OLYMPICS
Reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee and six-time world championship medalist Shilese Jones are facing health concerns ahead of the U.S. Olympic trials.
Lee, who has spent the better part of two years fighting multiple kidney issues, felt ill while training on Wednesday, though longtime coach Jess Graba doesn’t believe it will hinder Lee’s ability to compete when the trials begin on Friday night.
Jones, perhaps the best American gymnast not named Simone Biles, trained with her right shoulder taped to help her deal with a slight tear in her labrum.
Jones pulled herself out of the U.S. Championships on the day the competition was scheduled to start earlier this month. The 21-year-old successfully petitioned to get into the trials, then took a week off to rest before building back up with the hope of being selected to the five-woman Olympic team on Sunday night.
BASEBALL
EASTERN LEAGUE: The Portland Sea Dogs and Binghamton Rumble Ponies were postponed by rain.
The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. Friday.
TENNIS
EASTBOURNE: Emma Raducanu saved a match point before beating second-seeded Jessica Pegula 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals at Eastbourne, England.
Raducanu will be a wild-card entry for Wimbledon next week, after missing last year’s tournament because of hand and ankle injuries.
Also in the second round, Britain’s Katie Boulter won 6-4, 7-5 against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and fourth-seeded Madison Keys beat Anhelina Kalinina 7-6 (5), 6-1.
In men’s second-round play, there were a couple of upsets as lucky loser Aleksandar Vukic downed third-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4, and unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic beat fourth-seeded Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-2.
SOCCER
EURO 2024:Romania and Slovakia got the 1-1 draw at Frankfurt, Germany, that sent both teams into the round of 16 with the Romanians topping Group E ahead of Belgium.
• Belgium advanced to the last 16 after a 0-0 draw with Ukraine at Stuttgart, Germany, and the Ukrainians became the first team with four points in a group to be eliminated.
All four teams in Group E at Euro 2024 finished with four points. Romania ended up first, followed by Belgium and Slovakia. Ukraine was last on goal difference.
• Cenk Tosun scored in stoppage time to send Turkey into the knockout stage with a 2-1 win over 10-man Czech Republic at Hamburg, Germany.
Czech captain Tomas Soucek equalized in the 66th minute to cancel Hakan Calhanoglu’s opening goal, but it wasn’t enough to keep his team in the tournament.
The Czechs had midfielder Antonin Barak sent off in the 20th minute for two bookable fouls.
The Czech Republic finished bottom of Group F behind Georgia, which surprised group winner Portugal with a 2-0 win to progress as one of the best third-place teams.
Turkey finished runner-up with six points.
• Georgia pulled off one of the biggest upsets in European Championship history, beating Portugal 2-0 at Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and advancing to the last 16.
The Georgians needed a win to reach the knockout stage and got their opening goal after only 93 seconds. Georges Mikautadze intercepted a poor pass and set up Khvicha Kvaratskelia to score with a low shot.
António Silva gave away the ball before the first goal and gave away a penalty for the second, tripping Luka Lochoshvili inside the penalty area. Georges Mikautadze hit the spot kick low and past Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa in the 57th minute.
Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo, who felt he deserved a penalty in the first half, kicked away a water bottle when he was substituted in the 66th minute.
Georgia advanced in its debut at a major tournament as one of the best third-place teams. Portugal had already qualified from Group F after winning its first two games.
MLS: Longtime Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza, who appeared in a pair of World Cups and at an Olympics for Honduras, has retired from professional soccer.
Espinoza, whose last game with Kansas City was in the Western Conference semifinals last November, announced his retirement on Wednesday. He’ll be honored on Saturday when Sporting hosts Austin FC.
COPA AMERICA: Seventeen-year-old Kendry Páez scored in first-half stoppage time, Alan Minda added another goal late in the second half and Ecuador beat winless Jamaica 3-1 at Las Vegas.
Ecuador, which rebounded from a 2-1 loss to Venezuela, won its first Copa America game since a 4-0 victory over Haiti in 2016, stopping an eight-game winless streak.
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