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Rugby Union: England scrum-half Ben Youngs (picture) has withdrawn from the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand for family reasons, he said in a statement. The 27-year-old, learned the wife of his brother Tom – a Leicester Tigers and England team-mate – was terminally ill with cancer having battled the illness for three years. Youngs was included in a 41-man squad for his second tour but informed head coach Warren Gatland of his decision to withdraw this weekend. “We are a very close family and, as I am sure everyone can respect, time is now precious together,” Youngs said.
Tennis: Maria Sharapova set up an intriguing second-round clash with outspoken critic Eugenie Bouchard in the Madrid Open by seeing off Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6 6-4 6-0 yestrerday. A sparse crowd turned out to see the five-times grand slam winner begin her second tournament after completing a 15-month suspension for testing positive for banned substance meldonium and the Russian was made to work for the win by world number 20 Lucic-Baroni, who took the first set. Sharapova will meet Bouchard, ranked 60, today in an eagerly anticipated game.
Golf: The Lorena Ochoa Match Play tournament is down to the final four and American Michelle Wie is one of the survivors. Wie won two matches on Saturday at Club de Golf Mexico in Mexico City and advanced to the semi-finals of the LPGA Tour’s first match-play event since 2012. Joining Wie in the semi-finals are Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and South Koreans Kim Sei-young and Hur Mi-jung.
Cycling: Fernando Gaviria of Colombia claimed his maiden grand tour victory when he won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, also snatching the overall leader's pink jersey on yesterday. The 22-year-old Gaviria benefited from some outstanding work by his Quick Step-Floors team mate Bob Jungels, who rode himself to the ground to keep the peloton at bay in the finale. Gaviria easily outsprinted German Ruediger Selig (Bora Hansgrohe) and Italian Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Segafredo). "We knew there were come crosswinds near the finish so we wanted to split the peloton there," said Jungels.
Boxing: Mexican Saul Alvarez will take on middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas on September 16. Alvarez announced the bout immediately after his comfortable points victory over compatriot Julio Chavez Jr. on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena. Alvarez extended his record to 49-1-1 in a dominant display where he targeted the body of Chavez Jr. and all three judges voted in favour of the 26-year-old, with 120-108 on the scorecards, while Golovkin watched at ringside.