Today’s sports news: What you need to know

Most recent – Spanish tennis legend Rafa Nadal has suffered a stress fracture in his rib and will be out for up to six weeks.

Nadal, the winner of record-breaking 21 Grand Slam singles titles, complained of a breast problem during his run to the final of the ATP 1000 event in Indian Wells, California last week.

When he arrived in Spain today, Nadal visited his medical team in Barcelona for tests that revealed “a stress fracture in the third left coastal arch”.

“This is not good news and I did not expect this,” Nadal said in a statement sent by his team.

“I am disappointed and sad because after a good start to the season I came to a very important part of the year with very good feelings and good results.

Nadal’s injury occurred during his semi-final victory in three sets over teenage compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, but he still played the final where he went down to American Taylor Fritz – his first loss of the season after 20 wins in a row.

His doctor said the 35-year-old will be out of the game for “four to six weeks”, which excludes him from next month’s Monte Carlo Masters and casts doubt on his participation in the ATP 1000 events in Madrid and Rome in May.

The French Open, this year’s second major at Roland Garros, where Nadal has won record-breaking 13 titles, is scheduled to start on May 22nd.

-Reuters

Sir Mark Todd will be heard

Sir Mark Todd will face a disciplinary hearing in the UK this week after a video on social media showed him hitting a horse with a branch.

The former Olympic equestrian champion, who became a racehorse trainer, was given a temporary suspension last month.

The 65-year-old New Zealander has apologized for his actions.

An independent panel from the British Horseracing Authority will consider whether his conduct was detrimental to the race’s reputation.

Todd, who trains in Wiltshire, is accused of hitting a horse several times with a tree branch on August 29, 2020.

The video shows Todd beating the horse as he tries to lure it against the water jump in a cross-country school session.

He is unable to ride horses while the temporary suspension is in place.

Todd won individual tournament gold at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and Seoul in 1988 – and received a knight award for his riding achievements in 2013.

He became the racehorse trainer in 2019 after retiring from the three-day event.

-BBC

All even in Lahore

Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali combined in an unbroken stand of 70 to launch Pakistan’s solid response to Australia’s first innings totaling 391 in the crucial third and final Test in Lahore.

Open Shafique were unbeaten at 45 with number three Azhar 30 not out as the hosts reached 90-1 at the end of the second day’s game, and behind Australia with 301.

The 22-year-old Shafique and the experienced Azhar, who played his 94th Test but the first in his hometown of Lahore, came together after the early loss of opener Imam-ul-Haq and showed great patience to keep the exploratory Australian bowlers in chess.

The touring side delivered a healthy total, aided by determined half-centuries from Cameron Green and Alex Carey.

All-rounder Green scored 79 and wicketkeeper Carey made 67 before Australia were all out on the tee of the tee interval after opting to strike at Gaddafi Stadium.

The fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi finished with four wickets apiece for the hosts with a brilliant display of reverse-swing bowling on a course with variable bounce.

The first two tests in the series – the first between the sides in Pakistan since 1998 – were drawn.

-Reuters

Heinz is coming home

Former Canterbury rugby captain Willi Heinz returns to New Zealand.

Heinz has played in the UK since 2015 and spent six years with Gloucester before moving to Worcester last year.

The half-back had only just returned to the match after being out of the game for five months with a groin injury.

But his family has already decided to return home and he will now join them.

After qualifying to play for England, Heinz won 13 international matches between 2019 and 2020 and played in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. s has left the Worcester Warriors with immediate effect to return to his native New Zealand.

There is no indication as to whether the 35-year-old plans to play in New Zealand.

Heinz also played 58 times for th Crusaders between 2010 and 2015.

-BBC

Saudi Arabia wants MotoGP

Saudi Arabia wants to add MotoGP to the list of world championships in motorsport, which it already hosts, said the country’s sports minister, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki al Faisal.

Ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah, he said the kingdom was already home to motorsport in the region with the all-electric Formula E championship and Dakar Rally as well as Extreme E.

“We are now hosting three FIA ​​World Cups and are looking at more in the future,” he said.

MotoGP has been running in Qatar since 2004, and the illuminated night Grand Prix race is currently the only Middle Eastern round on the calendar.

Meanwhile, six-time champion Marc Marquez is suffering from another double-vision episode after his crash in the warm-up session in Indonesia last weekend, which also put the Honda rider in doubt for this weekend.

-Reuters

The teams want the FA Cup match moved

The English Football Association say it will work with Liverpool and Manchester City to help their fans take part in next month’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley amid complaints of lack of train services that weekend.

Liverpool’s supporter group ‘Spirit of Shankly’ and City’s ‘We are 1894’ said in a joint statement that the match would be difficult for fans to take part in as engineering work scheduled for 16-17. April means there will be no direct trains to London from Manchester and Merseyside.

“More than 64,000 traveling followers will be forced onto the roads, which will already be overloaded with holiday traffic,” said the supporter groups.

“For the second semi between Chelsea and Crystal Palace, Wembley makes sense. For Liverpool and City, it makes no sense.”

The FA said in a statement released to the British media that they would meet Liverpool and City to discuss match arrangements and publish further details in due course.

The supporter groups called for moving the match.

-Reuters

Weightlifter prohibited, deprived of medal

Kazakh weightlifter Nijat Rahimov, who won gold in the 77kg class at the Rio 2016 Olympics, has been banned from the sport for eight years due to a doping offense and will be deprived of his medal.

Rahimov, 28, was found guilty of four urinary substitutions, equivalent to “Using a Prohibited Method” under the International Weightlifting Federation’s anti-doping rules.

Rahimov, who also won gold at the 2015 World Championships, was previously ruled out for two years in June 2013 after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

-Reuters