment to claim gold…

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Where is the justice in this? The Russian athlete, Yuliya Stepanova, risks death by revealing the extent of Russian doping in her Olympic sport. She has to flee her country with her family, live in hiding and train in secret. She is told that, provided she is “clean”, she may compete in the Rio Olympics next week, but “as a neutral”. She is then told she cannot compete. Instead the…

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Zach Frazee is recovering after he was struck in the chest by a baseball, which stopped his heart. (Photo: KHOU) DEER PARK, Texas — We often hear about impact injuries in football, hockey or boxing, but one family almost lost their son earlier this month when he was hit in the chest during a baseball game. The Frazee family says their 13-year-old son Zach was at one of his many…

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says more rule changes are needed to improve the pace of play, and one proposal under consideration is a limitation on relief pitching changes in an inning or a game. The majors shaved several minutes off the average game time last season, but games have been slightly longer in 2016. “We’ve slipped back a little bit this year, and pace of play is…

For 27 years, Target’s bull’s-eye has been a triumphant fixture on the IndyCar scene, connected to more than 101 victories including four Indianapolis 500 wins. But not for much longer. The Minneapolis-based retailer said Wednesday that it will end its longest-running sports sponsorship and one of the longest-running in all of motor racing. The partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing and its IndyCar Series team led by driver Scott Dixon will…

The U.S. women’s national team won the trophy it really wanted last summer in Canada. This summer, the world champs will compete for a place in history. Since women’s soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996, no country has claimed the Women’s World Cup and Olympic gold medal in back-to-back years. The world champion Americans settled for silver in 2000, then rebounded from World Cup disappointment to claim gold in…

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ATLANTA — DRIVEN: Travel Baseball — Chasing the Dream presented by Toyota debuts Sunday, August 7, at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports South following the Atlanta Braves vs. St. Louis Cardinals telecast with an encore showing at 10:00 p.m. ET. This latest episode of the Emmy Award-winning series will also be available on FOX Sports GO (FOXSportsGo.com), a free app that provides live streaming video of content televised on…

You know what they say: in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death, taxes, and baseball being really weird, pretty much all the time. As of right now, the 2016 Braves are the worst team in baseball. But, like Tolstoy would have said had he known that baseball existed, every really bad baseball team is woeful in its own manner. But also, weird in its…