[attach id=542186 size="medium"][/attach]
Federation Cup: Top doubles team Caroline Garcia (picture, right) and Kristina Mladenovic will spearhead France’s challenge in the Federation Cup final against defending champions Czech Republic after making their return following a suspension. In September, the French tennis federation lifted a ban on the pair, who were sanctioned the previous month for criticising the organisation following a mix-up over their clothing in a first-round doubles loss at the Rio Olympics. Captain Amelie Mauresmo also named Alize Cornet and Pauline Parmentier for the Nov. 12-13 tie that will be played in Strasbourg.
Athletics: James Dasaolu, the second fastest Briton in history, has been stripped of his National Lottery funding cut for the 2017 season. The 29-year-old, who three years ago ran 9.91 seconds over 100m to rank second only to Linford Christie on the British all-time list, has lost his relay funding, indicating he is no longer in Great Britain’s sprint relay plans. Dasaolu has paid the price for a poor season in which he could only make the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics before being dropped from the team for the 4x100m final.
Rallying: Volkswagen will pull out of the World Rally Championship at the end of the current season as part of a strategic shift to help overcome its emissions scandal. Top executives and labour leaders are aiming to agree a cost-cutting plan for the VW brand’s operations in Germany in time for a meeting of the carmaker’s supervisory board on Nov. 18 to ratify future spending plans. The decision to quit rallying follows a similar move by VW’s luxury flagship brand Audi, which last week announced it was pulling out of the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours to focus on the electric Formula E.
Baseball: Chicago Cubs set up a winner-takes-all Game Seven of the World Series by crushing Cleveland Indians 9-3 on Tuesday to level Major League Baseball’s best-of-seven championship. Facing elimination, reigning Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta won his second of the series, backed by 22-year-old shortstop Addison Russell, who smashed a grand slam on his way to logging a World Series record-tying six runs batted in. Anthony Rizzo also homered for Chicago. The victory kept alive the Cubs’ quest of winning their first Fall Classic title in 108 years.