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DANIELLE COLLINS DIAGNOSED—BUT NOT DEFEATED—BY RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Danielle Collins, a semifinalist at this year’s Australian Open, announced Wednesday on Instagram that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. While receiving news of having a chronic inflammatory condition causing pain, stiffness and swelling in joints was a difficult revelation, it also provided significant answers for the American. “I have not been feeling all that great for quite some time, but it has been somewhat of a relief and completely validating to understand the cause behind my pain. I am certainly not the first person who has been diagnosed with a chronic illness, and I really feel for all of the people out there who are struggling,” Collins wrote. The two-time former NCAA singles champion is the second notable WTA player in a year to be diagnosed with the disorder after Caroline Wozniacki revealed last October at the WTA Finals that she was battling the disease. Understandably in shock at the time, Wozniacki stated, “You feel like you’re the fittest athlete out there, or that’s in my head, that’s what I’m known for, and all of a sudden you have this to work with. “It is what it is, and you just have to be positive…

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Gareth Southgate seeks to establish England meritocracy without privilege

Gareth Southgate says he overlooked a clutch of established names at top-six clubs for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria because he did not want the younger generation to believe there was “privileged access to certain players”. The England manager’s most eye-catching call-ups were the young Chelsea duo Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. It is the first time the latter has been included and his elevation comes after only four Premier League starts. Abraham, who has eight goals this season, won caps against Germany and Brazil in 2017. But the omissions were equally significant and they were headlined by Kyle Walker, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard – each of whom started in the World Cup semi-final defeat against Croatia in 2018. Eric Dier, a substitute in that game, has also missed out and so has Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Southgate made the point that telling players they are not needed for a particular get together is the worst part of his job but said no conversation would be as difficult as the one he had with Wayne Rooney, whose England career he effectively ended. That episode has steeled him. “When you’re selecting a…

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PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN UPDATE: HALEP, ANDREESCU EARN WTA FINALS BIDS

There isn’t just one big announcement in the Porsche Race to Shenzhen this week, but two: Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu have both qualified for the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, joining Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova in the exclusive, eight-player season-ending event. The announcement was made as play got underway Monday at the China Open. Halep won her opening match at the Premier Mandatory event on Sunday, 6-1, 6-1 over Rebecca Peterson, before losing on Monday to Ekaterina Alexandrova, 6-2, 6-3. “It is such an honor to qualify for the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen,” said Halep, who won the second Grand Slam title of her career at Wimbledon this year, with her first coming at last year’s French Open. “It is always a goal of mine each season to qualify and I’m excited to play the event this year. I have been to Shenzhen before so I’m looking forward to being back in front of the great fans there.” Andreescu, who won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open this year, defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Monday, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. “I’m really looking forward to ending the season at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen,”…

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MOST GOALS, POINTS & WINS: THE NHL’S LEADING CANDIDATES AND LONG SHOTS IN 2019-20

Well, we’re almost there. This time next week the 2019-20 NHL regular season will be underway, and we can forget about the previews and predictions and projections for another year and instead focus on the action on the ice. But, before the puck drops on the real thing, here’s one more prediction-filled preview projecting the NHL’s top candidates to lead the league in points, goals, and goalie wins in 2019-20, with a few long shots — and long long shots – thrown in. MOST POINTS: Don’t overthink it, go with Nikita Kucherov or Connor McDavid. The Lightning superstar is coming off the most productive season in nearly a quarter of a century, the Oilers superstar could one-up Kucherov and approach 150 points. Sure, someone like Patrick Kane or Nathan MacKinnon or Sidney Crosby or Johnny Gaudreau could rip off a career year and claim the Art Ross Trophy. But don’t overthink it. Go with Kucherov or McDavid. Long shots: David Pastrnak missed 16 games last season but his points-per-game average ranked seventh in the league. He’s entering his sixth NHL season at the tender age of 23 and he’s an integral member of the ‘Perfection…

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THE PROSPECT BUILDING HAS JUST BEGUN IN MINNESOTA

TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. – In terms of results, things couldn’t have gone much worse for the Minnesota Wild at this year’s Traverse City Prospects Tournament. Minnesota was the only team in the eight-squad field not to win a game and though the first three setbacks were one-goal affairs, the Wild got blown out 6-1 by a shorthanded Chicago side in the seventh-place final. To paint a picture of the scene, Blackhawks prospects Michal Teply and Tim Soderlund scored on a 2-on-3 – and no, I do not mean a 3-on-2. Having said that, Minnesota director of player development Brad Bombardier still found the positives. “It’s a great tournament to see the same age group against each other, where you can gauge where their games are at,” he said. “Some of our guys on the pro scouting side haven’t seen these kids before. And the compete for level; we’ve been very pleased with that. We played a lot of one-goal games, we just weren’t able to capitalize.” One issue for the Wild was the fact four of the organization’s best prospects were not at the tournament. Current NCAA players don’t go to Traverse City because it…

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Meier takes top Mid West netball award

Elliston’s Kassie Meier was named the Mid West Netball Association’s best and fairest winner for 2019 at last month’s count hosted at the Minnipa Hall. Meier won the Marg Smart Memorial Trophy, presented by Marg’s daughters Karen Paul and Fiona Matthews, on 21 votes. The runner-up on 18 votes was Abbey Bruce of Netball Award while the best under 21 was Meika Tomney of Wudinna United on 16 votes. Taking out the B grade award was Nyssa Bell of West Coast on 25 votes, ahead of Western Districts’ Neve Tomney with 18 Central Eyre’s Rani Tomney was the C grade winner with 20 votes and Nerissa Baldock was the runner-up with 16, while West Coast’s Tayla Roberts took out the D grade award with 16 votes to finish four ahead of Emily Sweeney of Wudinna. Read More

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Pelorus, Tokomaru to battle for premier netball crown

The stage is set for an intriguing Marlborough premier netball final on Saturday. On opposite sides of the Stadium 2000 court will be “country cousins” – Pelorus Edridge Contracting and Tokomaru Crafar Crouch Picton. Last Tuesday the two finalists booked their places in the premiership decider, pushing aside SMOG and Harlequins respectively, two clubs who have almost exclusively dominated the local premier scene for the past few decades. Toko took out the premier crown in 2017, a rare interruption of the SMOG/Quins dominance, while Pelorus are yet to get their name on the trophy. In fact, this year’s premier final will be their first trip to the “big dance”. Courtney Taufa, the Pelorus player/coach, is excited to be part of a squad on the cusp of creating history. “Last year was out the first semi in 18 years and this year we have made the final, so that’s awesome. “Toko will be tough … they play with their heart on their sleeve and give it their all, so we have got to come out firing.” Taufa said Pelorus had a simple recipe for success. “We work for each other … have each other’s backs.” Tokomaru…

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Netball ACT earn a licence for ‘Capital Spirit’ to join NSW Premier League

Canberra’s elite netballers will have a more direct pathway to the Australian Netball League, with the ‘Capital Spirit’ to join the NSW Premier League in 2020. Netball ACT earned the right to a two-year license following a twelve-month strategic expansion planning project. The new franchise will give ACT-based players greater exposure to elite-level netball without having to link-up with Sydney-based clubs. Twelve athletes currently travel to Sydney at least twice a week to train and compete in the state competition at Homebush. But having an ACT-based franchise will slash their taxing travel time by allowing them to train at Lyneham Netball Centre. The NSW Premier League unlocks another development pathway for talented players to be recognized by Canberra Giants selectors in ANL, the feeder competition to Super Netball. Read More

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Netball moves to Birmingham’s NEC for 2022 Commonwealth Games

Netball’s increase in popularity has seen the organizers of the 2022 Commonwealth Games move its venue from Coventry to the NEC. On September 3, the change in location was announced by Birmingham 2022 after they made a routine review of venues almost two years on from their bid. The continued upswing in netball’s profile was the driving force behind the shift. The way in which the Netball World Cup was received at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool will have further highlighted the sport’s ability to draw fans in. England will be taking to the court in 2022 as the defending champions after their triumph on the Gold Coast last year and back on home soil, expectations for success will be high. “We are delighted by Birmingham 2022’s decision to relocate netball for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and fully support this decision,” said Liz Nicholl CBE, president of the International Netball Federation. “While the Coventry Arena is an excellent venue, this move to the NEC will increase the capacity significantly,” “This [increased capacity] will be welcomed by the netball family and the significant fan base that our sport now attracts, as seen at the…

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Carlsen loses on chess financing

Norwegian authorities have allowed the state-sanctioned Norsk Tipping to have a monopoly on betting for years, in return for funneling most of Norsk Tipping’s money into funding for sports. Revenues from various Norsk Tipping gambling ventures are allocated among Norwegian sports federations including the one for chess (Norges Sjakkforbund). Carlsen hasn’t been impressed with the funding provided to the chess federation, however, and thus supported a bid by the gaming company Kindred, which owns Unibet. It offered to provide the equivalent of NOK 50 million over five years in return for support to effectively bust Norsk Tipping’s monopoly. Gave up delegates The offer was up for a vote at a chess federation meeting on Sunday, just after Carlsen established a new chess club and personally financed membership fees for the first 1,000 people to join it. That in turn would have given him the delegates needed to influence voting at the meeting. In the end, however, Carlsen seemed to bow to criticism that he was threatening Norwegian sports federation’s democracy by giving up 35 of the delegates his new club’s membership would have allowed. A total of 132 delegates voted against Kindred’s financing offer Sunday…

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